My experience with "Prey"

[Gig-O-Ram]

Hello, all...

I thought I'd regail you all with my tale of my experience with "Prey". Well - not "regail"...there are just a few boring details.

I bought the game right before Christmas...didn't get a chance to look at it right away, and when I did, I noticed that the guy in EB Games had been in such a hurry when I bought it, that he gave me an X-Box 360 disc, instead of the correct DVD disc. So I go back to the store and get the right disc.

Ok...I went to install it yesterday. I wanted to put it on my larger drive where I keep a lot of games, but after the install, I got a message that said something about a required security component could not be activated, and so the application could not be launched (???) So I uninstalled it, and ran another install to my main drive, because I thought it had some shared files and that maybe having parts on two drives might be the problem. But even though I went ahead and put in the Cheat Buster thing, and had everything on one drive, I still got the same weird message after the second install - so I guess I don't get to see what "Prey" is all about. I entered the correct key and everything, and my drivers aren't THAT old, but I guess something was wrong somewhere.

So I returned the whole shooting match to the store and got a refund. Maybe "Prey" just wasn't meant to be.

[polobunny]

security problem - 3D Realms Forums

[Gig-O-Ram]

Well, that was interesting and informative, but frankly I'm tired of dealing with it. First I get the wrong disc, then it installs but won't run and I have to make another trip to the game store to return it...

I saw that a lot of other people were having similar problems, but I think it's rank that I'd have to download a bunch of patches and other stuff, and maybe go as far as reinstalling my OS in order to get the thing to work - maybe. Fortunatly, the game wasn't THAT important...

To me, a game should install and then run. It's not supposed to be this hard.

[polobunny]

Originally Posted by Gig-O-Ram

Well, that was interesting and informative, but frankly I'm tired of dealing with it. First I get the wrong disc, then it installs but won't run and I have to make another trip to the game store to return it...

I saw that a lot of other people were having similar problems, but I think it's rank that I'd have to download a bunch of patches and other stuff, and maybe go as far as reinstalling my OS in order to get the thing to work - maybe. Fortunatly, the game wasn't THAT important...

To me, a game should install and then run. It's not supposed to be this hard.

Yeah, but take into consideration they can't test the game on a megajibillion thousand of different configurations. At least, it can work, with some effort. :P
Besides, the game installed flawlessy for me, on a rather "dirty" OS.

[Jokerswild]

Unfortunately most games put out anymore require a patch right away.

[Gig-O-Ram]

Originally Posted by polobunny

Yeah, but take into consideration they can't test the game on a megajibillion thousand of different configurations. At least, it can work, with some effort. :P
Besides, the game installed flawlessy for me, on a rather "dirty" OS.

I understand what you're saying, but this is a first for me. I've never run into any problem with a game that wasn't related to it's overall performance on whatever system I had at the time.

[Cyberlon]

I played Prey, and if you have to jump through any hoops to install it, think twice. My installation went without issue, but I got bored with the gravity tricks too quickly. I'm not a big fan of games made by people who also make console games, and that is exactly what this felt like. "Shoot this in this order in spirit mode or start over" seemed to be a theme. I will probably have something similar to say about Portal, but I'll have to see.

[polobunny]

Originally Posted by Cyberlon

I played Prey, and if you have to jump through any hoops to install it, think twice. My installation went without issue, but I got bored with the gravity tricks too quickly. I'm not a big fan of games made by people who also make console games, and that is exactly what this felt like. "Shoot this in this order in spirit mode or start over" seemed to be a theme. I will probably have something similar to say about Portal, but I'll have to see.

I know what you mean. That was cool at first, but having to go up the walls then walk on the ceiling then jump there then jump over the other ledge then spirit thru the invisible goo then hit the switch then up the wall again and down to the portal became boring quite fast. :P
Other than that it's a great FPS, for when you have to hold the trigger button.

[Gig-O-Ram]

When I think of an FPS, I think of how FarCry or FEAR went, where you just follow a set path (even though sometimes it seems random), and shoot whatever gets in your way, and do whatever little things are necessary to acheive the main goal. What you guys are talking about reminds me of the Adventure Company games where you need to solve this or that puzzle, and then run back and forth talking to people in a certain order, and then solve another puzzle. I played "Post Mortem", "The Omega Stone" and "Syberia", as I got into the adventure thing for a while, and "Prey" sounds like one of these, except with a gun thrown in.

[Jokerswild]

There's only a couple major puzzles that detract from the game but the part where you go to the happy hunting grounds to gain life back sucked IMHO.