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Prey is a first-person shooter video game developed by Human Head Studios and produced by 3D Realms, using a heavily modified version of the Doom 3 engine. Venom Games is responsible for the Xbox 360 port of the game. A playable single and multiplayer demo of the game was released on June 22, 2006 for PC, and a downloadable Xbox 360 demo was released on the Xbox Live Marketplace on June 30, 2006. The game went gold on June 28, 2006•, and was released in North America on July 11, 2006 and on July 14, 2006 in Europe. In October 2006, 3D Realms CEO Scott Miller announced that the game is a commercial success on both PC and Xbox 360 with combined 1 million copies sold worldwide to date*.
Development history In 1995, the first incarnation of the game was announced. Prey, to be developed in tandem with Duke Nukem Forever, and released around the same time, was envisioned by 3D Realms as first of a number of games to be running on unique, cutting edge game engine technology, to be developed in house. In this sense the project played the same role as Unreal did for Epic Games, and it would retain this role in the company’s strategy throughout its development time in the 3D Realms studios. However, Prey as a game was to go through many different forms during this first attempt. A rapid succession of different designs developed by Tom Hall (previously of id software and later of Ion Storm), who was at that time fresh off the Rise of the Triad team at Apogee Software. After about a year’s worth of work, however, Tom Hall abandoned the project and left the company to form Ion Storm with ex-id compatriot John Romero. At this point 3D Realms brought on Paul Schuytema to begin the next phase in the game’s development. The new team would go on to create the most coherent design the game ever had. The alien abduction theme was retained, but now the game was to be set on a massive, living alien space ship inhabited by a number of different alien races (three of them collectively known as the "Trocara" and a fourth called the "Keepers"), and the player would take the role of a Native American hero, called Talon Brave. The game, keeping with its goal of presenting impressive cutting edge technology, showed off for the first time its portal technology, a feature that allowed rips in space to be created, moved and reshaped in real time. This was to be a core feature of the gameplay, along with heavily destructible environments. Demonstrations of these features drew widespread acclaim at the 1997 and 1998 E³ exhibitions – the television program Infinite MHz was able to capture exclusive footage of the game’s private behind-closed-doors demo at the games both E³ showings. The public perception was very positive, the game looked impressive, and 3D Realms’ name, fresh from the success of Duke Nukem 3D was a mark of quality. Furthermore, German industrial band KMFDM were supposed to create the game's soundtrack. 3D Realms posted on their website in 1997 that they received a sample of the soundtrack from KMFDM and highly praised the music, described as “ambient industrial”. 3D Realms also released, via their website, two KMFDM songs in MP3 format (that are not on the Prey soundtrack), "Inane" and "Megalomaniac." However, despite the best of starts, Prey’s development was troubled. Seemingly insurmountable technical problems ground development to a near-halt, and this version of Prey too fell apart. Later, on an internet discussion board head engineer William Scarboro would comment that "In hindsight, portal tricks such as these should be used as tricks, not as an engine paradigm."• Shortly after the Schuytema variant of Prey disbanded, 3D Realms attempted again to revive the project by bringing on tech programmer Corinne Yu in November of 1998.• At this time there was no active game development going on, Corinne was the only person on the project. She was solely there to write an engine which would be used for the Prey project. It was also thought at the time this engine would be used for Duke Nukem 5 (the game after Duke Nukem Forever). However, after a time, this iteration of Prey also fell apart too. 3D Realms & Corrine Yu parted ways, and Prey began its long period of inactivity in 1999.• The title was put on indefinite hold (although never formally cancelled, contrary to popular opinion). In 2001, 3D Realms began development on a new version of the title.• This time, with the advantage of the necessary portal technology already being a stable and functional component of all modern game engines, 3D Realms was able to license the necessary technology instead of having to develop it. Specifically, the Doom 3 technology from id Software was licensed, and Rune developer Human Head Studios was commissioned to develop the game using the previous designs as a base. Rumors of this new project leaked out to the public in 2002, through the website Evil Avatar, but were at that time neither confirmed nor denied. It wasn’t until 2005, when the cryptic clue "Keep your eyes open for the unveiling of our next game very soon. )"• appeared on the 3D Realms website that the previous rumors were confirmed in any way. This was followed by a CNN article by Chris Morris, claiming that Prey was not only in development, but that it would be shown at E³.