Prototype (video game): Difference between revisions

* [[Collision Damage]]: An odd inversion when you ''start to accelerate'' on your sprint while shield/armor is equipped and any human class entities within a finger's reach of your starting point will get killed like you've been travelling at a hundred. Big time averted as Alex himself does not so much as lose a sliver of health even when a vehicle speeds into him.

** Inversion also subverted in that you could be sprinting with max upgrades at top speed into crowds of people without shield/armor and they'll just get knocked down. Then they get up, curse you for it, and go about their business. All that when Alex weighs enough to make craters from high falls.

* [[Colorful Theme Naming]]: A man who's infected with Blacklight battles both Greene (who's infected with Redlight) and Blackwatch.

* [[Color Wash]]: The sky becomes blood-red whenever you're in an Infected zone. For that matter, so does a lot of the ground, the terrain, the zombies and mutants and giant pulsing hives... in fact, it'd be safe to say this is one of the ''reddest'' games ever made besides those released on the [[Virtual Boy]].

** Just before hitting that point, the screen will start to lose its color. In Adrenaline Surge, the screen will be almost monochrome, which can be a bit jarring all of a sudden as you look for something to consume. Or, more likely, run like hell for the auto-heal to kick in.

* [[Cruelty Is the Only Option]]: Though it isn't really plot relevant, Alex cannot simply drop something he's grabbed. You have to do a damaging move, which will kill any poor civilians you might have grabbed by accident. The only way to drop someone or something unharmed is to be hit by something mild, like a zombie's paw.

** There's also a rather useless but amusing upgrade you can purchase that lets you stomp on fallen enemies.

* [[Cursed With Awesome]]: Alex. The driving force for most of the game is his [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]] to find out who gave him his powers.

* [[Cutscene Power to The Max]]: Alex's acquisition of Armour in-cutscene comes with an effect that throws around the Infected dogpiling him. The in-game transformation doesn't let you do that. Similarly, the intro cutscene shows Alex, in no particular order, using weapon powers in tandem with a disguise (when they cancel your disguise in-game) and using the Blade to block a grenade without so much as flinching (this will knock you down guaranteed otherwise). Alex is also capable of becoming anyone he has absorbed if the plot requires it.

** Just try going from ''Prototype'' to ''[[In Famous (Video Game)|In Famous]]'' (or vice versa) without screwing up the controls.

* [[Dangerously Genre Savvy]]: Captain Cross, who {{spoiler|actually ''notices'' Alex's one moment of weakness (that being when Alex is hit by flashbacks). And not only does he notice Alex's weakness, ''he uses it against him'' to infect Alex with a parasite that strips him of his ability to shapeshift his body into a weapon or shield}}.

* [[Determinator]]: If Alex decides he wants you dead, nothing can protect you from him. Not men. Not weapons. Not armor.

* [[Diagonal Cut]]: Humans and basic infected can suffer such dismemberment. Easiest way for the player to accomplish this is with the Claw power's first strike.

* [[Disconnected Side Area]]: The USS Reagan appears fairly early in the game. Attempts to reach it are met with '''[[Drop in Nemesis|very lethal]]''' force until {{spoiler|you reach the last mission}}.

* [[Disproportionate Retribution]]: Oh, so very, ''very'' much when {{spoiler|the real Alex Mercer released the Blacklight virus into Penn Station}}, which was full of innocent people, and quite possibly doomed all of Manhattan or ''worse'' -- and did so with full knowledge of the ramifications of those actions. The reason? [[It's All About Me|Pure spite]]; first because {{spoiler|GENTEK didn't keep him in the loop about what was being done with his research, and then because [[Taking You With Me|he knew that he was going to be killed anyway]]}}.

* [[Grievous Harm With a Body]]: You have the ability to whack people with other people, throw people into other people, body surf people into other people, kick people into other people, ''piledrive'' people into other people... the list goes on.

* [[Ground Pound]]/[[Shockwave Stomp]]: Alex can slam his fists into the ground to create a potent shockwave. More true to the trope, he can do the same thing in the middle of a jump. He also has a leg smash move which does something similar, as well as the Hammerfist Elbow Drop, the Bullet Dive Drop, and his Air Graveyard Spike Devastator.

* [[The Guards Must Be Crazy]]: Leap from ground level to the top of the building? This will barely rattle the troops. Jump from said building? They might be a little suspicious. Run up the building? Look at him go. Waltz into a base disguised as the commander you ''just kidnapped and ate'' from that base ten seconds ago? Not even a glance. Consume a Web of Intrigue target with Stealth Consume then grip your head in pain? Probably just a migraine.

** That said, the guards are very picky about proper procedure. Civilian or Alex has a gun? Red alert! Tiny black mass (inactive Shield) on back? Red alert! Civilian accidentally enters base? Red alert! They're stupid enough that they won't punish obvious signs of your true nature, but perceptive enough to punish stupid mistakes from fifty feet away.

** Near the end of the game, {{spoiler|"Cross" aka The Supreme Hunter}} does this to ''Alex'' while revealing its [[Evil Plan]].

