Live Magazine June Issue 2017 June July Magazine Spiderman | Page 154

Prey follows Morgan Yu, a scientist
aboard a space station infested
with hostile alien life forms called
“Mimics.” Able to mimic everyday
items like coffee mugs and chairs,
Mimics are frightening enemies.
During the demo, players will en-
counter mimics in several forms,
some of which are small and spi-
dery, some bipedal and ferocious.
While Mimics are a new and in-
teresting adversary, the combat
situations with them are far less
impressive. Combat in general is
the weakest element of Prey. It’s
clumsy and awkward. This might
be intentional on the part of Ar-
kane — the game reminds players
at one point that it’s possible to
sneak around or outsmart power-
ful enemies —but if direct combat
is an option it should be enjoyable.
The worst part of combat is the
blaring music that plays during en-
emy interaction. Once a Mimic is
discovered, the game blasts jar-
ringly loud music until all Mimics in
the area are dispatched. On the
one hand, this allows players to un-
derstand when a combat scenario
has begun and ended. On the oth-
er hand, it saps all of the tension
from the game. It defeats its own
purpose, to quote Robert DeNiro
in Raging Bull. Mimics can hide in
any interactive item in the game,
after all. Better to put the player
in a constant state of anxiety than
to make loud, obnoxious signals
when a Mimic is in the room.
Combat aside, Prey has several
intriguing gameplay systems that
make it attractive for fans of slow-
burn first-person action-adventure
games. Early on, the game encour-
ages players to “play your way.”
It suggests to its audience that it
can experiment with different ap-
proaches to overcome challenges
and enemies.
This isn’t mere lip service.
Throughout the demo, players can
embrace different play styles to
achieve their goals. In one section,
players can bypass a security door
by either finding a hidden badge or
sneaking through an air duct. In the
following area, players can access
a higher floor by fixing a bro