No one exactly knows when these two titles became rivals in the gaming industry, but overtime, and as their similarities grew, it became inevitable due to the continuous comparisons between the two. Before long the hype surrounding inFamous and Prototype rose tremendously as the war over “”which was better” began to escalate. Both games had similar basic concepts and ideas, despite their goals being completely different, both titles were developed and released almost side by side and both had their own appeals and offerings. Fortunately, both have finally been released and both are very successful, but the question of “Which is better?” has still not been fully resolved. With this article, I plan to (hopefully) dig deep into everything the two titles have to offer, the good and the bad, and work towards the final verdict. If you still haven’t decided which of the two to buy or still find yourself caught in the rival war, I plan to end it all with this article. Without further delay, let the showdown begin!

[Note: This article requires you to have a reasonable amount of knowledge regarding both games, but if you'd like to know more you can check out the inFamous and Prototype reviews on eGamer]

Round 1 – Story

Plot

inFamous as well as Prototype put a lot of effort into their stories. Prototype opted for a deep and thought provoking conspiracy plot, telling its story by means of cutscenes and the “Web of Intrigue” sidequest. inFamous takes an interesting and appealing approach by presenting the plot using graphic novel cutscenes which brings about an intriguing comic book feel to the game. From the outset both stories are really interesting, but in the end the execution had its flaws. Prototype fails to explain anything with the short length cutscenes and it suffers a great deal from redundent and meaningless dialogue, lack of character interaction or emotion to the point where the player will stop caring about the main story because it’s too convoluted to follow. The backstory (Web of Intrigue system) gathers the most interest as it’s exceptionally detailed and interesting, providing small bits of catchy information with each Web discovery, but a fair number of them are far too vague and don’t make any impact at all. Prototype has a fantastic twist near the end, but the plot is never sufficiently explained for the story to have any kind of impact. It all comes across as though it was just shoved in for the sake of it. inFamous, by contrast, has immersive and exceptionally well done graphic novel storytelling. While inFamous also falls victim to the flaw of not explaining much, it’s presented so well via the dialogue, voice acting and artwork that it becomes very compelling. The backstory side quests are less plentyful than Prototype’s but they’re far more revealing and valuable. As I mentioned in my inFamous review, the story will often be your driving force to continue playing the game.

In direct comparison, Prototype is jumbled and confusing while inFamous is steady and in control for most of the game. Prototype’s great story seemed to go to waste due to the bad story telling and you’ll lose interest very quickly until the final sections of the game where it all comes together, but inFamous remains strong and gripping until the very shocking ending. It’s easy to say that regarding the story, inFamous easily defeats Prototype.

Protagonist/Main Character

Once again inFamous claims victory over Prototype. See, in inFamous the player decides whether they’re going to be good or bad, but despite the Karma system feeling gimmicky and uninspired, the fact is that Cole as a character remains consistent no matter which path you choose. The other characters who interact with Cole at least adapt somewhat in their behaviour towards him as well which adds to Cole’s character development as he reacts to the difference in opinions. While Cole does not fit the everyman role, he is still realistic in his character which allows the player to more or less accept and relate to his actions and decisions throughout the game. On the other hand, regarding Prototype, Alex Mercer is a confusing and inconsistent character. While we warm up to Cole throughout the game we barely understand Alex Mercer at all. Beginning the game with no memories, Alex does well enough to convince the player of his scared and confused nature, but soon after that he seems to become a murderer without hesitation. The shift between the two is much too fast without any valid reasoning and explanation. Furthermore, his goal for revenge comes across as comical because it is never explained and so you’re left wondering as to why the most powerful man in perhaps the world would want revenge on those that made him that way. There wasn’t enough explanation regarding his monstrosity to allow Alex to be a victim in the main plot, but instead he just comes across as a confusing psychopath. Admittedly, there was one instance in the game where Alex demonstrates some freakish behaviour towards his sister, Dana, but that’s about the only time the game hints at the dark side effects to his powers. The rest of the time, Alex tries to portray himself as an innocent victim while killing scores of civilians on his daily stroll.

In conclusion, Alex Mercer does not come across as the victim in the story, which was originally intended, and it’s hard to relate to his character due to his inconsistency and unexplained self. We never really sympathize with him because he’s so uncharacterised. Cole, in comparison, is much more realistic and understandable. That’s another point for inFamous.

