Infamous vs Prototype

Prototype vs Infamous

Rating: M and T respectively

                It's about time I talked about either Prototype and/or Infamous. They were both released around the same time, and both feature very similar gameplay. They're both about super-humans in a huge, open-world city with developing powers. Both have a lot of exploring that can be done and both have an upgrade system for their superhero's powers. But which is the better of the two? We can't have two games be this similar without one being clearly better, can we? Infamous is a Playstation 3 exclusive while Prototype is on Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and PC.

Story

                Infamous' story -- you are Cole McGrath, a victim of a huge accident; because of the accident, he gains control of electricity. You can then use this power to fight for the good of mankind or selfishly use it for yourself. Prototype's story -- you are Alex Mercer: a science experiment gone wrong; yet you remember none of it. You then fight for what little you have left: you and your family. Prototype takes itself very seriously, while Infamous is more laid-back and comic book style. Infamous' story is much stronger, because the typical "superhero with amnesia" routine is the under-paid employee's storyline.

Main Character

                Cole McGrath creates an interesting contrast to Alex Mercer. While Alex seems like he was built to be a killing machine and enjoys it, Cole appears to be a superhero who never wanted the title. And while it's set that Alex’s way is to be a huge jerk to everyone he meets, Cole can either be a huge jerk or an awesome savior thanks to the moral choice system. What the game doesn't tell you is that if you're a huge jerk, you get the better powers. An amusing thing to mention is Prototype tries to paint Alex as a hero following what he believes is justice. Justice to him is brutally murdering, then eating, some guy to selfishly find out slightly more about his past. Infamous wins here.

Open World

                An open world game is only as good as the world actually open to explore. Prototype starts out poorly here for using New York City, which is cheating. Infamous' world is large enough to have lots to explore but not too large as to take forever to get around. Getting around, though, is where Prototype gains points. Cole sluggishly climbs and runs around the city, while Alex can literally fly around, traveling the  bigger city much faster. Prototype also has more to see overall in its city, where as Infamous seems to own a rather dull city. It's ironic that Prototype has a much more lively and interesting city even though they did the least work because they copied New York City off Google. Prototype only just barely wins here.

Gameplay

                The most important aspect is gameplay. As aforementioned, both have similar gameplay: side missions are for experience points grinding, lots of killing and exploring, and lots of playing with powers. Cole's power is electricity: shooting lightning, shooting lightning bombs, but it's just lightning. Alex's genetically-modified arm can turn into a whip, claws, sword, or a hammer; each having different powers and specials. Also, even without his arm you can have fun. One aspect of the game is eating people to transform into them. This can be used in situations like in the following: silently walk up to a soldier, eat him while his buddies aren't looking, accuse another soldier of being you and while he getting shot sneak off with a helicopter or tank, and come back later to blow the whole place off the map. Infamous has nothing even close to that. Sometimes it's best to be amazing in one thing than great in several. Cole's lightning is fun to use, from killing bad guys to healing downed citizens. Both games can be unforgiving in combat, with Cole needing to rest every now and again to auto-regenerate health and Alex needing to stop and eat people to recover his health bar. Thanks to the lack of auto-regen health, Prototype's action is much faster with less stopping to recover. A lot of Infamous' combat (especially on harder difficulties) is spend hiding behind walls and jumping up every few seconds to fire a quick shot or two. Prototype is more tactical and quick, offering a much more enjoyable experience overall.

                Both games are very good, but the public needs to know which is better. Prototype wins, suffering from a boring and uninteresting story but gaining points for having plenty to do and see. Not to say that Infamous is bad, it's just inferior. Trying both games would be a wise choice, but in my opinion, Prototype claims the prize.