Prey Demo now available on Xbox Live

by Ludwig Kietzmann { Jun 30th 2006 at 4:30PM }

Major Nelson kindly informed us that the Xbox Live servers are hosting a brand new chunk of code. At last, Xbox 360 owners get the opportunity to explore Human Head's topsy-turvy alien abductee sim, Prey. Contained within the 1.17GB demo (well over the 449MB PC version), you'll find a first-person shooter tinged with insanity and laced with opportunities to shoot yourself in the back. It's not often we get to play a corridor-crawler where the walls vomit body parts, your grenades attempt to bite you and the gravity behaves like it's trapped within some sort of interstellar tumble dryer. It's also not often that we get a Live demo on a Friday -- must be more alien meddling.

Grab the demo and be sure to let us know what you think. Please note that the demo is not available in the regions of Germany or Japan, so folks living there won't get to prey it right away (sorry).

Tags: 3D Realms, 3dRealms, Alien abduction, AlienAbduction, FPS, Human Head, HumanHead, MSFT, Prey, Prey Demo, PreyDemo, XBL, Xbox Live, XboxLive

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

deutschbag0106 @ Jun 30th 2006 4:35PM

got it,

first level completed
i like how the aliens came and blue oyster cult's "don't fear the reaper began playing"

(its pretty cool how the tv, juke box, and arcade games in the bar are interactive)

thus far i've only used a monkey wrench to beat some drunk guys...
can't wait to see what guns ya get

looks like im now in the spacecraft. things should be getting interesting.
im off to play some more...

Robert Summa @ Jun 30th 2006 4:39PM

I'm in multiplayer now, hit me up:

F9Phoenix

Louis S. @ Jun 30th 2006 4:48PM

FINNALY! Though 1.17 GB is quite alot... I'll have to delete some stuff later on...

Youri Zoutman @ Jun 30th 2006 4:57PM

It's pretty damn good. My 360 downloaded the 1.17 gigs in record time.

C. Grant @ Jun 30th 2006 5:01PM

F'real, that was a *very* fast download.

Anononomous @ Jun 30th 2006 5:02PM

Does anyone have both the PC and xbox versions? What's making it so much bigger?

Sagan @ Jun 30th 2006 5:06PM

Why no Germany? The PC demo had German subtitles in it. Couldn't they have done the same for 360?

SeNiLe @ Jun 30th 2006 5:18PM

Looks like it will be record time here as well. Xbox must have opened the flood gates for this monster.

Still downloading. It's been only 17 min. and 95 % done.

Almost there. I better get back to it, it might be done now. cya

Consoles @ Jun 30th 2006 5:24PM

German boy. make a US account and download the demo.

Neil @ Jun 30th 2006 5:28PM

I haven't played the demo yet because I'm at work. Can someone post a play by play! ;)

Jason W @ Jun 30th 2006 6:04PM

You can start all kinds of pass port accounts. I wouldnt sugest you do this since it is againt the MS user agreement, but man the Chrome Hounds demo was nice. Im sorry I like the old school Mech games. I just want one of those little Mechs that move fast not the monster 20 story suckers.
Im downloading Prey now. Lets see if it lives up the hype. Im so glad we have demos now. It make buying new games a little less risky.

X @ Jun 30th 2006 6:13PM

Another reason to buy an Xbox 360...

Still wating for your PS3? (hee, hee)

Zacky V @ Jun 30th 2006 6:19PM

Dude I just played single player and omg this game is awesome the whole gravity thing is cool theres just so much

Nick @ Jun 30th 2006 6:20PM

Look's like someone's playing Prey, as the 'stiq hasn't updated in a bit. I take it you guys like the demo? Mine's on the way right now, here's to hoping the demo convinces me I've gotta buy the whole shebang! As of now, all the demos I've downloaded have convinced me not to purchase the whole game, though I suppose that is my fault for downloading PDZ (boring), Rumble Roses (dumb), Top Spin 2 (I prefer Mario Tennis) and Burnout Revenge (already played the Xbox version to death, and it seemed like more of the same, and not even that much pretier!).

Orangecoke @ Jun 30th 2006 6:32PM

Single player is great, I'll probably buy this game. It's kinda sucky that you can't save the demo on the 360 version (only the PC version) after such a long download and long intro "cinematic".

Graphically, I can't really see the difference between PC and 360 versions. Both are beautiful.

GSI @ Jun 30th 2006 6:37PM

I'm curious to see the side-by-side video comparison that IGN will most likely do when both the 360 and PC versions are out. They did one for Oblivion and it wasn't until then that you saw what the differences were.

