The Biggest Problem With Prototype 

There’s a second issue with Prototype 2 that I don’t see talked about as much, but I think is very important: world building. The backstory of black watch, gentek, and the virus weren’t totally necessary to understand the story, but they provided a ton of depth to the world. So what did we learn in Prototype 2 that wasn’t about the three areas we ran around? Umm… Mercer was there doing stuff? Remember project redlight? Remember Pariah? Did we learn anything at all about either of them? Tell me you weren’t expecting prototype 2 to have at least something to do with the last villain’s superbaby. But instead, everything about the world is just forgotten. There’s a zombie outbreak in New York… and that’s it.

The biggest problem with prototype is that there isn’t a new game

I... Didn't even know Prototype had comics. I knew inFAMOUS did, but NEVER Prototype. What the hell? In all the time I spent consuming Prototype media, how the hell did I miss this? You're right, that's a BIG problem with marketing.

The main problems are within the story and characters imo. The first one had a morally grey story and a morally grey character, Alex was not out there trying to save the world, just trying to figure out who he was and why he became infected, the way he did, it was interesting enough and the gameplay was fun. The second one barley had a good story, yes, Heller was better and the way he played was awesome, but nothing really felt interconnected. It was a good gameplay experience/upgrade over the original, but only gameplay wise.

The biggest problem with Protype was that Alex Mercer was killed off.

When I first played Prototype 2 the only thing I'd seen leading up to it was Prototype and the Prototype 2 live action trailer. "The power of revenge" It played out like Heller had gone off to war only to come back to a devastated New York and dead family and would avenge himself upon the man who caused it all, playing out like a tragedy of these two broken men locked in a battle to the death for what would be all the wrong reasons. Yeah you can say I was disappointed.

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="338">5:38</a> I would argue this is the biggest flaw, and isn't the comic's fault, but the game's. Even if the backstory remained comic exclusive, they could've still explained it with characterization in the games, like Heller being compassionate about some survivors, just for then to watch the same survivors betray and kill each other, but this time, is Alex watching them in disappointment, you wouldn't know exactly what happened, but you would understand and assume their motives Instead James comes as an angry screaming guy (For justifiable reasons, sure, but the point still stands) and mercer comes as a Final Fantasy Villain Wanna be, cartoonishly evil, very bad liar, and just wants to end the world... because there needed to be a villain, and in order to make the "New sympathetic character" more appealing, we crush the old one, turn up his evil-meter to eleven and now you feel bad for supporting this obviously evil dude in order to side with our new military hero guy. That might not have been the intention, but the fact it can come up that way speaks volumes about how much the game screwed the characters, and while the idea of shoving it all in a poorly marketed comic still sucks, that should not be an excuse for the game's poorly low effort character work

Only problem is that there's never going to be Prototype 3.

All the prototype series needed was better marketing, maybe if they maybe a live action series or movie then it would have helped the games sell better and maybe it would have helped build hype for a 3rd game.

PLEASE DO A SERIES ABOUT DEFIANCE! The game and SyFy show was ahead of its time and nothing similar has been done since. Defiance was really fun to play, but it lost momentum do to the fights started to get repetitive because of power levels and the game did not keep up with console/PC generations. The game only lived a few years after the show was canceled.

Babe wake up new Prototype content dropped.

I personally would like to see a different publisher with the Prototype IP and just reboot the franchise.

Alex Mercer and James Heller, I believe are some old friends to many great memories and childhoods even. Ordinary Time.

I fell like the second game should've been about events that made Alex become a villain. It's just so weird how in Prototype we play as Alex, see him as a good guy then get dropped into the second one with him now as a villain

If they require additional material, they should advertise it like that. The additional material could also be bundled, tie up a nice parcel, ramp up the price, everybody wins.

Only thing I preferred in this game was being able to summon infected to fight for you 🔥

I think there’s a very easy way to fix the story: Just have Mercer’s heel turn be an act. If he found out that Gentek or the virus/Elizabeth Green had created something he wasn’t able to handle and could only be dealt with by Heller because of his unique DNA, then we have a reason for why Mercer pushed him to his limits and beyond. If Heller gained access to Mercer’s true memories and realized he pulled an Itachi in order to make a better protector, I think that frames Mercer as more of an anti-hero trying his best than a villain.

