General Gaming Prey (2006) was ahead of its time

[ShreddieMercury]

So, I just played through the original Prey and was very impressed.  It's certainly dated in several respects, but I was consistently surprised by how ambitious and ahead of its time it was.  It has a ton of really cool, unique ideas that it throws at you constantly - a portal mechanic pre-Portal, perspective-shifting puzzles, gravity shifting sections, little spheres a la Mario Galaxy, large vehicular sections... and on and on.  And that's not to mention the bizarre, sort of gross and scary story, or the fact that you're playing a Native American, which is actually integral to the writing and story of the game without being mere window dressing. 

 

The most significant flaw is the fact that the shooting mechanics just aren't all that great.  It's enjoyable enough, but the game's levels and wild environments are really what shine.  It also doesn't really hit another gear until past the midway point.  It has a strong opening, then plods for a bit, and then really hits the gas in the back half.

 

After I finished it, I looked into Prey 2, and for the first time am understanding the uproar after it didn't pan out.  I loved Arkane's reboot, but the concept for Prey 2 sounds phenomenal, and the gameplay snippets that have leaked out look really solid and seem to be a huge step up from the first game.  There are several good pieces on that game's troubled development, and it's pretty crushing that it appears to have been mostly content complete before it was shelved.  Either way, the original game certainly stands out as a cult classic in my mind, and is worth revisiting if you like bizarre and original FPS games and can handle dated visuals.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

I really did enjoy Prey 2006 quite a bit and consider what happened to Prey 2 to forever be a stain upon Bethesda (even though I personally don't believe Human Head's contention hat they game was as far along as they claim it was).

[ort]

That was the game with magical butthole portals, yes?

 

I played it in 2006, but remember not enjoying it much.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

11 minutes ago, ort said:

That was the game with magical butthole portals, yes?

 

They were vaginas, not buttholes!

[ort]

[ort]

This was from the era of 360 games where good graphics = everything looks wet.

 

I see some vaginas too... looks like they did both.

[XxEvil AshxX]

1 hour ago, ort said:

This was from the era of 360 games where good graphics = everything looks wet.

 

I see some vaginas too... looks like they did both.

 

Nobody likes a dry vagina.

[chakoo]

I remember prey. I use to bring it up every time I had friends flipping out over Portal. 

 

I'd love if someone would one day leak out some of the early versions of the game. 

[stepee]

Prey was one of the first big full 3D titles shown for pc along with Quake and Unreal, it was going to be 3D realm’s first competitor to those at the time. I remember being 13 and salivating over this:

 

 

I too would love to someday play some of the 90s attempts. It’s crazy that they Prey franchise has been a known thing for 25 years now and we have two games neither of which are anything like the other nor anything like how they originally started.

[stepee]

holy shit i just realized the only thing to do with Prey now is go multiverse. Think about it, it’s not just the hip thing right now but it totally works with all the portal stuff from 2006. Just have portals that go to the universes and styles of Prey as they were in 1990’s, 2006, Prey 2, reboot, but with current graphics tech of course. Make it S/X only for the ssd to do some cool portal tricks. Fucking MS pay whatever legal fees to make this happen.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]