KilgoreTrout XL @ Jun 30th 2006 6:39PM

The good: The SP is well done. The portals and gravity manipulation works well. The standard pistol has a nice feel to it, and the scope-in rawks. Very, very cool. The atomosphere is great- creepy, dark and mean, and the story is surprisingly engaging (though the intro feels a little like a rip-off from the HL2 citaldel scene- not a bad thing really.) The spirit walk can, I imagine, allow for some interesting and difficult puzzles. And I personally like free use of curse words in video games. Must be the sailor in me.

The bad:
The MP is choppier than hell, and really just no fun at all. You're given little feedback as to what team you and other players are on, which makes it extremely confusing. More importantly, it's difficult to tell where you're shooting and whether or not you're actually hitting anyone. No thanks.

Sababaaa @ Jun 30th 2006 6:46PM

I just finished the demo and I'm very impressed. I wasn't really looking foward to this game, but I'll definitely be Gameflyin it during my 40 day trial I'm currently enjoying :D I wasnt all that impressed by the multiplayer, or else I'd probably just buy this sucker. I'm interested in seeing what achievements there are too (and official list yet?)

Xbox 360 BOY! @ Jun 30th 2006 6:47PM

Still waiting for your PS3 and Nintendo WEE-WEE's. LOL! Thats cool...to each their own. However I am loving my Xbox 360. I am going to download Prey tonight! I got a 5 MB per second server at home. I am going to upgrade though to the 15 MB Per Second Server. As you can see I am a big time Xbox Live Player.

See you fellers in the multiplayer.

Derek @ Jun 30th 2006 7:22PM

Enjoyed the demo a lot. The dialogue was pretty horrible but the gameplay was immersive. I particularly liked the upside-down/sideways tracks - a very Ratchet & Clank touch. The portals were pretty mindbending as well. The levels were a bit confined for my tastes but it was still a good time overall.

GSI @ Jun 30th 2006 7:29PM

"The levels were a bit confined for my tastes"

One of the many flaws with games using the DOOM 3 engine.
I haven't played the 360 version yet and I won't be able to until late tonight , but I have played the PC version and thought it was pretty nice.

I got a kick out of hearing Art Bell from Coast to Coast on there though...I thought that was very fitting. lol

OftenK @ Jun 30th 2006 7:57PM

The game is far from perfect, but a decent amount of fun. I'm a little torn between the PC or the 360 version, though; on the one hand, for some reason, the change in gravity seems less disorienting on the 360, and the controls feel good for the most part, while on the PC it--believe it or not-- looks nicer, obviously plays a little more precisely, and there's always the possibility of mods to up the replay value. Hmmm...

wEet @ Jun 30th 2006 8:02PM

What this console really needs is more racing games...

Keith L. Dick @ Jun 30th 2006 8:22PM

I'm still playing the (PC DEMO) and can't wait for this game to hit the stores... I know where I'll be spending most of my time after I get the full version... hehe

GSI @ Jun 30th 2006 8:30PM

@ OftenK:

Well it's no surprise that the PC version will look slightly better...that's not really a mystery. Plus it's not rocket science that it would be more precise too b/c a mouse is more accurate then a console analog stick.

Danny @ Jun 30th 2006 8:35PM

*Spoilers*
Heres a play by play of how the demo worked for me.
I down load the demo in 15 minutes. I happily start up the demo and begin the single player. You begin in the bathroom of a bar on a Cherokee reservation. Heading out you talk to a girl behind the bar, appearently the love interest. After awhile a few white men try to pick up on her and you make them your bitches. Then all hell breaks loose. Green tractor beams pull up everyone in the bar. Awaking on the alien ship you see your girlfriend and your grandfather attached to pods and realize you are too. As you journey through the vast network of wires that pull you along you see a human setting up a bomb. You break free and land on some sticky muck that the ship seems to be covered in. Walking around you see your grandfather being killed and harvested. What happens from this point is pure action. Many aliens are killed and cool weapons are used. The one problem I had is that far into the demo I jumped off one of the anti-grav wall platforms and fell into a corner of the world with no return.

fwacce @ Jun 30th 2006 8:59PM

"Another reason to buy an Xbox 360...

Still wating for your PS3? (hee, hee)"

Well, yes, I am. I want a bigger hard drive so I don't have to worry about deleting stuff just to get something like this. I also want to play a game that is not a FPS. I also want to play real games rather than salivating whenever a demo comes out just because there's nothing else on the system to play. I also want.....

