But back to Times Square. For reasons the developers have yet to reveal, your objective here is to destroy the alien egg. And this is where you first discover Mercer's powers. Using his shape-shifting ability, Alex can morph his body T1000-style. So to protect himself from projectiles the egg's hurling at him, an organic armadillo-like shell envelopes him. It's natural body armor. Then he mutates his arm into a strange blade-like appendage - think Resident Evil 's Tyrant - and swings it at the egg. But, because this is a game and as such is designed to make your life hard, the army are after you. Complicated? Well, let's leave Times Square again.

Prototype's about a conspiracy - a big one that you have to solve. You do so by finding clues. The entire expanse of New York can be freely explored, and hidden in its darkest, hardest to reach corners are pieces of the "web of intrigue." These can be phone taps, documents, people... you know, Watergate-type stuff. And by piecing it all together - quite how this is done, Radical won't say - you solve the mystery of your origins and are led directly to whoever made you a shape-shifting mutant.

Time to explore more of Alex's abilities. A group of soldiers rush at you, firing their M4s and generally being aggressive. You calmly drop to your knees and plunge your hand into the pavement beneath you. Suddenly from directly under the marines dozens of spikes thrust upwards and skewer them, killing an entire troop instantly. So not only can Alex form deadly shapes, but he can stretch like Mr. Fantastic and tunnel through the ground beneath him. But that was nothing - he has tanks and choppers after him now. Luckily you can "borrow" enemy vehicles.