Round 2 – Gameplay

General

inFamous and Prototype are often considered to be very similar, which is more or less true when taking into account their concepts, but in actual gameplay one would be surprised as to how different both titles really are. The majority of the gameplay in inFamous is a mix between third person shooting and platforming where as Prototype plays more or less like a beat em’ up in a sandbox game world. It would be more effective to compare Prototype to the likes of Spiderman or God of War and inFamous to Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune with both of them having common elements of Grand Theft Auto. This might cause you to wonder whether there is any point at all to compare the two if they’re fundamentally different games, but if you take a step back you’d see that both inFamous and Prototype are taking two different approaches toward a similar goal. inFamous aims more for the typical action genre, with third person shooter-esque combat balanced against platforming, puzzles and an action packed story with the sandbox element simply lengthening the experience. Prototype on the other hand is a much more visceral game, throwing platforming and story aside in order to give you an intensely destructive experience in a well designed sandbox world. Prototype is an adrenaline rush game that you can play for 2 minutes or 2 hours whereas inFamous you play to finish. While it may seem that I’m only distancing the games from each other, both of them target the same audience and have the concept of throwing you in a sandbox world and making you kill stuff. Since the two are unique in their own rights, no points are awarded to either.

Missions

Comparing the missions and mission structure of both games isn’t the best of comparisons because, in my view, the games are very different in this area. When it comes to side missions, Prototype is largely flawed. The side missions are very unrewarding because it’s quite difficult to score well in several of them, and the exp rewards are often minor. Due to the fact that causing destruction such as infiltrating enemy bases and destroying outposts rewards you with far more experience points, it’s quite pointless to take on the side missions in Prototype because screwing around is much more fun and more rewarding (and you don’t have a time limit). inFamous, by contrast, doesn’t only reward you with experience, but also makes life easier for the player as the city becomes less populated with villains the more side quests you complete. This makes it really feel like you’re working toward something when you do side quests. There is also the “Good” and “Evil” side missions in inFamous that allow you to unlock unique Karma powers. While, inFamous’ side missions are better than Prototype’s, Prototype’s “Web of Intrigue” and other city activities are much more enjoyable than those of inFamous. See, in inFamous the sandbox missions come in the form of collectibles, dead drops (audio logs) and stunt challenges, but these aren’t well integrated into the gameplay because attempting them almost always results in breaking away from the main path to turn your focus on them and they’re not as fun as playing the main quests. In Prototype, tackling the sandbox missions are so much easier and enjoyable, because they are quite varied and are implemented extremely well into the gameplay. Regardless of whether you’re infiltrating a military base, jacking helicopters and tanks, destroying enemy outposts, causing mass city destruction and taking on armies for kicks, you will still be playing the game itself because they feel part of the big picture and are very rewarding, unlike in inFamous where you are forced to deviate completely from the main path. So it’s kind of a 50-50 situation. Prototype has horrible side missions but excellent sandbox missions, while inFamous has horrible sandbox missions but great side missions.

In inFamous, there are roughly 40 main missions, but the problem is that a fair amount of the missions don’t come across as progress. There’s plenty of incentive to play the main quests for plot progression, new abilities and plenty of exp but several of them seem unimportant in the larger picture and make the game feel like it’s dragging out. In Prototype, the main missions are not only very long and involved, but completing them sometimes feels as though you’ve achieved a milestone in progression. Not only will every few missions unlock large amounts of new powers and abilities, but the main missions also present the player with heaps of experience points to acquire these powers. Also, the game world changes the more main missions you complete, as more of the city will become infected as you progress. Ultimately, you’ll see the changes in the game world after each mission. However, despite this, since the story is weak and messing around is more fun, there’s not nearly as much incentive to complete the story as inFamous.

