'Prey' is coming to the iPhone
February 9, 2009 - The iPhone certainly has no shortage of racing games and puzzlers. What it really needs to further attract the hardcore crowd are first-person shooters. Developer MachineWorks Northwest is more than happy to oblige with the upcoming Prey, based on the hit Xbox 360 and PC game. Published by Hands-On Mobile, Prey introduces an innovative touch control scheme to replicate a console controller. Precision is critical to success in the genre. Without being able to pop an alien right between its eyes (or eight eyes), even the most forgiving player will be reaching for the exit button.
Prey follows the early exploits of Tommy, determined to rescue his girl Jenny from the clutches of an alien horde. At the start of the game, Tommy wakes from a terrible crash. He's in a canyon decorated with ancient carvings. Strange monsters are afoot. All he has to defend himself with is a wrench, but that's certainly good enough to crack a few alien skulls before locating more powerful weapons, like energy guns and an organic grenade that it kind of like a frog. To pull the pin, you rip off one of its wriggling legs.
You can change the transparency of the controls.
Obviously, the iPhone offers no place to plug in a mouse and keyboard, the preferred controls of FPS aficionados. However, MachineWorks has constructed a very compelling compromise with on-screen controls not entirely dissimilar from the on-screen virtual analog stick Gameloft used for Hero of Sparta. Using a series of four bars, you control Tommy's movement and looking with your thumbs. The controls are responsive and after a couple moments of play, I grew pretty accustomed to the bars. However, if the bars are not placed to your liking, you can actually move them anywhere on screen you like.
Next to the bars are buttons for attacking, changing weapons, and engaging the spirit walk, which is Tommy's mystic ability to see the unseen and interact with a realm outside regular human consciousness. (You need the spirit bow in order to use spirit walk.) The spirit realm is also where Tommy goes if he dies, requiring you to shoot certain monsters to be revived. I praised this feature in my review of Prey for regular mobile -- also created by MachineWorks -- as it doesn't beat the player up for getting killed. Slightly casual players that try out Prey will likely appreciate the lack of punishment.
Much like previous editions of Prey, the iPhone version has a good time with architecture. The inside of the alien ship (really, I'm not spoiling anything here...) is suitably crazy. One of Prey's selling points on the 360 was the wall-walking, where you tramp up gravity-defying paths that spiral around rooms. These book a return engagement in the iPhone game. The puzzle work in Prey is present but not overwhelming. There are a few moments that require a bit of a think if you want to get deeper into the game, such as a switch puzzle involving Jenny.
"Ah'munna eatchoo!"
iPhone gamers know by this point that the device is powerful. In the right hands, iPhone games scream. MachineWorks has done a remarkable job with Prey thus far. The texture work is excellent, especially inside the alien ship where you can see an incredible level of detail in the metal panels. The monster textures are good, too. Lots of ugly -- but the good kind of ugly, you know? Lots of slobber, bulging veins, and mean faces. Check out the extensive gallery for 14 exclusive shots of the game in action.
Prey for the iPhone debuts in the next few weeks -- as soon as we get a firm release date, we'll let you know. But definitely put Prey on your radar if you're a hardcore gamer. If MachineWorks can pull this off and please hardcore gamers with good, precise controls (thankfully, there is a snap camera button coming) and well-paced action, it stands to strike another blow for the iPhone in the ongoing -- and heating up -- battle royale between the PSP, DS, and Apple's iDevices.
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