Prey Demo

The demo for Prey just came out today:
http://www.3drealms.com/prey/download.html

If you haven't been paying attention about Prey, here is a summary. 3DRealms announced the development of this FPS around '97 where you play as a Native American dude who has to stand against an alien invasion. Some of the innovations then included real-time portals, but due to the limited technology and budget, the game was cancelled.
However, around '01 3DRealms decided to revive the project, but under the development of Human Head Studios and 2K Games as publisher. As soon as id Software could sucessfully license the Doom 3 engine to HHS, development for Prey started to the present.
The basic concept of 3DRealms' version of Prey was maintained in the new project, however, lots of features have been added to take advantage of the engine.


I played the SP part a couple of times over, and I'm still as hyped about the game as ever. I enjoyed just about every aspect of the game, from the storyline to the weapons. I may just preorder the CE. Played MP a little, I wasn't dissapointed at all either.

For those of you who have played the demo, what did you think? Did you like or not like it? Are you going to buy the game? Please give comments or criticisms, but make sure you give readers spoiler alerts!

Actually, development was announced as early as Feb 1996

OH SNAP

Twas cool. the gravity didn't feel gimmicky.

Yeah, I think I will be getting this one.

Sounds like Turok.

I'm scared to download it, since three previous games I've installed crash when I try to play them.

I just finished the single player levels in the demo, it was awesome. I was a bit skeptical about it using the Doom 3 engine, but Human Head made much better use of it then ID did. This is like a better version of Doom and Turok put together. I will definitely buy this when it comes out.

It only took six years. I bet its good though.

Unfortunately, with a 450MB download, my crappy connection will fail-it at some point. I'll have to wait until a magazine puts it on a cover disk or something. A quick look at the 3D realms site gives me concerns that it may contain enough trademark 3D realms "humour" to undermine it slightly.

3D Realms is not dead. DNF is coming soon, believe it. :D

Is there co-op?

The outdoor scene middemo is pretty nice actually.

I liked the demo. I will be getting it next month when comes out.

But I did find the game too easy. I hope Cherokee difficulty mode the aliens are a hell of alot more harder to kill.

Also, the living weapons were a nice change from the shotgun, pistol ect that are in most fps games.

The music was great. A lot of old rock and metal songs that I love. I found jukebox, changed it to Judas Priest and turned it up to full blast.

Over all I think its going to be a great game.

Was pretty cool. I like how if you listen close during a part with the news calling some guy, he says hes from garland, me being in garland as well(ID software is in the garland area too by dallas.)
It sounded really cool that there is some recognition :D

Oh sweet Jesus that rocked... The opening just freaked the hell outta me. Now that's what I call aliens! Wow! Okay, that was a lot of fun. Actually, reminds me of that movie, "Fire in the Sky" where the guy gets abducted by aliens and a lot of really weird freaky shit happens for no apparent reason.

Downloaded, won't be able to play it for awhile though. From what I've seen though my faith may be restored in 3DR!

Th0r said:

Was pretty cool. I like how if you listen close during a part with the news calling some guy, he says hes from garland, me being in garland as well(ID software is in the garland area too by dallas.)
It sounded really cool that there is some recognition :D

Was that the part with Art Bell? I liked how they added him into it, him having a radio show about UFOs and all.

That was a fun ride. Demo impressions follow (BE WARNED OF SPOILERS!)...



The introduction kinda stretched on a bit in my opinion (though it was fun screwing around with the casino machines in the bar, and looking for good music on the jukebox). "Don't Fear The Reaper" playing during the abduction scene was a nice touch.

The gravity shifting doesn't feel gimmicky at all. The portals were just a little strange at first, but since they're practically seamless, it makes for an interesting effect (not to mention the fact that I almost shot myself through one of them).

The ways they mess with your head in this game are quite varied. The "shrinking" scene (where you walk through the portal and you find yourself facing a gigantic alien) was something that I'm going to remember for years to come.

Finally, I just loved the spirit-walking ability (and what happens when you get killed).

I know for certain that I'm going to buy this. It's probably the best use of the Doom 3 engine so far.

caco_killer said:

Was that the part with Art Bell? I liked how they added him into it, him having a radio show about UFOs and all.