A problem that both inFamous and Prototype are guilty of is that they adopt certain mission types that simply do not work at all taking into account their gameplay. Prototype has a few protection missions involved, which comes across as ridiculous when considering the sheer amount of destructive power that Alex Mercer packs. Nearly every attack you pull off will cause a chain reaction which often damages the very target you’re supposed to protect. This can make it extremely frustrating when you’re killing your own allies with half your attacks. In inFamous there are some chase missions packed in, which also don’t work well in the game. Cole is much too slow to capture the feel and intensity of a chase mission and you’ll find yourself getting worked up a few times when trying to speed up. I mention this because the two mission types above were placed in the wrong titles. It’s quite clear that protection missions are better suited for inFamous where your powers are more controlled and less destructive and it’s also evident that chase missions work a lot better in Prototype taking into consideration that Alex Mercer is a speed demon. Another example would be the races in Prototype, where instead of logically creating them based on a “point A to B” bases, the player is forced to collect numerous way points (markers) in order to progress through the race, which is frustrating because precision is difficult in Prototype. It’s admirable that both titles put effort into delivering a good variety in missions, but unfortunately it wasn’t fully thought out taking this into consideration.

Both games also suffer from irregular difficulty curves. Prototype is cakewalk for most of the game while frustratingly difficult in some parts. The same goes for inFamous because, near the end, the enemies have so much health and deal so much damage that the game turns into a cover shooter. Fortunately inFamous makes up for this with extremely frequent checkpoints and no penalty for death making repeated attempts at a mission much less aggravating. Since death is a rare occurrence in Prototype, retrying the same mission for the umpteenth time can really put a damper on your day, even more so when you complete the following mission without even taking damage.

In conclusion, this was a difficult section to look at, but in the end I would draw the line at even. There so many things that both titles do well and wrong regarding their missions that it would be wrong of me to directly name one or the other as the victor. Therefore, both titles are awarded one point each.

Combat

inFamous and Prototype take different approaches to combat. Prototype tried to emulate a power fantasy, where the player feels equivalent to a demigod. The combat aims to be as visceral, free-flowing, explosive and varied as possible so naturally it would fit best as a beat-em up. inFamous, on the other hand, took electricity as the focal power and built the combat around a third person shooter model where the new powers basically equate to new guns. The good part to inFamous’s combat is that, although there are less powers, all of them are easily accessible, because holding down the L1 button puts you into over-the-shoulder aiming where you can use any ability that you have, so the combat is surprisingly smooth for a third person shooter. Prototype’s should have been as smooth as God of War or Devil May Cry but the combat lacks the fluidity due to the awkward radial select menu required to change powers. Selecting the powers is not as simple as the press of a button and the delay time when switching completely disallows using the powers in conjunction. This causes the combat to be much less smooth and skillful than it should be, but the sheer number of moves tends to make up for this.

However, Prototype’s biggest triumph over inFamous in the combat is variety. In inFamous the problem is that the powers are very similar to each other and basically bring forward the same results. What this means is that combat takes little to no strategy because all powers will achieve the same result in a similar fashion. The combat is still very fun and functional, but the similarity of the powers leads me to the conclusion that inFamous didn’t fully explore electricity concepts. It would have been nice to use some more advanced powers such as causing a city blackout to escape dangerous situations, rather than just having an array of different looking projectiles. However, to its favour most of the powers remain useful for the entire game and one doesn’t feel blatantly superior than another.

Prototype features a whole list of combat powers and abilities, as Alex Mercer will be able to morph his arms into different weapons such as blades, claws and hammers. Admittedly there could have been more moves for each power, but the fact is that there are a ton of moves overall gives the game a great sense of variety. The unfortunate part though is that the powers are not very balanced. For example, the blade power far surpasses both the hammerfist and claw power, because it’s both incredibly fast and incredibly damaging, which is upsetting because powers that are usually fun, tend to lose their usefulness later on in the game. It all comes across as though a vast number of moves were spread too thinly across a vast number of weapons. When you compare Prototype’s combat to God of War: Prototype has five weapons with about five attacks each while God of War has three weapons with over ten each. While Prototype does have more abilities overall, it does this at the cost of smoothness, balance and fluidity.

The other issue with Prototype’s combat is that later in the game a lot of the moves have a ridiculously high experience point cost and many of them are not even useful, but merely there for the sake of variety. It sometimes does come across as a cheap way of lengthening gameplay, when taking into consideration the time required to gather experience to purchase those moves, but the upside is that there is a massive list of abilities to obtain, many of which you will use often throughout the game. Furthermore, not only are there the various powers to use, but the player can use hand-to-hand combat, use almost any weapon and vehicle  – which makes it feel like the developers went out of their way to add as much options as possible. Also the extreme variety in the combat means that there’s an incredible amount of progression with abilities and throughout the course of the game you go from fairly strong to ridiculously powerful which really adds a lot to the experience. The same unfortunately cannot be said about inFamous where the powers are mostly on the same level and don’t impact gameplay nearly as much as you would think.

