Videogames  

Recently I've been playing [Prototype], following the story of Alex Mercer, jackass extraordinaire. It's a good game, the story goes like this: Alex wakes up in a morgue (literally about to be autopsied) and after an encounter with soldiers, realises he's bulletproof. After deducing that he's been infected with some sort of virus (dude, there's always a virus) he decides to go on a rampage to "Find out who did this" to him, and "Make them pay". I'm not entirely sure why, as i'd say being superstrong, bulletproof, able to leap small buildings with a single bound and simply run up tall ones, able to glide down to the ground from the empire state building or otherwise simply survive the fall would be a good thing. Some people will always just be ungrateful no matter what you do. Anyway that's the intro and as you play along, you get more and more info. The Virus was released in Penn Station. Some elite soldiers called Blackwatch (dude, there are always elite soldiers with a cool name) have been sent into New York to eliminate all traces of the virus, (yeah, because bullets work great against micro-organisms) and in particular, Alex Mercer.

Rather than hiring him and testing the limits of his powers and finding out what makes him tick with his compliance they decide to have a shoot on sight policy (District 9 is also guilty of this). Naturally, given that he's stronger and faster than they are, it doesn't go too well for them whenever a showdown occurs on the mean streets of New York. And boy howdy are they mean. If it's not the Marines jealously guarding their bases, it's the freaking annoying infected getting in your way. If you want to take down a hive, you have to fight the marines AND the infected. On the other hand, if you destroy a base you might- no, will kill a memory strand that's in there. Assuming one's in there. I've infiltrated a couple of bases (no easy task i promise you), only to find it devoid of anyone to consume.

Which brings me to the Web of Intrigue. Alex is slightly amnesiac, meaning he remembers things like siblings and past loves, but not how he ended up in the morgue. So occasionally, while flying around causing trouble, you might spot someone who does know all about the virus (well, their part in it anyway) and what exactly happened. You consume him, you gain his memory, and you learn a bit more about the story. There are a huge number of WOI targets (100+), but there's a slight problem with their acquisition: A large number of them spawn in infected areas so if you're not quick on your feet, one of two things will happen: Either a gorram motherfrakking tank will blow the hell out of your target, or a gruddammed stomm eating infected zombie will pimp slap the hell out of your target, meaning a 5-10min wait for the person to respawn.

I have no idea why they did it like this, or why they couldn't at least make the targets stronger. I mean, there are collectables in the city that you have to find, why couldn't they have made the WOI targets like that? As it is, I've been after a target at least 3 times before giving up and doing something else- Once i grabbed the wrong person and accidentally threw him at my target, second time the tank blew everybody up (talk about overkill, using the main gun when you have two machine guns), and third time, some freaking random zombie slapped the hell out of my target. I was so frustrated i unleashed a devastator attack and killed everybody in the area. The game is remarkably good though inane in parts (in favour of gameplay, it must be noted), and it is decidedly frustrating. The only reason i got through it, was that i played it on easy. I can't imagine doing it on hard.

Heh and to think, I was gonna talk about 3 different games.