• Soon afterwards, the official Prey teaser site was launched, confirming the game's existence, and hinting that more would be revealed in the June issue of PC Gamer, which indeed featured a seven page article on Prey. On April 26, 2005 Prey was officially announced in a press release by 2K Games: "New York, NY – April 26, 2005 – 2K Games, a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO), and 3D Realms today announced Prey, a revolutionary first person shooter for PC and a next-generation console system in development at Human Head Studios, under the direct supervision of 3D Realms."• The press release later went on to say that: "Prey will be exclusively showcased at this year’s E3 Expo by ATI in a movie theater-style exhibition. For the world exclusive first details on the game, look for PC Gamer’s June issue featuring Prey as its cover story, arriving on newsstands in early May. Prey is currently scheduled for a 2006 release." On April 28, 2006, a July 10, 2006 release date was announced (although 3D Realms claims that is not the formal release date since it did not come from them or Human Head). On May 19, 2006, 3D Realms announced that a demo of Prey would be released on June 22, 2006 — the PC demo was released on this date, but the Xbox 360 demo was delayed until June 30, 2006. On June 28, 2006 it was announced that Prey had officially gone gold.• Story The story focuses on Domasi Tawodi (aka Tommy), a Cherokee garage mechanic and former U.S. Army soldier living on a Native American reservation in Oklahoma. At the beginning of the game, Tommy is in a bar owned by his girlfriend, Jen. After an unfortunate bar fight, the bar is lifted up by a gravitational force, as various items are sucked from their stationary positions into a green light above. Tommy, Jen, and Tommy's grandfather, Enisi, are transported into a shuttle craft to be transported back to the massive alien starship called the Sphere. After docking, all three, along with countless other captives, are dragged through the upper levels of the Sphere and Tommy is freed in an explosion set off by a stranger who, despite being cybernetic like most of the Sphere's denizens, appears to be working against it rather than for it. Tommy, who is armed only with a wrench he happened to be carrying when he was abducted, witnesses Enisi's death in a brutal alien device, and, while trying to find Jen, he falls from a walkway and has a near-death experience where he meets with his grandfather's spirit who bestows him with spiritual powers. After returning to the world of the living, Tommy gains the ability to spirit-walk, allowing him to separate from his body to pass through forcefields and operate consoles normally out of reach, as well as the aid of his spirit guide, a ghostly hawk named Talon. Despite being entrusted by his ancestor's spirits with the mission to protect all of mankind from the sphere's invasion, Tommy can't stop worrying about Jen, and he only cares about how to find and rescue her. As the game's tagline says, "Earth's savior doesn't want the job." The Sphere The Sphere is an organic alien ship similar in shape to a Dyson sphere (though many orders of magnitude smaller). It has a small, concentrated star at its core, which is used to support itself and all life inside it. The origin of the Sphere is unclear, but its main goal is to maintain itself. It travels the galaxy searching for various alien races to maintain it, like white blood cells in a body. It also uses these races as food to provide much needed extra energy to sustain the Sphere and its star. The Sphere is fused with cybernetic enhancements, and has the power to manipulate gravity inside of itself and alter space (as demonstrated in the maze puzzle and in the numerous small storage boxes that, when entered, lead to entire rooms). Various walkways allow the occupants to walk on surfaces otherwise designated as walls and ceilings. Switches that change the direction of gravity, effectively changing the orientation of anyone in the area, are present in some locations, causing floors walls and ceilings to change their roles depending on the switch used. The Sphere also has the ability to produce portals to other sections at will. These portals allow occupants to move much faster around the Sphere and fulfill their duties more efficiently. The Sphere houses many different alien races that were taken by the Sphere from other worlds. Most of them are cybernetically enhanced, much like the Strogg of the Quake series, and they have a language of their own until Tommy obtains Talon and their language is translated to English. Multiple species may be consumed as more energy for the Sphere. The only group of beings aboard the Sphere who live relatively freely are a small band of humans who call themselves the Hidden. The members of the Hidden, individually known as "Hiders", are slightly enhanced with cybernetics, but nowhere near the extent of the other beings on the Sphere, and have not lost their individuality. Led by a seemingly young woman named Elhuit, the Hidden strive to ultimately destroy the Sphere, though what they want most is to return to Earth, where they were taken from many years ago. It is unclear whether the Earth she refers to is the Earth as we know it or merely one of the many seeded planets that the Sphere had created long ago. The Sphere is controlled by a superior being called "The Mother". She makes her first appearance in the game by communicating telepathically with Tommy. She is actually a human being who, like Tommy, fought against the Sphere and then was allowed to survive