Prey

Intelligent shooters, with their in-depth plot lines and complex puzzles, are all fine and well, but sometimes you really just want to shoot things, a lot of things – particularly things that are on the ceiling – and that is where 'Prey' comes in. Killing is the name of this game, and the guys at 3D realms have done well – with a few innovations to make it even more fun than normal. The first thing you notice is that gravity doesn't always pull down. With numerous gravity switches and wall-walks, the enemy could quite literally be anywhere – and it all gets rather frantic when you can't even work out which way is up, let alone from which direction you are being shot at. Another relatively new feature is portals – these tend to pop up a lot – either as an avenue to the next section of the game, or as an entrance for the enemy into a room that you thought was sealed. These certainly add a good bit of fun and confusion to the standard shooting action - the first time I saw myself through a pair of portals I got rather confused and shot myself manically. The final change from the norm is the ability to enter the spirit world. This not only helps with puzzles, but also means you cannot actually die, allowing you to just keep on killing. Beyond these innovations, 'Prey' is standard shoot 'em up fare, the graphics are shiny and the AI is reasonable. The multiplayer, however, is a little substandard – with only deathmatch and team-deathmatch options. Overall, 'Prey' is something of a must-play. Yes it's not very deep, but you cannot help but enjoy the gravity and portal effects, and it certainly lives up to the ideal of being a shameless shooter. [Philip Roberts]