The problem was that although the second had more stuff it felt like it had considerably less than the first. Parkour was broken down to it's absolute lowest form. The combat wasn't intricate whatsoever and required no thought. Story wise....the second was...aight. I've replayed the first WAYYYYY more than the second

It was my dream after Prototype 1 to see a trilogy who would have show the progression of Alex from Anti-Hero to Hero and at the end of the third game, Alex sacrifices himself by saving humanity or becoming a godlike character able to protect humanity.

This is the first time I've heard of tje comics and i played both games, this makes so much sense now, it's a shame it wasn't properly marketed (here in Mexico at least) maybe I'll read those and revisit the second game

If there was to be a 3 years ago, I feel like Alex was going to play a psychological part in it. Like Arkham Knight and the Joker. They’re dead but not really dead.

This is completely off topic, but I wonder how the Venom Symbiote wouod interact with the black light virus, like does the Symbiote work on a Molecular level, if so, could it fight off the virus, or absorb it and use it to upgrade the symbiote, the movie venom can’t make a lot of weapons, I wonder if it absorbed the virus could it become like mercer and heller and start making weapons, or since the Symbiote is a living creature, could it become infected with the virus?

Killed off the main character, never fulfilled CoOp potential. Amazing series

Just started replaying Prototype 2. I forgot how fun these games' sandboxes were.

My biggest problem was all of those “special events” that you had to do to unlock skins instead of playing the games story to them like Hellers armored form should’ve been a form you unlocked like the way you unlocked it in the first game. Also when all those videos popping up saying that prototype 2 was just a reskinned Hulk game that also kinda killed my mood for the game

I'm still surprised Prototype never succeeded in releasing a film adaptation.

My main issue is mission design. Its pretty much just hunt down and consume someone. And also also more enemies. You pretty much have brawlers, goliaths and evolved. Hydras are just annoying.

I kinda see what they were going for, Having virus to use two bases like Mercer Heller So player would be able to choose between two main bio-forms(agility-strenght) and people you consume becomes sub-bio forms and you can choose them for main appereance(without disguise) for multiplayer and gameplay upgrade. Atleast This is how it felt when they introduced radnet subsystem where you could buy weird upgrades like bio-bomb kick etc. Sadly it didn't work out for them

That's interesting, i never had the Comics and i thought that the Alex Mercer in Prototype 2 is just another Virus created Alex and not the same one we play as. Which i thought would undermine Hellers victory in the end with him realising that the Virus can produce "Alex Mercers" again and again but maybe i am remembering the story a little wrong.

Dont forget mechanics, we got one new power (iirc, the tendril is the new onr unless i forgot about it in 1) and a bunch of stuff is missing, cant slide down buildings, cant grapple to choopers with the whip, and im sure theres more im forgetting

Well said I totally agree Wouldnt mind if they teamed up against Pariah (Elizabeth Greene's son) instead

Will you do l4d?

It would have been nothing to throw a summary backstory selection on the start screen (even if it ended up being scrolling text... just a "Fall of Alex Mercer" to fill in the gaps.)

All of this could have been solved with a simple "previously on" section before the start of the second game.

They should have put the comics of both games, on the disc, and a message, read comics first before playing......

The biggest problem is we don't have a new prototype game

I like Heller and the twist of Mercer being the villain. Without the comics I initially thought Mercer was reviving the epidemic to lure the real villains hiding in the shadows but turned out he's cause of all this. The only disappointment that I have is that Prototype 2 feels like a more polished version of the first game with essential characters flipped. I was hoping new locations, new enemies and motivation for Mercer but alas that wasn't what we get. The sequel still sets in New York and I'm still fighting the same enemies with the same set of powers/abilities. As such whenever I have the Prototype itch, I only replay the second game since it plays and looks better.

