
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).













(Page 1) Reader Comments
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...
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F9Phoenix
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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
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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.
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Still wating for your PS3? (hee, hee)
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Graphically, I can't really see the difference between PC and 360 versions. Both are beautiful.
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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.
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See you fellers in the multiplayer.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.....
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oh yeah, the graphics are very impressive but it's not what I was looking for.
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I'll wait for official reviews to see if the Xbox360 is the version to get... otherwise I'll go for the PC, thanks :)
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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.
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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.
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Single player was fun, but the game won't be worth $60, especially with such a weak multiplayer.
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:)
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)
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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.
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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.
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God. I need a shirt with that on it, I say it so. Freakin. Often.
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...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 ;)
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Posted at 8:59PM on Jun 30th 2006 by fwacce
To grow up and be a PS3 Fan Boi!
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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.
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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.
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