* [[Neck Snap]]: The upgraded Stealth Consume uses this.

* [[New Powers As the Plot Demands]]: Alex's new powers can appear regardless of the [[RPG Elements]] of the game. Some that aren't forced on him during the mission have remarkably accessible costs -- stealth consume for less than a tenth of the EP of all other powers? Can't pass that up, and behold; the next few missions call for it.

** The game won't let you start some of the earlier missions if you don't have certain abilities bought yet. Which doesn't mean you will have to use them, like the fist shockwave thing.

** [[Rank Inflation|Platinum Medals]] are unbelivably hard to win, some more than others.

* [[No Conservation of Energy]]: Because having to consume stuff constantly just to fuel the mass and energy requirements for some moves would induce a truckload of tedium in gameplay. However, effort is made to play it straight with the Devastators.

* [[No Plans, No Prototype, No Backup]]: Subverted. The only person capable of making the DX-1118C variant of the virus ten times as dangerous as DX-1118A was killed, clinically speaking. {{spoiler|But...: His corpse was repossessed by that very enhanced viral variant that only needs a slight interaction with the dead person's objects of a familiar past that results in specific memorial restoration of the related. In his case, proficiency at engineering the virus.}}

* [[Not What I Signed On For]]: {{spoiler|The reason that Specialist Cross [[Enemy Mine|calls up Alex]] is because he finds out what Blackwatch/Randall is [[Nuke'Em|planning to do to Manhattan]]}}.

* [[Outrun the Fireball]]: At the end of the story, {{spoiler|Mercer fails to outrun a nuclear blast, but this allows him to demonstrate his [[Nigh Invulnerable|Nigh Invulnerability]] by rebuilding himself [[From a Single Cell]].}} In-game, you'll probably find yourself going "ohshitohshitohshitohshit..." as you attempt to outrun the fireballs {{spoiler|Elizabeth Greene's [[One-Winged Angel]] form}} spits out whenever you get too close for too long.

* [[Overheating]]: All vehicle weapons do this to varying degrees, which is used interchangeably with reload time. Tank cannons and missiles overheat on the spot, but cool down quickly. Machine guns overheat much more slowly, but consequently take a lot longer to cool down. The [[Black Helicopter|Gunship]]'s 30mm cannon overheats the quickest for its cool down time.

** Averted mostly with the rockets, and maybe the grenade launcher (which also shoots with a ridiculously flat trajectory).

* [[Partial Transformation]]: Any of Alex's shapeshifting implements, short of full-body armor or a disguise.

* [[Punched Across the Room]]: Certain normal melee attacks do this when charged up. The snapkick power can kick someone across a city block. Add base Musclemass, however, and charged attacks more or less dissolve what they hit. Upgrading it makes ''every'' Musclemass attack turn people into mush.

* [[Quest for Identity]]: Alex's original goal. When he finds the truth, [[Foregone Conclusion|he doesn't like it]].

** The whipfist is excellent for clearing intersections.

* [[Reading Your Rights]]: "You have the right to be ventilated. I have the right to burn your home and [[Kick the Dog|shoot your dog]]. Do you understand your rights as I have read them to you?"

* [[Real Is Brown]]: Largely played straight -- the city is mostly grey brick, Central Park is an autumnal brown, and the world fades to monochrome when Mercer's health is low -- until you enter the heart of an infected zone, which is tinged with color ranging from a sickly sea-foam green to a nightmarish orange-red.

* [[Red Right Hand]]: Depending on the powers you have active, your arms can range from giant freaking claws, to cudgels, to a tentacle. This is kinda noticeable -- enemies will pretty much go from "Hey, what's that?" to "OH GOD ZEUS KILL IT KILL IT" instantly if you have an offensive or defensive power active.

* [[Redshirt Army]]: Every army that isn't you... But special mention goes to the Marines, since they were set up by Blackwatch to take the blame for the damage the virus has done (and what Blackwatch plans to do to cover it up).

* [[Regenerating Health]]: Though it only regenerates up to half a non-upgraded health bar.

* [[Respawning Enemies]]: So you can [[I'm a Humanitarian|eat]] and [[You Will Be Assimilated|eat]] non-stop.

* [[Scratch Damage]]: Put on your Armor power in Easy mode Plus. Even the police officers can chip off bits of your health bar by themselves.

* [[Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right|Screw The Rules, I'm Doing What's Right]]: {{spoiler|Specialist Cross, when he realizes that Blackwatch doesn't exactly have the city's best interests at heart. Unfortunately, [[Alas, Poor Villain|he ends up being]] [[Cruel and Unusual Death|consumed by the Supreme Hunter]]}}.

** Avoiding death in combat depends a lot on evading attacks. The airdash upgrades, glide, diveroll, and initial sprint and jump upgrades become available quite early on. Considering that all the rewarding collectibles become available for grabs just before your first manually started mission, you can greatly enhance your ability to survive combat by purchasing whatever upgrades are available with the abundance of EP that can be collected before zombies even start to appear in the streets.

* [[Sequel Hook]]: {{spoiler|PARIAH}}.