Been a missive fan of the infamous games for years. I never knew about the comics. These videos are more than amazing

My heart needs more prototype and infamous games

Wish they refined Mercers and Hellers storyline(really loved both the characters but Id rather see them fight off blackwatch or gentek together instead) The comics did explain the sudden shift though but it just didn't seem right Judging by both of their perspectives they weren't wrong but merely misunderstood

The biggest problem is that we never got prototype 3

Idk I feel like we criticize video games too heavily. I’ve played both prototypes multiple times, never knew they had a comic. It’s still in my top 10 all time list, simply because it’s fun. It gets the job done & it’s not too hard to figure out why Alex would want to destroy humanity. We’re a selfish species

.... Well, that explains so much. What a shame. I feel Prototype had huge potential.

The biggest problem is that there's no part 3

Wow, i took this video for me to remember than infamous 2 had that strange reunion of friends.

Mi biggest issue with the game were the optimization errors in the port.

Sometimes I find myself wishing we could have a Prototype remake or a Prototype 3(a lot less likely but you never know) but knowing how much of a wild shot those tend to be where you can either get a remake that blows it out of the park like Dead Space or an absolute disaster like the saints row remake, I'm not sure if it'd be for the better to just let this franchise rest in peace as it is.

Im not actually sure how’d id feel for alex becoming a villain. because it does kinda make sense. hes not human hes a sentient virus, and what does a virus do? But if he remained an antihero then i also see no problem there. as long as we get more prototype

one of the things we liked about prototype and alex mercer, he was a bit of both; he could help, he could be a monster the way we all play in game? heller makes NO sense "i cant shoot him, he's an unarmed civilian" "haha, imma puncture this tank of infectious gas and watch civilians mutate into monsters and eat their freinds - might eat a few myself, nom nom nom" se the difference between heller in comics and how he is mostly played?

The Biggest Problem with Prototype is there’s no Prototype 3…

2 was better gameplay, but 1 was better story. Never even heard of the comics, so I was just as confused as everyone else at the time. But I just figured it was some dumb executive mandate butchering the original vision and rushing out what resulted to meet a release deadline.

never knew that infamous & protype had comics.

I hope it comes back in some sort of form

I need to read the Prototype comics that tie-in to the video game.

I would have liked Alex Mercer to stay heroic. He could have been a Lovecraftian Superman. A powerful godlike creature that isn't human but sees the good in humanity and seeks to protect it. But no. He pulls a Sephiroth, and we lose our chance to explore the story of a virus helping people and working against its own reproduction. Oh well. Life's full of disappointments.

What i dont like about the secound game is the fact how they explained that alex him self released the virus. I like the Prototype 1 Lore of it WAY MORE. Elizebeth Greene with her Unique DNA was changed by the first Virus(Red Light) After Giving birth to Pariah she was captured, imprisoned and experiemented on. Greene became a Farm for new Viruses, while in this process she became „Braindead“, wich is the perfect test subject for Gentek. In the late 90th Greene was in the project Black Light. Mercer had the impression that Black Light could be a cure for Cancer. After countless tests on Animels wich all died due to the Virus effect, he found out the Black Light Virus was 10x more dangerous then Red Light. After that Mercer wanted to find out what Gentek wanted with that kind of experiements. With the help of his Sister Alex found a way into the Facility in wich Greene was held and found out in what state she was. After seeing how every Scientist who worked on Black Light was executed he fled with a Vial with the Black Light Virus. BlackWatch found Mercer in Penstation, there he was Shot to death. That caused the Vial to break and releasing the Virus. The Gas of the Virus spread to everyone in the Station including Mercer. Thats were the Game after the Prologe starts, Alex on a Table under a Scalpel. It is not only Better Story Telling in it self, its also in my Opinion the way more Lore acurate version of Alex Character

The biggest problem with prototype is that we didn’t even get more prototype. Not even a shitty mobile game.

I’m only at <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="219">3:39</a> but I feel compelled to comment anyway. Was Mace fucking Windu somehow I’m these comics?

I didn't read, and it was really confusing switching characters. With the interest of the character itself and with the interest of everything to zero

Awww prototype.... underrate gem of a game.

if there was p3 I hope alex is still alive but just in james's head since alex is the virus after all. Also imagine alex mode and James's mode lol so we can access alex's combos armor, musclemass all other stuff in p1.Their weapons would be bigger like alex weapons and james weapons fused Their new devastator would be a mode where they become a rushing titan of some sort (imagine alex's armor + James shields that uses tendrils to move and attack and alex's spikes comes out everytime they strike the ground There are many possibilities)

I play this game sometimes just for the destruction. Good for getting rid of stress

Halo 2 and Batman Arkham city can be played right after the previous game entries and totally made sense without any other lore to back it up.