Brazil La Zamba @ Jun 30th 2006 8:59PM

screw this i liked the single player, but I hated the multiplayer this game is only worth renting sorry ... thank god for gamefly!

oh yeah, the graphics are very impressive but it's not what I was looking for.

Iced_Eagle @ Jun 30th 2006 9:00PM

I'm getting choppy performance on MP, and a small performance hit on SP... Could this be me playing the PC enjoying the very smooth framerates there, and then getting it capped off at 30fps for xbox360 that makes the different?

I'll wait for official reviews to see if the Xbox360 is the version to get... otherwise I'll go for the PC, thanks :)

REY2K7 @ Jun 30th 2006 9:20PM

PC vs 360 = it depends

It depends on your PC. I ran the PC demo at 1600 with AA and it was breath taking! The 360 is a great lower resolution version, but not as spectacular as a decked PC. So in the end it comes down to whether you have a decked PC and a 360, and where you want to play. I do like playing on the big screen DLP with 5.1 surround...it just doesn't look as good as the PC.

Oh and the only other notable difference are the load screens. On the PC they are minimal, whereas the 360 it takes longer.

GSI @ Jun 30th 2006 9:24PM

#27:

So based on a short demo using unfinsihed and unoptimized you already know how the game will be and how it will run?

Ummm...ok.

Ben @ Jun 30th 2006 10:14PM

The multiplayer completely ruined the experience for me. There's no way they'll be able to fix that before the game comes out.

Single player was fun, but the game won't be worth $60, especially with such a weak multiplayer.

ryan @ Jun 30th 2006 10:42PM

i actually have the game on preorder..
:)

i got the pc demo, im not bothering with the 360 version.. although that is the version i preordered... just said to myself well they are essentially the same game so it would not matter what platform i demod it on.. (my computer can run prey however not at the highest settings)

Bloo @ Jun 30th 2006 10:44PM

"screw this i liked the single player, but I hated the multiplayer this game is only worth renting sorry ... thank god for gamefly!"

Is there a reason you mention gamefly in every post you make?

"oh yeah, the graphics are very impressive but it's not what I was looking for."

So you were looking for unimpressive graphics?

Anyways, I went into this game with zero expectations. The single player demo blew me away completely in every possible aspect. Graphics, story, sound, gameplay, etc. For a game I had zero intentions of getting, it's now a must have for me. I'm going to try out multiplayer tomorrow. Hopefully it's not as bad as everyone is saying.

The ZeroCorpse @ Jun 30th 2006 10:55PM

I liked the bar, didn't like the rest.

It's cool that you can play blackjack, slots, and pac-man (sorta) in the arcade of the bar. The jukebox was kinda cool, too.

The actual alien spaceship, though, was just more of the same FPS play I've seen before. Nothing really impressed me there. I liked the theme, and I liked the story, but the actual gameplay was nothing phenomenal.

Eric @ Jun 30th 2006 10:57PM

Damn, that's some freaky shit there.

Geist @ Jun 30th 2006 10:58PM

It's better on PC!

God. I need a shirt with that on it, I say it so. Freakin. Often.

alexkeeny @ Jun 30th 2006 11:09PM

the gameplay was pretty fun, i played the whole demo through. lots of interesting things like portals and spirits.

...but has anyone else even thought about the story? you are a cherokee who doesn't care for his roots, gets abducted by aliens, and discovers spirit powers with the help of your recently dead grandfather. kinda screams uwe boll to me ;)

Bob @ Jun 30th 2006 11:57PM

I haven't played the multiplayer but I was blown away by the single player. I think the use of portals, the lighted tracks, and the gravity manipulation are pretty fun and interesting. I would think all that stuff would lead to some crazy xbox live fun, as long as the servers keep up with it all. I disagree with those calling this a renter. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but this is the most fun I've had on my 360 so far. Definitely a purchase for me.

Kwyjibo @ Jul 1st 2006 12:04AM

This game is awesome. I tried both the PC and the 360 versions of the demo and both times I was blown away. The demo was smoother on my Geforce 7800 equipped computer, but the frame rate on the 360 was more than acceptable (unlike Quake 4 on the 360.) Graphically, it looked a little better on the PC, but it is still a gorgeous game on the 360. Of course, I tried the PC demo on a 23-inch monitor and the 360 version on a 46-inch DLP television so it was a lot easier to see the imperfections on the 360. In the end, I'm going to go with Prey on the 360, I just like playing games on a big screen with 5.1 sound... and sitting on a comfortable couch.

Brad Lee @ Jul 1st 2006 1:01AM

I've played a lot of FPSes in my day, but it has been a while since I've played one that has actually gotten me excited. For a long time now I've felt like the FPS genre has become rather stagnant, so its great to see a FPS come out that looks and plays differently.