** The comics actually end with one as well: {{spoiler|1=Garcia, after having killed McKlusky, escapes the island via an insufficiently guarded subway tunnel, and kills several Blackwatch guards with her bare hands before they can radio in that she's there. It's pretty obvious that she's become a "Runner", a female Infected that is highly intelligent and independent of Elizabeth Greene's [[Hive Mind]]. So it's likely that the infection will be spreading out from the city now}}.

* [[Set a Mook To Kill A Mook]]: The Patsy ability.

* [[Shapeshifter Default Form]]: {{spoiler|The 'Alex Mercer' we know is actually the [[The Virus|Blacklight Virus]]; the virus merely copied the original Alex Mercer's body cell-by-cell. Since Blacklight originally believed himself to be the real Alex Mercer, it makes sense that he would instinctively use Mercer's body as though it were his original shape. However, even after the [[Awful Truth]] [[Tomato in The Mirror|is revealed]], Blacklight still uses Mercer's likeness as his default appearance, likely because he considers Mercer's body to be the closest thing he has to a real face and form (and possibly because he considers 'Alex Mercer' to be his name; or, at least, moreso than 'Blacklight' or 'Zeus').}}

** Considering that Alex can pick up and throw cars without being pushed back even in the slightest, he must weigh ''at least'' ten to twelve tons. The upper limit would probably be whatever the weakest Manhattan rooftop can bear without collapsing in on itself (so less than an airplane, probably).

** In both the game and comic, consuming is shown to spill a ton of blood. Dump all the water from a body and you can fit what's left into a smaller space.

* [[Shapeshifter Weapon]]: Claws, clubs, a whiplike tentacle, added muscle mass, or what amounts to a BFS (not counting the devastators, which ratchet things up a bit). Alex Mercer is basically a shapeshifting [[Swiss Army Appendage|swiss army knife]]. [[Doomy Dooms of Doom|Of doom]].

* [[Shield-Bash]]: When the Shield power is active, Alex will do this to anything he runs into.

* [[Shockwave Clap]]: Called Knuckle Shockwave, instead of a clap it's two clenched fists coming to getting for a massive boom.

* [[Shoryuken]]: Oh yeah. [[Rule of Cool|Oh, oh yeah]]. Bet you've never Shoryuken'd a person ''[[Ludicrous Gibs|in half]]'' before.

** Also, "[[Portal (Video Game)|The cure is a lie.]]" (written graffiti style on a billboard that says "The Cure Is Coming") and the stationary Alex detectors have the alarms from [[Halo|''The Pillar of Autumn'' and Crows Nest]]. [[The Thing (Film)|The Thing]] didn't even leave a slime trail! Another thing, and the higher up Marines (the ones that refill airstrikes via [[I'm a Humanitarian|eating them]]) look like [[Duke Nukem]]. Another NPC looks like Ellen DeGeneres.

** After getting the Armor power, when you activate it, Alex has an uncanny resemblance to the [[Guyver]].

** A random [[Mook]]: "[[Metal Gear Solid|I love the smell of cordite!]]"

** In the intro sequence, the exterior of [[Black Books|a certain famous bookshop]] can be seen.

* [[Shows Damage]]: Includes type 2 and both type 3A and 3B. Civilians and organic enemies usually are devoid of this trope, however.

* [[Skunk Stripe]]: Captain Cross.

** The Kill Event involving the use of a thermobaric tank against normal and elite zombies.

** There's an event called Overkill.

* [[Tomato in The Mirror]]: {{spoiler|Alex Mercer is actually [[The Virus]]. The Alex Mercer we know is just merely the [[Shapeshifter Default Form]] -- the original Alex died in Penn Station}}.

* [[Too Soon]]: This game was clear evidence that invoking this trope in regards to 9/11 is now a [[Dead Horse Trope]].

* [[Video Game Cruelty Punishment]]: Completely and utterly avoided. It doesn't matter whether civilians are just collateral damage or you're going on a rampage and killing all of them that you can on purpose, you aren't punished. Most of your "helpers" during the main quest don't seem to realize the carnage that Alex creates. Dana is genuinely shocked upon learning that Alex ''routinely'' '''[[I'm a Humanitarian|consumes]]''' people.

** Well, there's a minor punishment in that if you start punching out people in the middle of the street, the military will ''probably'' notice and start attacking you. But considering that the military quickly becomes only slightly more threatening than the civilians you're using as punching bags, this ranges from being a nuisance to being ''helpful'', providing you with an endless stream of people to gib.

** The sequel actually looks to be an allusion to this trope, given that the new protagonist is the father and husband of two of those civilians who inevitably died during your rampage through the first game. So, [[Broken Aesop|you get to punish Alex Mercer for all the collateral damage you made him do in the last game by controlling a new character who, in order to enact his revenge, will probably inflict as much collateral damage as Alex Mercer did]]. Sounds good!

* [[Videogame Dashing]]: The Air Dash. It can be upgraded to make you dash further and [[Up to Eleven|dash a ''second'' time after the first]]. Charging up attacks also amplify the extent in which Alex will lunge towards his target.