What do you get when you cross a game with the ability never to die, boring, uninspired areas and set pieces combined with generic alien enemies you've seen for the thousandth time? A boring, 7-hour slog that never challenges you or gets you excited about anything. AKA, Prey.
The weapons in Prey are its biggest strength. Every weapon feels different enough to serve its own purpose, but none feel particularly weak or underpowered (except the bow and arrow). Though in terms of punch and weightiness, few delivered, the worst offender being the shotgun. Though damage-wise, it's extremely powerful, it feels like a water gun with the same impact as one (because it practically is).
The music is another point in Prey's favor. It was all composed in part by the legendary Jeremy Soule. The big set-pieces and vistas would feel so much less grand and important if it weren't for this music. Soule always delivers in the soundtrack department, and in a game with weak gameplay like Prey, it certainly helps.
That's all the nice things I have to say, and now I want to touch down on this game's greatest flaw. A very head-scratching idea that I have no clue how it made it to the final game. You cannot die. I don't mean that "it's so easy, bro, you literally can't die!"; I mean, you are invincible. Every time you die, you are sent to a "spirit realm" where you shoot red and blue ghosts to refill your health and spirit meter, respectively, and then you are plopped down exactly where you died.
I hope I don't need to point this out, but this kills every ounce of tension and stakes the game throws at you. Since you are invincible, there is no thinking required for combat. You clear every room, and if you "die," so what? You just come back with full health right where you left off. Every boss is a complete pushover because you can't die. The story doesn't matter because you know you will win. After all, you can't die. This single feature makes Prey an automatic non-starter. This is one of the dumbest gameplay features I've ever seen in a video game. And I thought the Cherokee difficulty you unlock after beating the game would fix this. Nope. In the hardest difficulty mode of the game, you cannot die. What a complete joke, and it makes the title of "Prey" very ironic.
Another thing I want to touch down on is the game's main gimmick, the portal/gravity system. Yeah, it's cool at first and impressive for the time, but it gets old quick. After a while, you realize what it is; a gimmick to sell a game rather than something they put actual thought and care into.
On a similar note, the alien ship aesthetic Prey is lathered in is a dime a dozen. The brutalist, industrial metallic walls and floors you see in every area are very dull. Sure it's cool seeing the more "biological" interiors. But it gets old quickly after seeing the vaginal-Esque wall openings and asshole door systems for the first few times. It's very dependent on the shock of it all; after a while, it turns into "whatever." The enemies are the same deal. Very dull with a few "shocking" enemies that are very uninspired and bland. Tell me, how many games of
StarCraft: Brood War did the devs played before "coming up" with the idea of Mother?
Overall this is a head-scratching game. Having the power of invincibility is pretty hilarious. Everything gets samey after a while, and the shock the "grossness" gives at first wears off quickly. I didn't even mention the story because there's no need. Chances are, you've played a game with a similar story that does it much better, and even if you didn't, it's nothing special and predictable (though the opening of the game is admittedly really cool). The weapons and music are nice, but I'm not ever slogging through this game to use guns and hear music that is worse than almost every shooter I've played. It surprises me that this game sold pretty well and had a sequel planned because it just isn't anything special.