I played the single player and was really impressed. I like how Tommy isn't your typical testosterone-pumped badass. I also like how the 'Sphere' actually seems like a living entity, as opposed to endless boring metallic hallways (*cough* Halo *cough*) there is actually a lot of variety. Teleportation portals, shifting gravity, anti-gravity walkways, and spirit walking, all very cool!

I also tried out the multiplayer and wasn't impressed. It was very laggy even though there were only 6 of us total. Also, if you don't have the acid gun or the missile launcher, consider yourself f-ed, because those two weapons seemed to be the only ones worth firing.

However, I could care less about XBox Live anyway. The single player alone should be worth a purchase.

Xbox 360 BOY! @ Jul 1st 2006 1:03AM

PC Gamers are always trying to justify that the PC is better. First of all the Xbox 360 is more powerful than any PC that I heard named so far. Its 3 3.2 cores are more powerful with its graphics card. Furthermore if you are playing the game on the same tv and comparing it that is one thing. However if you are playing the Xbox 360 game on a screen twice the size of your computer monitor with less resolution than of course the game will look a little less sharp because of the size difference.

For that guy talking about holding out for his PS3. Than fine wait for it. Bottom line is we are playing now and your not. Enough said.

Last but not least this is just a demo and not the final game. To develop for the Xbox 360 is more difficult since it has 3 cores and two threads per core. That is a total of 6 processes.

The PC usually only has one. Maybe two simulateneous threads. Anything more than that and you are spending thousands upon thousands of dollars on a custom system to try to match the Xbox 360 in price. Even then you couldnt because the system still is not fully optimized for gaming.

Xbox 360 is the shit.

Ian @ Jul 1st 2006 1:25AM

Wow, that demo was incredible. I've only played the single player game but I think I'm sold. It would be a great summer game to have since theres nothing else coming out. I haven't tried the PC demo but I'd probably get it for my 360 anyway. I need to try the multiplayer demo but damn, that was one unforgetable experience.

Pete @ Jul 1st 2006 2:04AM

Boring. Doom3 with a fancy yet over used teleport gimmick. For a free demo its defiantly worth a look but its just another fps for the pile. Bring on Dead Rising!

Mike @ Jul 1st 2006 2:04AM

stupid xbox live keeps telling my the download for this is failing!

Sid @ Jul 1st 2006 2:06AM

I played the single-player bit, and I have to admit, it blew me away. Even better, I was hosting a party at the time, and everything is just so much more fun with six or seven people watching and feeling exactly the same.

I liked the pacing of it; it managed to tell the story pretty effectively off the start and just hooked me. The writing was above-average, none of the lines really sounded dumb, with the exception of the guys at the bar (who promptly get their skulls bashed in with a wrench, which I find hilarious that it's so conveniently excused by alien invasions). Every line is basically what you were thinking at the moment, especially towards the end of the demo (and it was pretty sizable, maybe an hour and a half).

The graphics were nice, but they didn't really sell me. I really liked the fact that the warps and things were so plain that they're intentionally confusing. Hell, the entire game is basically about being weird and disorienting you. The magnet-tracks screw up your sense of gravity, the warps screw up your pathfinding, and above all, how the place is just so freakishly alien. Whether the scenery or the killing devices, it's just something that makes you constantly think "whoah, what the hell is going on here?" My favorite part was the warp where, through it, you see yourself going in it from another angle, only to come out right next to it and able to see yourself through it again.

I hadn't even heard of it before the demo, and now I so totally want to pick it up. Multiplayer isn't even an issue for me, the single-player totally justifies however much money it costs.

Mark @ Jul 1st 2006 4:40AM

I also want.....

Posted at 8:59PM on Jun 30th 2006 by fwacce

To grow up and be a PS3 Fan Boi!

Jdoki @ Jul 1st 2006 5:41AM

@42 Pete...My thoughts exactly.

This is just Doom 3, with less scares, and an anti-gravity gimmick.

Never been a big fan of 3DRealms games - this does nothing to change that opinion.

jessie @ Jul 1st 2006 6:34AM

1. it's not 3drealms. it's human head. 3drealms is the publisher, not the developer.

2. it's not a "gimmick" its as much a gimmick as was bullet time. its a feature. just like portals and wallwalking.

3. if you actually paid attention, you'd realize this isnt doom 3. doom 3 was more survival horror than it was a FPS. this is FPS with some really cool features to give it its own flavor. if you cant appreciate it, go back to counter-strike.