Much like the gonzo alien environments you'll traverse, Prey's weapons stylings are pretty interesting. All of the weapons are a combination of metal and organic material, that look very funky but work pretty well. Looking at this arsenal of odd guns and living creatures that you'll use as weapons, you'll notice a high level of bizarre movement as you inspect them - things bubbling and oozing, moving and writhing are not typically associated with firearms... Some of these weapons are hard to figure out at first, but as you go through the game it'll all make sense. There's a good mix of weapons to utilize in the game including the usual suspect (shotguns, assault rifles with sniper alt-fire modes, a small nasty creature that serves as a grenade or a sticky bomb, a rocket launcher, etc.). What's nice about these weapons is that they may fill in those "must have weapon slots" expected in FPS shooters these days, but they are presented in a way that is unique to the Prey game world. All of the weapons have some type of alien organic spin to them. For instance, the creepy crawlers that serve as grenades work by pulling off one of its legs (like pulling a pin) and tossing it; or as a sticky bomb by simply hitting the alternate fire button and tossing it on a wall or ceiling. Many of the weapons are like that, though they still feel traditional and familiar despite the weird alien veneer. And when all of the ammo runs out for those freaky alien weapons, Tommy can use the default pipe wrench to melee the crap out of the bad guys or his hand-dandy bow while in spooky spirit mode.

If there's on thing I can complain about it's the actual characters and storyline in this game. Tommy comes off as the kind of anti-hero character that no one wants to like. He's angry, uppity, condescending and disrespectful of his own heritage (which he doesn't even believe in), and yet he can utilize all the gifts of his people despite his apparent disbelief in all things Native American. His girlfriend and his grandfather are also pretty one dimensional, one playing the predictable wise elder and the other playing the damsel in distress gig in typical fashion. Luckily the story isn't really important and Tommy's heritage ultimately doesn't play a role beyond the gifts he attains for it. It would have been better if they used a different kind of story and had a lead character that could be a defiant without coming off as a jerk. You know Tommy's a jerk when his Grandfather saves him from the clutches of death and brings him to the safety of the hereafter and the guy's still calling his grandfather's beliefs bullsh*t. Hello?!? Tommy was just fighting aliens with creepy crawly weapons but he can't bring himself embrace amazing spiritual powers? What will it take to make this punk recognize?

In the end Prey is a pretty cool first-person shooter, with a forgettable story and characters. The gameplay mechanics in Prey, while very interesting, weren't utilized as much as they could have been, and multiplayer is a little lighter (albeit fun) than we expected. That aside, there's no denying that Prey is the kind of game first-person shooter fans will enjoy immensely. It has enough original gameplay to warrant at least one or two passes through the single player mode and some time online via Xbox Live.

You can learn more about the game and download the PC demo at www.prey.com . The Xbox 360 demo is available via Xbox Live Marketplace for free as well. - James Fudge.