Its when your in the alien part/ship whatever it is and you cant really see the radio anywhere. I forgot what his name was. But it was a weird feeling when he said "garland" made me stop and listen.

Also it is an amazing game so far, who cares if its a little gimmicky, it opens up new gameplay styles and multiplayer mayhem ensues. A definite buy.

The demo was awesome.

Although I got addicted to video poker.

Seriously. I was there for about 15 minutes just playing that. (You start with 10 credits)

Looking forwards eagerly to the full game.

Edit: Also I ran the demo at 1280x1024 with everything turned up and it ran great. It's really polished.

At the the phone call bit, there is a call from a "George" which is a reference to George Broussard, its supposed to be him, but its not his voice.

BlitZ said:

At the the phone call bit, there is a call from a "George" which is a reference to George Broussard, its supposed to be him, but its not his voice.

oh yeah, that was it. Forgot the guys name.

I really would like to play this game...

What are the sys reqs?

leileilol said:

Actually, development was announced as early as Feb 1996

I have screenshots on my Duke 3D cd from when it was for the Build Engine :D

HobbsTiger1 said:

I have screenshots on my Duke 3D cd from when it was for the Build Engine :D

Actually they really were on their own engine, not Build. The screenshots from then were clearly demonstrating lightmap-esque light sources (although quite unfiltered) and brush based mapping.

The original Engine was also a portal engine just like Doom3 is. It's never been on Build.

It's a good game, holds a lot of resembelance, to Doom3, Half Life and System Shock2. And also a bit Quake2 for me.

I don't really like how you character speak though. It's annoying to say the least.

I don't think it's as good as Doom3, but it's a good game never the less.

I really think that having worked in the game industry a bit has tainted my impressions of everything, or maybe I am just too old and jaded, but I don't see what was so wonderful about that demo. The opening monologue was atrocious in every possible aspect - terrible character model, terrible animation, terrible lines, terrible voice acting, terrible idea behind it. The whole bar scene took entirely too long and showcased even more godawful character models (his girlfriend barely looks human) and some absolutely bizarre combat training (oh shit these honkies have beer muscles TIME TO BASH IN THEIR SKULL WITH A HUGE WRENCH) along with the almost requisite bizarre dimensions where every room and object is twice as large as it ought to be. The abduction scene goes on too long and there's next to zero emotion in seeing your mysterious grampappy and ape-woman girlfriend struggling alongside you. Then you get bizarre alien guns that aren't exciting in any way and shoot at blandly uninspired alien warriors that feel like they could have been ripped out of any one of a dozen sci-fi FPSes. Oh and the SPIRIT WALK segment where you wander around "ancient Cherokee lands" which is a little weird since I am pretty sure the Cherokee didn't live in the desolate southwest, especially a horribly boxed in id-engine version of the great outdoors. You gain a skill which isn't particularly interesting and obviously serves as a way to make somewhat novel puzzles to slow you down and you hear a bunch of completely generic Spiritual Native American claptrap.

The only interesting thing is the level design, which graphically isn't too far from Doom 3 or Quake 4, but the gravity gimmick does provide some interesting twists, along with the portals. Still that's not enough to make me care about a game which feels completely industry-average in all other respects.

Linguica said:

--------

Sounds like you didn't even try to like it, and you don't even explain why things were terrible in it.

caco_killer said:

Sounds like you didn't even try to like it, and you don't even explain why things were terrible in it.

I am too old to "try" to like games anymore. If I play a demo and I find it uninspired and not particularly well done, I'm not going to grind away at it and hope to find the diamond in the rough.

I've played enough FPSes to know an average one when I see it and nothing about Prey makes me think it's substantially different from a dozen others. Same ultralinear structure, poor AI, bad art direction, and embarassing dialogue that I've seen time and time again.

leileilol said:

Actually they really were on their own engine, not Build. The screenshots from then were clearly demonstrating lightmap-esque light sources (although quite unfiltered) and brush based mapping.

Hehe whoops. Aside from the lighting (and heavy use of 3d environment stuffs) it looks quite a bit like Build, though what you said makes sense.