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COOL 2 USE: VIDEO GAME REVIEW

A diverse death world

BY MONTY PHAN
Special to Newsday

July 25, 2006

You won't find many video games that take place on an Indian reservation.
The game Prey does - for, oh, about 10 minutes. And then Tommy, the main
character, gets sucked into a giant alien spacecraft.

The irony is that Tommy, a Cherokee, was just saying how he wanted a new
life, off the reservation. Well, he gets his wish - except that it involves
skulking around a dark, bio-mechanical alien ship in an effort to save his
girlfriend and grandfather, who also were abducted.

As a first-person shooter, Prey may not win many awards for originality,
but it's got enough going for it to keep fans of the genre interested. And,
yes, in case you're wondering, there's a reason for Tommy's Native American
ethnicity: Early in the game, he learns how to "spirit walk," which allows
his spirit to leave his body and access areas his physical presence cannot,
all while remaining undetectable to surrounding enemies (as long as Tommy
doesn't attack them first).

As a spirit, Tommy is equipped with a bow, which is handy for sneak attacks
(souls of fallen enemies replenish his spirit meter). Once the spirit walk
power is learned, anytime Tommy dies, he's sent to "Death World," where
red- and blue-colored wraiths fly around you. You're given about 10 seconds
to shoot them with your bow - the red ones refill Tommy's health meter
while the blue ones replenish the spirit power - and then you're
transported back to the spot you had just before dying. For those who
aren't obsessive about saving their progress, it's a nice touch.

Another major differentiation from other first-person shooters is Prey's
use of gravity. Certain tracks, when activated, allow you to walk along
walls, so that some firefights will occur with you aiming at upside-down
targets. Other areas have sensors that, when shot, cause the room to
rotate; some puzzles require you to figure out how to rotate rooms to get
from Point A to Point B.

Finally, to get around the ship, you'll have to activate portals. In
reality, though, it sounds more exotic than it is. The portals essentially
are just fancy doors, and even when there's more than one in a room, it's
pretty easy to figure out what to do.

The game also supports online play, via the Xbox Live subscription service.

Bottom line: While running around shooting enemies in a dimly lit maze may
not be the most original of premises, Prey tweaks the formula enough to
consider it an above-average effort.

PREY. Rated "mature." For PCs and the Microsoft Xbox 360 (the version
reviewed here).

Monty Phan can be reached at montyphan@....

Copyright 2006 Newsday Inc.