New Releases for The Week of Disfigurement and Vengeance

CB Droege 23 Apr, 2012 at 9:50pm ET Article published in Gaming

Risen 2: Dark Waters picks up a few years after the end of Risen. The protagonist has forgotten everything he learned in the first game, and drunkenly uses an eye-patch to cover his dramatically-gotten monocle. The fight against the monsters of the islands continues, but now sea monsters are making it impossible to get more supplies for the battle, and our nameless hero is called into service once more to sober up, relearn his bevy of skills, and re-save the islands. This time he gets to use guns.

Bloodforge is a highly stylized action game with lots of weapons, enemies, and sepia tones. Dude with an animal skull mask is avenging his dead woman, and to do so has to kill about a bazillion demons and such. The game features lots of blood and a button-mashing combat system perfect for leaning into with vigor.

Prototype 2 is the continuation of the Prototype story. The hero from the first game, Mercer, seems to have released a mutated version of the the virus now named for him, and New York City is overcome. One of the soldiers sent to stop it, Heller, is the sole survivor of a dangerous mission into Mercer’s territory, and when he awakes with Mercer’s virus-begotten abilities, he sets out to use those abilities to get revenge against Mercer for his slain family. Along the way, he learns the truth about Blackwatch, Mercer, and the original Blacklight virus which started the whole thing. The gameplay is much the same as the first game, only with a few changes to the way the abilities of the character function to make the game a little less frustrating. For example, the protagonist now has a ‘sonar’ ability which can help him see where the mission objective is, even in crowded areas. He also has additional tactical strengths, like the ability to integrate large pieces of equipment into his physiology. The cannon from off the top of a tank, for example, can make a great new attachment. Overall it seems like most of what they’ve done is improvement, so if you enjoyed the first Prototype, you should have fun with this one.