In the end, the bulk of inFamous’s combat is third person shooting that more or less remains the same during the course of the game, but Prototype’s combat has a large variety and calls for experimentation. Plus one to Prototype.

Sandbox

I believe that the key to a good sandbox game falls with the player being able to feel as though their own actions have an impact on the game world. The player needs to feel that they are a significant being in the game world and it’s often accomplished with reactive AI and an in-game penalty system. I put this forward because this is an area where inFamous is severely lacking, as I mentioned in my review of it. The city is quite small and the inhabitants are lifeless, making it hard to become immersed in the sand box world. It’s difficult to get a reaction out of the people in Empire City even when you’re dishing out the pain or presenting yourself as a noble hero. In a sandbox game the inhabitants must acknowledge the player’s actions and not the other way around. It almost seems as though you have to fight for recognition in inFamous, and when you do finally get a reaction it’s always from a small crowd repeating the same, limited string of actions depending on whether you’re good or bad. The first time you see a group of fans snap some photos of you or beg you to heal a friend (assuming you’re good) it will come across as impressive but once this process has been repeated several hundreds of times, it fast loses its worth. The same feeling comes with choosing the dark path as you’ll often find yourself attempting to go on a rampage, but instead only managing to chase away three people while the rest continue on as though nothing is wrong. This makes the player often feel isolated from the game world because in the end you’re merely chasing your own agenda where your actions have no impact on anyone other than yourself. This is furthered by the complete lack of a penalty system and hardly any story choice making it feel as though the game is taking you for a ride and not the other way round.

Prototype, however, seemed to base their entire sandbox world around chaos. From the beginning right until the end the player will ultimately feel as though they are the “be all and end all” entity in the game world. The city is massive in size and feels alive which is furthered by the faction wars. It really feels like you’re in a three way war involving yourself, the military and the infected. The AI will not automatically target you, as is often the case, making it really feel like you’re a player in the war rather than feeling that everyone hates you. It always manages to get the adrenaline pumping once the player is met with the chaos-filled scene of civilians running for their lives while the military calls in Strike Teams to take you down as the infected are fighting it out with the military’s ground forces. The AI really reacts to what you do. Cause enough trouble and you become the priority. Choose to aid the military and they’ll focus on the infected. While the penalty system is not tiered or as varied like the one in Grand Theft Auto, it manages to fit the game perfectly. If you anger the military enough, they’ll send in a strike team to take you out and, towards the end, they can become quite a nuisance. If you manage to escape, you’ll be rewarded with exp but if you fight back you get even more. All of the above really helps make Prototype a great sandbox experience.

The next contributor to a successful sandbox game is the means to get around the game world. Unfortunately this is yet another area where inFamous suffers. Firstly, the powers needed for quick travel are only unlocked later on in the game which results in travel becoming a tedious obstacle in the early stages, but even once you’ve gotten the necessary powers you’ll still suffer from Cole’s slow climbing and movement speed. The positive side is that it’s very easy to be precise in Cole’s movements and thus platforming becomes a major part of gameplay. In Prototype the game is entirely unrestricted when it comes to movement. Unlike inFamous, platforming is never tedious because any obstacle in your way is easily overcome. Alex Mercer can run at incredible speeds, scale buildings with a single leap, race up walls, glide and dash through the air. The player will be able to get from point A to B very quickly and smoothly and it’s always enjoyable to travel through the game world. As far as traveling goes, you can go simply go in a straight line to get to your destination and the ability to dash, run along any surface and fly short distances make traveling just as smooth as it is fun. The downside is that, unlike inFamous, it is difficult to be precise in your movements because of the slightly clunky controls and high speed of Alex. This can make it very difficult to say, collect an orb on the top of a skyscraper or complete a race where you need to touch every point. Still, when it comes to ease of travel, Prototype is simply miles ahead of infamous.

