Preyers

Most everyone has that game that is "the reason" they bought a next-generation console. Some people got it launch for no reason, sure, but the rest of us needed a reason to cash-in on our PS2s for the Xbox 360. For me, it was two games: Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and a crazy first-person shooter that my tattoo artist introduced me to in my first hands-on experience with a 360.

Prey (2006) was a game that was supposed to be released around the same time as Duke Nukem Forever, but OH SNAP Prey ended up coming out after all. Belonging to the vaporware headliners, 3D Realms, the game was in production since 1995, originally supposed to be for the Nintendo 64. The main character went through name changes, the soundtrack went from KMFDM to something less industrial, and the graphics became some of the best I've ever seen on the Xbox 360--especially dating back to 2006. The demo had the first two levels and a bunch of multiplayer levels. The main reason this wasn't released thirteen years ago as opposed to only three years ago was what the game engine needs: variable gravities, portals that Valve would have trouble sinking their teeth into, and reflections in mirrors and the aforementioned portals that reality can barely talk shit to.

The story of the game is thus: you are a prick Cherokee who wants your girlfriend to move away from the reservation. She, along with your traditional Native American grandfather, like being a Cherokee and want to stay. Before you can start arguing too much about whether or not Cherokee beliefs are crap or not, aliens abduct you, kill your grandfather, and you must embrace your Cherokee abilities in stepping outside of your body, coming back to life after death, and following your dead pet hawk's ghost around. The shooting is functional, in the way that enemies fall down when you shoot them. The rest of the gameplay--especially the groundbreaking ones--work really well with environmental puzzles usually involving you needing to flip the gravity in the room, go through a specific portal, or use your out-of-body experiences to walk through otherwise impenetrable forcefields and press a button to turn them off.

The plot of the game definitely keeps you coming back, and is nearly absent of the frustrating segments that make some shooters near unplayable. Your ability to not die is done by every time you do die, you have to shoot some flying things with a bow and arrow to build your life back up, and then you respawn exactly where you were. A good way to avoid frustration while keeping the mid-life spat short and engaging, but, like a hooker on a virgin, it does suck all the challenge out of the game out. The only challenge of the game exists before you get the ability to access the spirit world and come back to life after shooting the Disgraced Ancestor, at least on Cherokee difficulty because the only difference between the two settings is that the harder one doesn't have health pick-ups. The story claiming that we're a species of seed planted by alien races so they could feed seems a bit far-reaching for aliens. There are far easier ways to make food.

The multiplayer is under-played now, and never really set worlds on fire in the first place. The game is much like The Darkness with its slightly innovative ideas (gravity shifting in Prey, imp crazy in The Darkness) still were not beating Gears of War and Halo 3--there were no Prey clans. Forgoing this one tacked one aspect of what fills the title of "the game", it is one of the most under-appreciated gems in the world of first person shooters.

The game received better than average reviews at the time of its release and has gotten several review references in my personal favorite, Zero Punctuation, as a good game. I've bought some titles for only that: nothing, but random random game cases that pop up whenever Yahtzee spouts off the words "good game" (by the way, expect a review of Beyond Good and Evil for the PS2 coming soon). But this game has a super low price tag (as does Beyond Good and Evil--find out if it's worth it, in the future when I finish it and write a review) so it's only a couple of bucks to play a great game.

When I bought an Xbox 360 and my two choice games it cost me, after Target employee discounts and Best Buy Rewards, three hundred dollars. This included the Xbox 360 Pro back when it was $400, Prey when it was priced at $59.99, and Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Limited Edition was priced at $70. I got an awesome deal, even considering I've spent another hundred dollars on a new Elite and another four dollars on rebuying Prey after it became another casualty to the games that got traded in to something even more awesome, as I traded it towards Fallout 3. I was without the game for less than a year, and had to rebuy it--despite its flaws.

-Evan "Dez" O'Connor