Prey Review

Puzzles

Puzzles in Prey are generally “push the switch to unlock a door and move on” but there are several examples of more complex puzzles requiring you to blend several gameplay elements described above in order to successfully accomplish your goal.

For example, in one area there’s a passage that is too high to reach and the required box you need to climb is behind a wall. The solution is to reverse the gravity, push the box along the roof (which is now the floor) to get it past the wall, reverse the gravity again, and then push the box up to the passage and jump on it to get past.

Another puzzle involves Tommy needing to continue along a gravity walkway that has a continuity gap, and the switch to move the end tile is in a control room behind a forcefield. The solution is to position Tommy’s body on the end tile, enter spirit form to get past the forcefield, activate the switch to move the tile to the other side (which moves Tommy’s body too), and then return to your body.

Weapons

The game has a small but interesting selection of weaponry and the unique aspect about them is they’re alien (apart from the wrench) so they’re alive. They move, drip, and almost look annoyed if fired too much. The basic machine-gun for example has a standard high rate of fire but in alt-fire mode the organic eye piece moves up to your eye so you can shoot it like a sniper rifle, courtesy of the laser guided sight.

Similarly hand grenades aren’t really hand grenades but rather three legged crabs, and to make them explode you pull off a leg and throw them which causes an acidic explosion. The rocket launcher also shoots live bugs that crawl around in an organic sack while idle.

There’s no aim mode and neither movement nor stance seems to foul the crosshair so the game follows the classic run-and-gun formula, though most weapons have an alt fire mode.

No reloading is required either, though some guns will pause after a firing spree to “recover”. The machine-gun for example rotates its three energy tubes, taking away the old tube and positioning a fresh one.

This interesting fella is actually a machine-gun/grenade launcher combo.

Combat, Enemies & AI

Enemies are generally a combination of aliens and hybrid mutants strung together from human body parts. The basic grunts have a machine-gun and grenades while later enemies have more advanced weapons like rocket launchers.

The AI is competent but not exceptional although good gunfights are still possible. Certain enemies can retreat through organic “doors” and even teleport through portals created on demand which adds to the challenge. There are flying opponents too.

There’s no “death” in the game; dying simply puts you into spirit form in an off-world location but after dispatching a certain number of enemies you’re returned to the action.

Health can be recovered through health spores and organic health “stations” scattered through the levels. For an extra challenge the game’s hardest difficulty level (“Cherokee”) is unlocked after the first play-through and in that mode there are no health spores or stations, though Tommy’s health will slowly regenerate to 25% if it drops below that.

This is one of the more common alien grunts you’ll face, and he teleported into battle using the portal behind him.

Vehicles

The game’s sole vehicle type is the shuttle and shuttles are available to traverse some of the game’s larger areas. Shuttles are capable of firing energy weapons and also have a tractor beam that can hold onto small objects and drag them around with you.

Once you enter a shuttle you can’t exit unless you land on one of the shuttle pads scattered throughout the levels. Your shuttle’s energy and health can also be recharged at any shuttle docking station.

When wreaking havoc on foot isn’t enough, jump into a shuttle for added mayhem.