The point here goes to Prototype. Not only does the game world feel alive, but your actions have consequences and the impact is noticeable. inFamous severely lacks in the sandbox area. When it comes to travel Prototype takes the point as well because it contains quite possibly the best parkour mechanics ever seen in a sandbox game. It’s unrestricted, fluid, fast paced and very enjoyable. Prototype definitely outdoes inFamous when it comes to sandbox element. Plus another point to Prototype.

Round 3 – Graphics/Technical

Without a doubt, inFamous takes this point. On both a graphical and technical front, inFamous is quite incredible. The game features some of the best visuals seen in an open world sandbox title to date. The graphics and drawing distance are amazing and the outstanding electricity physics certainly deserve a mention. I don’t think we’ve seen electricity physics of this calibre ever before in a video game. It’s not just the visuals, but on a technical level, inFamous far exceeds Prototype. inFamous rarely suffers from graphical glitches or any gamebreaking bugs. By comparison, Prototype’s graphics are heavily under par and it suffers from technical problems such as horrendous pop-in issues  (objects loading up and coming into view only once you get close to them) and a pathetic drawing distance. It really doesn’t seem like Prototype optimised the game for each console, rather focusing on making the same product for each one. Prototype has sacrificed graphics for a smoother framerate and, to it’s favour, the game will never slowdown which is very impressive when taking into account the level of action that happens on-screen at once. I’m not one to complain about graphics as I don’t feel that they are very responsible for making an excellent game, but Prototype’s graphics are really lacking. Prototype was perfectly capable of delivering decent graphics on all consoles and while technically the game is more or less solid, inFamous trashes it on this front. inFamous obviously had the upper hand, having only to focus on one console, but results are more important than reasons so another point goes to inFamous.

Round 4 – Lasting Appeal

We’ve now come to the final round of inFamous VS Prototype. We’ve analysed every area of gameplay in both titles, so now the only ground yet to be covered is the method in which these games compensate for your time and money. In the case of inFamous, the game will take you roughly 12 hours to complete on your first playthrough and you can add on another 7-10 if you’re aiming to see both endings. However, the unfortunate part is that there isn’t really any incentive to go for a second playthrough since both storylines are almost identical no matter which choices you make and since the powers are fairly similar as well, you can most likely predict, with high accuracy, every change in the alternate story path and have the same experience both times. inFamous is the type of game you’ll play from start to end and enjoy the ride. One of the greatest incentives to play is the story so once you’ve finished it, there’s really no reason to keep on playing unless you’re after trophies for your PSN account.

With Prototype once you’re finished it’s unlikely you’ll return for a second playthrough either. However, the difference is that Prototype will keep you occupied for a lot longer when you include all of the other activities and gameplay mechanics to explore other than the main missions. In other words there are a lot of different ways to play that you can fill up your time experimenting with. Added to the fact that the main missions themselves, including gathering exp for new abilities, will take you about 12-14 hours to finish and there is definitely a lot of time to be spent playing Prototype. The point is that with inFamous there isn’t much to come back to once you’re done and the main missions are most likely what you’ll be putting your time in, where as in Prototype you can keep coming back for more whether you’re looking for a couple of minutes or hours to kill. Prototype is a dream game for the casual crowd because it’s easy to get into, enjoy and unwind in. There’s just so much to do that finishing the story is often the last thing on your mind. If you do finish the game, you’re even allowed the New Game+ mode which lets you play the game again with all of your powers, and since there are way too many abilities to unlock in one average play-through, there is definitely some incentive to play it some more.

The last point goes to Prototype, which sets the final score at:

Conclusion

After nearly 5000 words I think I’ve said pretty much all there is to say regarding inFamous and Prototype. Both are fantastic games with their own merits and it’s definitely worth your while to play both. If you have a PS3 then you owe to it yourself to play both and if you’ve got an XBox or PC, then don’t feel left out because Prototype is an outstanding game. It really only comes down to whether you prefer beat-em up action games or third person shooters and that’s probably the only way to determine for yourself which one is better. Personally I like Prototype more because it has so much variety in its gameplay and it’s just so enjoyable that I often return for some more action to cool my head. I guess this long article needs a last word and it goes thus: Both inFamous and Prototype are awesome games that are most definitely worth your time and money. If you can play both, then I strongly suggest that you do, otherwise Prototype is just as great a game.

[Credit to eurogamer, teamxbox for the screenshots]