Prey Preview

After being in development for several years, Human Head Studio’s first person shooter titled Prey is nearing its completion moving through various changes during its progress. Prey is a based on the Doom 3 engine and has been supervised by 3D Realms during its development. While most of the first-person shooters mainly focus on you running through corridors from a first-person view and blasting everything that comes in your way, Prey attempts to change this typical shooter focus upside down.

Another Alien Escapade

You’ll take on the role of the game’s main character Tommy Hawk, a native army mechanic who is discharged from his service and returns to Oklahoma, where his girlfriend, Jenny lives. All Tommy wants is to lead a peaceful life with his girlfriend until one day a part gigantic spaceship searching the galaxy for new life-forms to capture them by sucking them into its hull with a powerful tractor beam comes to his town and sucks him up and everything in the bar where he was sitting. But according to the game’s story, the aliens aren’t the bad guys atleast not all of them. Hence some of the aliens on board will be hostile to Tommy, while others may even try to help him. Tommy finds out that not only him but his girlfriend also has been abducted and now Tommy must go on the search to rescue his girlfriend.

The story doesn’t end there, it’s just not about saving a damsel in distress but also about Tommy finding his Native American roots and discovering the spiritual powers he acquires which allow him to perform various physical, dimensional and gravitational feats.

Spiritual Connection

During his adventures Tommy actually goes into a spirit realm which resembles a dusty, rocky desert where he meets with the spirit of his grandfather who teaches him mystical abilities. The first ability Tommy earns is “spirit walking,” which allows his spirit to leave his body and access areas that are out of Tommy’s reach but he can spirit walk only for a limited time. Tommy can also eliminate his enemies while in spirit form and the fact that he cannot die is quite unique and interesting. If he is killed during a battle he transforms inthis spirit form and continues to move in the spiritual world, from where he has to fight his way back into his material form alongwith fulfilling different challenges of the spirit world. Thus he will be able to continue right where he left from, as when he comes back into the material world he will put him back in the exact moment he was killed. The more spirits he can kill off in his spirit form, the more health he’ll recover before he returns.

Gravitational Pull

The world of prey is one where normal rules do not apply. Gravity of the environment will play an important part in your adventures; every environment demands that Tommy plays according to its rules, hence the gravity will sometimes change significantly mostly to Tommy’s advantage. The ship in which Tommy travels is also equipped with gravity-based technology that can turn gravity on and off at the flip of a switch. In several areas there will be lighted paths, along floors, walls, and ceilings, which generate localized gravity, thus one can walk up the wall whenever the gravity allows him to and this helps during combat. As Tommy will be defying the laws of gravity a lot, the moving in different environments having different gravitational pulls would at first cause dizziness to him but he would slowly get used to it. Some of the physical puzzles require the use of the specific laws of gravity to be solved so better remember them.

Combat and the AI

Even though a mechanic, Tommy will demonstrate some excellent combat skills. Most of the weapons he carries do look quite futuristic and biomechanical. The weapons are pretty unique, such as the futuristic rifle and crab-like objects that can be used as grenades or as ammunition for a rocket-launcher .In his spiritual form, Tommy has access to a weapon named longbow which is a bow-and-arrow type of weapon which seems to be a nice addition to the game. While Tommy will start the game with nothing more than his mechanic’s wrench, he will acquire a powerful arsenal full of weapons that are half-technology, half-living beings as he goes on.

The AI looks solid overall, as there are different enemy strategies and reactions to be seen and when the game is released it would have a better functional AI according to the developers. Some monsters were suicidal, while some displayed a solid amount of combat tactics. They will call for help or run for cover when you start tossing grenades at them.

Graphics

In terms of graphics Prey will look extremely impressive. The game utilizes an enhanced version of the Doom 3 engine making use of the technology’s excellent lighting and shadow effects. The game also features highly detailed textures to indicate the ship’s steely floors and fleshy walls. Also dynamic lighting has been used profusely for its many special effects, such as the mirror look of its portals and the bizarre cover that the world gets when Tommy enters the spirit world. The levels are spectacular with nice designs, making for the rather impressive visuals. All in all the game would require a high-end PC to attain a decent frame rate.

Although Prey will have some kind of multiplayer, the details aren’t out yet, but with so much in the single player mode, one can imagine that the multiplayer mode would not be less intriguing. Prey is expected to be out in 2006 so get your PC updated by then.

Karan Bajaj