BFG 2011 - Prey 2 First Look

Arriving in Utah and negotiating through the rugged mountains, you got the distinct impression there was something special about Bethesda’s BFG showcase. Maybe it was the high altitude - around 7000ft above sea level - or the snow capped terrain, but there was a buzz in the air from the moment a hundred or so gaming blournos (thanks LeighH) hit the ground.

The first cab off the rank was the Prey 2 presentation, lead by Human Head’s head honcho, Chris Rhinehart. As a huge fan of the first Prey, with it’s Native-American protagonist Tommy, gravity defying level design and ethereal links to the spirit world, it carved its own path and is still to date one of my favourite first-person shooters.

After hearing they’d discarded everything I’d known and loved, it was with fear and trepidation that I entered the screening room to see what Human Head were offering. Then I had to eat crow. Throwing the sequel rule book out the window, Prey 2 looks like a brilliant mesh of multiple game styles in an open world the likes of which you’ve never seen.

By now you’ve probably had a gander at the live action trailer showing Air Marshal Killian Samuels aboard a 747, getting tossed around like a ragdoll before an explosive climax. Prey fans may have remembered a similar event taking place during the first game, at the time wondering WTF was going on. With the plane crashing aboard an alien vessel, Prey 2 kicks off with a bang. Killian negotiates his way through the burnt wreckage before he is set upon by an alien threat.



Well versed in gun-play he snaps to cover (without losing first-person perspective), whips out his pistol and lets loose a couple of warning head shots as he moves towards the flaming cockpit in search of survivors, killifying any humanoid along the way. Mere metres from his objective he gets swarmed, overwhelmed and beat down...

At this point the complete departure from the original had grabbed me by the short and curlies, but it was only the tease. When Killian awakes, three years have passed and he has absolutely no recollection of it. All he knows is that he’s been operating as a bounty hunter, is on an alien 'noir' style world called Exodus and he metes out justice his own way. It’s Blade Runner meets Boba Fett, and you get to decide whether you’re the baddest bounty hunter in the league, or a bastion of hope and righteousness.



Exodus is the wretched hive of scum and villainy that is your open world sandbox. You play the game as you see fit. Your visor has the ability to scan any area and indicate threats or subjects of interest. One ambient event played out before us as we watched a group of thugs corner a helpless cowering creature. He was highlighted in green, with those laying the smack down coloured yellow. If attacked they would turn red and respond, but for the demo’s purposes Chris chose to walk on by as the beat him into a bloody pulp.

That particular scenario could have played out entirely differently. We could have approached the thugs and joined in or extorted money from the victim for protection - much like the honour system in KOTOR, the onus is on the individual as to how the story unfolds - but there are consequences. Get a little too trigger happy for no reason and a security turret (littered throughout the metropolis) will spring into action. Sure you can take it down with a rocket launcher volley or two, but sometimes it’s better to err on the side of caution.

You procure missions via the Bounty Wire and can opt out of any mission at any time. Let me just make that clear. Having a crap time doing some stupid mission and getting a little jack of it? Cancel and move on. Prey 2 is all about fluidity and staying on the move and this concept translates through to its core mechanics. Motion is a super-hybrid of the parkour of Mirror’s Edge and Brink with the cover of Killzone 3, ledge shooting of the Uncharted franchise - and a pair of f**kin' hover boots thrown in for good measure!



Human Head want you to get involved in dynamic gun play and utilise that buzzword from a few years ago - verticality - as Chris effortlessly demonstrated during the final mission. We were charged with chasing down a scumbag named Dra’gar. To get to him, you need to loosen the tongue of a local snitch named Krux. Locking on to him with the visor (and his snarling bodyguard), Chris jumped from level to level, vaulting across gaps in the neon clad cityscape with ease. He politely requested an audience with Krux via a shotgun blast to the face of his bodyguard, and extracted the pertinent information.

Unsurprisingly, Dra’gar is holed up in a seedy little dive. Sneaking up on one of the guards, Killian instantly turned him into a meat shield to hold the rest at bay. Obviously not held in high regard, the meat shield was perforated in about 1.4573 seconds - necessitating a hasty tactical retreat into cover. Using one of the super high tech and upgradeable weapons at your disposal, the Anti-Gravity Wave, (operating much like Mass Effect’s Biotic Lift), Chris levitated the grunts to an easily shotgunable (it's a word now, deal with it) level where they were terminated with extreme awesomeness.

After pacifying the room we noticed our quarry had escaped and so the parkour chase began. Moving through the bowels of the city, Killian hopped, skipped and vaulted over gaps, up levels, off ledges, slid into cover, blind-fired at enemies, all the while getting closer and closer to Dra’gar. The slippery devil had a final trick up his sleeve - a short range teleporter - and so the chase was on, again.



Cornering him after leaping on to two moving trains, Killian whipped out a bola and snared the target. Cha-ching! Money in the bank. But before the celebrations could kick off Dra’gar’s 12 foot tall brother rocked up and demanded satisfaction... and the presentation drew to a close.

For a first look at a title nearly a year from release, Prey 2 is extremely solid. It’s taking aspects from innovative shooters and making its own waves. The focus is entirely on a tight single player experience, with no multiplayer to speak of. If you're a sci-fi fan of any sort, make sure you add this to your watchlist - it’s looking the interplanetary goods.