No the story isn't the biggest problem. The gameplay itself has major issues. The first game suffers from enemies being too aggressive and encourages running away and damage from a distance. The 2nd also suffers this, but less so. Even parrying enemies is kinda sloppy with how many enemies basically dog pile you

Prototype 3 should combine the Venom of 1 with the Punisher of 2. Just call it Prototype 3: Killin stuff

If we do get a P3, it should star Pariah as the antagonist and have him crush Heller in their first fight and be a constant threat to James when he gets new powers. Or have a new protagonist since Heller’s story is done with and his fanturds annoy me to hell.

This all could of been fixed with either an expansion/DLC to the first game...

More people are talking about prototype now, look at this

The idea of Alex Mercer coming out, and seeing how they'd interact with the world after surviving the devastation, was an inaccurate expectation due to the nature of transference of coding and team and the game's formula essentially. Its gonna be the same thing over n over. Thats how funding and industry works probably. Unless its a 'classic' then are forced to adapt to new mediums. But, there isn't going to be a 'new medium'. We won't have the same leap of 2d mario to 3rd person mario, for this series. So the formula is going to repeat til its exhausted, and 'dont fix what aint broken'. This may have left more to be desired narratively, but the narrative was more an excuse for the novelty of the gameplay imo anyways. The power fantasy.

they should make prototype 3 online

The problem with Prototype is that all of the different weapons essentially do the same thing. So what is the sense of upgrading anything?

I agree with most of what you said here. But as a huge Prototype fan I just want to add my two cents. Spoilers. Powerscaling. When Mercer (Zeus really) absorbs someone he gets all their memories and skills. By the end of P1 Mercer had the combined intelligence of at least dozens of scientists, soldiers, and Infected. Just from an intelligence standpoint there is no f--king way Mercer would be dumb enough to have been defeated the way he was in P2 if at all. Then you add in the fact that Mercer was quite literally the Black Light Virus incarnate power wise.... strength, speed, durability... there's just no way Heller would have defeated Mercer physically, mentally, or socially. There's just no way. Unnecessary and Unneeded Shift. As a generic black army veteran with a chip on his shoulder, I really didn't want to play as a generic black army dude with a chip on his shoulder. There was so many implications in the lore of P1 that were begging to be explored (ex: Pariah). All of that was thrown out to play as what seemed to be an order from the marketing team to include a diverse character to pull in a larger demographic. That's really what it came across as. The comics. I read the ones taking place between P1 and P2. They were bad. They didn't justify how Mercer decided he was going to be the one to end humanity. If it showed him on a globetrotting journey that lasted years and more often than not he sees humanity is the worst... that would be one thing. But he explores the surrounding area for a few months and makes a call based on that? So he would have to ignore all the memories he has of the people he absorbed. The tender little moments most of us have in our memories. Because including that would have painted humanity as the flawed but salvageable mess we all are. I read the comics after I completed P2 and P2's story was already ruined due to the first two points way more than this one. I wish I was filthy rich. I'd buy the IP from Microsoft and hire as much as the original team back as possible with only one directive: pretend Prototype 2 never happened story wise.

cant believe how shitty the controls were

Wait!?!? How can people be confused that Alex is the antagonist? I mean, he only killed a billion civilians. I'm playing Prototype right now and think it's pretty fun and well done. But so far, I think that it's biggest problem is how frustrating it is in some parts.

They should have put the comics in the game so would know what happened.

Mercer was never broken. The ending scene have shown us that he ascended past humanity as it is, like he's an Ubermensch that looks upon normal humans as if they're monkeys. It would be fucking logical for him to become a villain, and if you missed that without comics, then it's the problem of your ass thinking.

