Alex Mercer - gaming's 'darkest' anti-hero?

GR: When he's standing on the edge of a rooftop with his white hood pulled over his head, Alex has a definite air of Assassins Creed's Altair about him...

Max: Yeah, people have mentioned that in the past, but our intention definitely isn't to copy anyone and our concepts had been started way before Assassins was actually revealed. But we're not doing the same game at all. It just so happens that he has a hoody. We thought 'how do we define our character?' - he's a certain age, New York city is influenced by certain cultures and fashion, and how do we tie all these things together to make it believable? Well, hip hop is really strong in the US still, the way people dress - there's a lot of people with hoodies - it all makes sense.

I think we've captured the essence of what we'd like him to be. From a story standpoint there is a reason for the hoody - it serves a purpose of concealing his identity. He's a mysterious guy. We want to use it as a way of concealing part of his identity.

GR: He's not going to have alien antenna or anything like that?

Max: No. We're not hiding anything like that.

GR: Will we see him with is hood down at some point?

Max: Probably. I don't know. You'll see.

GR: And will Alex be customisable at any stage?

Max: [shrugs with a knowing smile]

GR: So maybe we'll be able to do some shopping and get Alex some new clothes?

Max: Perhaps. [laughs]

GR: Are there any plans to create a Prototype comic spin-off, given Alex's superhero-like powers and Radicals previous involvement with Marvel?

Max: At this point we don't have anything to announce.

GR: That normally means something's in the pipeline...

Max: I'm not saying yes or no. What I can tell you is that we've been exploring to see whether there's interest. We at Radical may have interest, but if people in this industry have absolutely no interest in the story we're telling with our character then... We're not just going to do it for the fun of it. I personally think that it could work. I think our story's fantastic and I think people will have empathy for our character, want to know more and want to really be this character. And the fantasy element is great - I think a comic book would be appropriate, but whether it happens or not is not up to me.

GR: You said there will be two-player online co-op - who will be the second character?

Max: It will be another version of Alex.

GR: Will the two Alex's be able to combine their powers?

Max: We're looking at having some moves being performed in tandem. That would be awesome. I'd love to see that happen. It's on our agenda and hopefully we can pull it off.

To catch up with the Prototype hype, check out ourpreviewandreasons why the game might best GTA IV. Yes, we said that.