Prototype 2 dev rejects InFamous rivalry

They're both open-world action titles with super-powered protagonists – but Radical Entertainment insists Prototype 2 is "completely different" to Sucker Punch's InFamous 2, which launches this week.

Speaking to Eurogamer at a recent E3 preview event, design director Matt Armstrong said: "The first InFamous was really cool and the second one seems to be shaping up really well, but we offer something completely different and there's space in the market for both games".

The original Prototype achieved significant success, shifting over 2 million copies worldwide. Despite this, Amstrong acknowledged that "it polarised people" and said the studio had taken "stock of all the feedback. The things reviewers saw were the same things we saw".

The big change is the lead, James Heller. "We had a main character in Alex Mercer who wasn't always as aligned with his powers as we'd hoped," admitted Armstrong. "We had a story that was very involved and convoluted and difficult to follow".

Improvements for the sequel include an all-new rendering engine, the addition of "Lairs" – which function as combat arenas – and tendrils, which Heller is able to fire and attach to objects.

"Tendrils is what's exciting about the game," said Armstrong. "The emergent properties of it – the way you can string so many things up and either have them pulled apart or slam into each other.

"There's something very special about this game and this time around we're coming out with something that's a big expansion of all the things that were good about the first game, while simultaneously addressing all the things we were never really happy about."

Radical has just released an E3 trailer showing Heller's tendrils in action, which you can watch below.