to replace the original being inside it. She, coupled with the Sphere, is omnipotent and immortal, and will live as long as she wishes until she tires of life and chooses a replacement. As the game progresses she questions Tommy about his resolve to persevere despite being alone against an entire alien civilization, and says that she is always watching his progress, curious about how far he can go. Near the end of the game, her claim that Tommy got as far as he did because she allowed him to implies that she was tired of life in the Sphere and wanted to be replaced by Tommy. She offers to make Tommy immortal, which he flatly refuses. The Mother, however remains confident that the Sphere can not be destroyed, knowing that if Tommy manages to kill her and gain control of the Sphere, he will not be able to give up the power that it offers, thereby insuring that the Sphere has another "Mother" to carry on its processes. After a very turbulent fight, Mother is defeated and, in her death throes, begs Tommy to take over her job, lest the entire Sphere die. As she dies, a huge burst of light engulfs Tommy and when vision is restored, the player sees Tommy inside the Mother's den, complete with swarms of data overwhelming him. Once the process is complete, we find that Tommy is basically numb with power. His grandfather, Enisi, contacts him from the spirit realm and tells him that such power is only an illusion, as the price is greater than what he has gained, and that he needs to look in his heart and make the right decision. Tommy heeds his grandfather's words and drives the Sphere straight into the sun, and ends up in the land of the ancients to see Enisi and Jen once more. Knowing that when it is his time he will see them both again, Tommy goes back to Earth. Six months later, Tommy finds himself in a rebuilt Roadhouse, apparently not yet open to the public. The official story is that people, buildings and objects vanished because of an unknown, unexplained natural phenomenon. No one on Earth knows that Tommy is a planetary savior. He turns around and sees Elhuit, who he thought had died when the Mother located and attacked the Hidden's base of operations, suddenly standing across the bar. She and the surviving Hiders had escaped through their own portal machine just before Tommy plunged the Sphere into the sun. She tells him that while people on Earth do not know of the great deed he has done, there are those "elsewhere" who have taken notice and want to meet him. Elhuit opens up a portal, which looks different from the others in the game, and Tommy walks through it. The player sees a mixture of light as the view warps towards the final destination and the screen goes black as the words "Prey will continue..." appear. A question left unanswered in the game was "what happened to the simple citizens abducted by the Sphere?". Perhaps they were rescued by Elhuit and her tribe, destroyed with the Sphere or by this time they had already been transformed into workers, soldiers or used as "food". These questions may be answered in a sequel/expansion pack. Enemies Bosses The first Keeper Tommy fights is able to summon just about every lesser enemy to fight Tommy, including a creature virtually identical to Girlfriend X (called Creature X), but with an anonymous human male in place of Jen. Later Keepers are not able to do this, but they share the same characteristics with the initial Keeper; an absolutely gigantic brain, which gives them the ability of telekinesis (with which to shield themselves, as well as hurl balls of energy or physical objects, such as barrels, at Tommy), and a body structure that is unlike any of the other alien races encountered on the Sphere. Weapons In keeping with the Biomechanoid theme of the Alien Sphere, most of Prey Technology The June 2005 issue of PC Gamer revealed that the game uses a heavily modified Doom 3 engine capable of rendering "huge cavernous spaces as well as more traditional passages". The game also supports the dynamic portals that were seen in the 1997/1998 video clips, which are used by friends and foes alike. The game also has the ability to change gravity in many parts of the game, via small items that need to be shot to become active, which is used to solve many puzzles throughout the game. Also, various landscapes in the game (large rocks, for example) have their own gravity that overrides the normal gravity in the game. Two vehicles make an appearance; one is a flying vehicle used frequently for travel and attacking (as well as puzzle solving), and one is only used during a small portion of the game. The bar that the game begins in is very interactive, utilizing usable restroom facilities, a TV with various channels, a fully playable Pac-Man-like game, several video casino machines, and a jukebox that plays songs from Prey Prey is the first major title to utilize the new Triton distribution system, whereby users can play the game while streaming from the service. Limited Collectors Edition Prey also shipped in a Limited Collector's Edition for both PC and Xbox 360. The official retail price is $60 for PC and $70 for X360. The LCE includes -An embossed collector's tin -An upgrade to one DVD-ROM (as opposed to three CD-ROMs) -Two pewter figurines (Hunter and Tommy) -The Art of Prey booklet -A free soundtrack download from DirectSong Trivia Reviews | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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