Prototype 2 was a disappointment, even by the low standards that I set for myself. Story didn't make much sense, which is by far the worst offender for me. Graphic design is more exaggerated and much more cartoonish than the original in it's design. The colors and textures are dark but the themes, especially the generic Blackwatch goons, are right out of saturday morning cartoons. Why are Blackwatch soldiers walking around the city with shoulder pads, rags tied to their armor, and large, triangular blades strapped to their arms? I don't know. No one knows. And the game doesn't bother to explain this extreme shift in design from the previous installment. Worse, this change it a GI Joe Cobra-ish level of design is accompanied by conflicting depications of Blackwatch
Characterization is simplistic. The main character is black, swears constantly, and is angry. That's about all I know about him. Prototype was interesting in part because as the game went on we discovered more details about Mercer that changed how he viewed the world and himself as a put his memories back together, culminating in a major revelation of identity: [spoiler]that Alex Mercer had died in Penn Station and the being which now wore his form was a sentient/sapient strain of the Blacklight virus which origined using Mercer's bio-mass and memories, not Alex Mercer himself.[/spoiler] The new protagonist, Heller, has no such changes in his view of the world. He starts out hating Mercer and Blackwatch and continues to hate Mercer and Blackwatch. His dialog is primarily comprised of juvenile threats and pointless obscenities.
MORE TO COME, MUST STEP AWAY FROM KEYBOARD...