The biggest problem is there is no 3rd game, Alex is gone, and that the second game's script was written by a 14 year old in middle school who just learned how to curse. Seriously, go watch the cutscene of James trying to handle a black light computer with a completely different keyboard entirely. He says fuck/fucking 14 TIMES in that one bit alone

There are so many huge problems with Prototype, especially P1, that i don't think it's possible to truly determine one as being the biggest. So I'm going to list these problems or at least some of them and my opinions will start a war. First: Alex Mercer, or perhaps Blacklight Mercer (so much uncertainty) just doesn't have an enjoyable personality in my opinion. I don't know how to properly describe this or explain it but he just feels so dead, empty, flat, and i dunno. He lacks complexity, emotional depth, and perhaps even good motivation. Second: Even though this is strangely accepted as fact, there is not any absolute proof that Blacklight Mercer is not really Alex Mercer but i do admit there is fairly good evidence for it as everyone will point out. That evidence though is very vague and it's not really proof. Three: These games were made by Activision when they should have been made by a combination of Insomniac and CD Projekt Red because maybe then, they would actually have fun gameplay, a good story, good characters, and fantastic side quests. Four: Due to the actual gameplay being so boring, it shouldn't have even been a video game but instead, a 3D animated series or maybe even an actual anime.

WHAT, WHATS THE PROBLEM TELL US

It had a comic run

The problem with prototype is that it kinda sucked the whole time and I hated most of it. But also you are the big spooky monster and that's great

The biggest problem was the black guy according to comments from back in days. Lol.

And that's why books>comics...

I've discussed this game series extensively with a friend, and there is def ways to bring Mercer back for a reboot, without even needing to retcon really. And man, I hope this IP eventually lands in the right hands and we get the reboot it deserves, so much potential here.

Dame people writing whole essay because they didn't like Prototype 2 cause the man character is black 😂 isn't that right.

the biggest issue is that the AIpha was better

I like Heller much more than Mercer, and I like Mercer. If there's ever a P3, I'd hope Heller is the protagonist. And P2 is the better game.

Not sure about calling him THE villain with all these mustache twirling baddies about. Speaking of which weren't they more grey morality before? The company with the military lab guys I mean.

I loved prototype 2. Fuck the haters.

We eating good today

Prototype didn't die IT WAS MURDERED

Mercer always felt like the villain to me in Prototype. And not even a relatable one. It's the whole reason I skipped Prototype 2, I figured I was done with the nihilism of the series and didn't need to revisit another dirtbag protagonist. If people walked away surprised he was the villain, then I think me and the poster in that one screenshot -- Monster Obsessor -- saw something in the story others didn't.

Prototype is boring AF, I fell sleep playing it. Super repetitive gameplay. Un-interested story that I don’t give two shits about.

Prototype and Infamous were both generic concepts and characters. The studios should have just collaborated.

I don’t think heller should be able to defeat Mercer though not on equal terms

I Want Prototype 3 & 4 Will Be Released in Near Future on Nintendo Switch 1 & 2 & PlayStation 4 & 5 & Xbox One & Xbox Series X & PC 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

I've always pictured Alex and James swapping roles. Alex is the playable protagonist once again while James is the main antagonist. Prototype 2 is less of a revenge story and more of a redemption one, although it has a few revenge elements in it because Alex once thought Dana was dead because of Heller's new blacklight outbreak. As Mercer consumes Heller, it's revealed that Heller is Pariah's second in command. For Prototype 3, I imagine that the closest thing it has to a morality mechanic is the choice between consuming someone or just replicating a lifeform's shape, size, skills, powers, memories, and everything else without consuming the lifeform. Alex can develop healing powers, health manipulation, and powers based on curing diseases, symbolizing his steady rise to genuine heroism. It should also allow the option to consume or replicate the forms/abilities of plants and animals, land, sky, and aquatic. Pariah is the final boss of prototype 3 and after Alex consumes Pariah, he takes his place as the final purpose of life on earth, as such Mercer is genetically perfect in every way and Pariah's powers are perfectly combined with Mercer's.

James Heller over alex mercer all day 💪🏽🗣

I remember playing the first one, thinking it was pretty generic and honestly boring, and gave up.

When they killed Alex they killed the Series they need to kill heller and bring back alex and we need to Petition for a Prototype 3 immediately!