Prey by 3D Realms PC Game Review

Final Thoughts and Conclusions

The game makes excellent use of the Doom 3 engine seamlessly meshing the environment with the puzzles. Switches appear to be a part of the world, not a tacked on addition. One particular item that caught my interest was the jukebox. In the very opening of the game you’re in a bar on a Native American reserve. On the wall is a jukebox. Not only is the jukebox a usable “item” in the game it has a pretty impressive collection of contemporary music from such artists as MXPX and Clutch.

Sound wise the game is on par of what you would expect from a developer like 2K Games. The 3d sound effects make effective use of the OpenAL audio format with EAX being supported. Voice acting is on part with most mainstream games. Don’t expect a Oscar winning performances by the actors but it defiantly does not detract from the game. Sound effects are great with a very organic sound canvas. Walking on living tissue makes the appropriate squishy noises and the weapons sound great with crisp audio samples.

The game looks stunning. From the very organic feeling of the levels to the particle effects of spectral children everything appears crisp and fluid. The character models for the humans could have been a little better but overall excellent use is made of the Quake 3 engine. Load times are kept to a minimum despite the obvious issues that would arise from the portal system. I was pleased to notice a fluidity while crossing through portals. It very much was just like stepping into another room as opposed to “teleporting”.

A few minor technical complaints. The “widescreen” option in the settings appears to have no effect whatsoever on how the game displays on my widescreen monitor. In addition I don’t appreciate Prey’s copy protection scheme as it forced me to disable my drive emulation software to play the game. Given the game includes an on-line verification and a CD-Key this extra step is just an inconvenience and completely unnecessary. I only hope 2K realizes this and removes it on their first round of patches.

Prey is an excellent game and worth of it’s namesake. It’s been a long time coming but I’m glad to see this project made it to the public. From the dizzying level designs to the unique game play elements Prey stands on it’s own as a unique entry to what is an otherwise cookie cutter genre.

Graphics: 8/10

Sound : 7/10

Gameplay: 9/10

Overall: 8/10