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Good: Many unique elements, graphics, sound, production value, interesting weapons

Bad: A bit on the easy side, fairly short, vehicle control, limited multiplayer

Best Jukebox Song: "Cat Scratch Fever"

For a game that was announced over a decade ago, Prey certainly feels next-gen in every way, and just might be the best single-player FPS experience on the Xbox 360. Running on the Doom 3 engine, it introduces some excellent environmental mechanics that are sure to catch the attention of fans of the genre. Don't let the novel approach fool you:it's not a gimmick game by any means, as it's solid in almost every crucial aspect.

The narrative starts with our Native American hero, Tommy, speaking to himself in the mirror. After walking around the bar for a while and getting to know a couple key characters, a spacecraft breaks through the ceiling and abducts him, his girlfriend, and his grandfather. What follows is an extended, semi-interactive introduction to the alien world as your body is strapped to a moving metal slab of sorts.

After freeing yourself from the contraption, you immediately make use of a wrench you found at the bar to take out a couple "fodders," which are odd dog-like alien creatures. It doesn't take long to realize this isn't a standard FPS, as you'll be introduced to the various portals and wall-walking fairly quickly.

Portals will immediately transport you to a completely different location, and they can be shot through if you see an enemy on the other side. Certain paths on walls and ceilings can be illuminated, indicating that it's possible to defy gravity and walk along them. Later on, you'll encounter pads in the environment that you can shoot to actually shift the center of gravity. With all of these novel gameplay mechanics, one might understandably worry about the game feeling gimmicky. Thankfully, it's well-designed and (more importantly) fits the game and the mood perfectly. The main character is obviously in a state of massive confusion thanks to the alien abduction, and it transfers this feeling perfectly to the gamer by introducing some new and strange gameplay elements.

It's not all warping and wall-walking, however. Prey also incorporates some other elements that directly affect the gameplay, the most notable of which being the unique way of handling what happens when the player dies. Instead of the standard procedure of returning you to the previous checkpoint, it sends you to a kind of "spirit world" filled with flying creatures. You have a limited amount of time to shoot them with a bow and arrow, and they'll refill your life and spirit energy. Upon being drawn back to the living world, you'll be in the exact same spot that you died in. Because of this, there is no real sense of danger at any point during the game. There is no real consequence of dying, so there are no real edge-of-your-seat moments.

The other spirit ability allows you to ghost-walk through force fields and across special pathways. By pressing the Y button, you can actually leave your body and control Tommy's spirit as it walks around with a bow and arrow. It doesn't really come into play in combat much, and you'll be using this ability mostly to activate switches.

Most of the weapons are excellent, with my personal favorite being the Leech Gun. It can suck energy from various capsules on the walls, and they come in several different forms. It can use plasma, ice, lightning and beam energy. The beam energy comes into play late in the game, but is easily the strongest of any weapon choice. Other guns include a pseudo-sniper rifle, an alien machine gun/grenade launcher, an acid gun and a rocket launcher of sorts. In a few instances late in the game, you'll assume control of an alien shuttle. It has a tractor beam and a cannon, and generally controls awkwardly. Certain segments became terribly annoying thanks to this less-than-stellar handling.

Multiplayer is extremely bare-boned compared to other online FPS's, offering only Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch. Despite the limited options, the maps themselves are very well-designed. Some are standard with no gravity effects, while others will have gravity switchers and other unique features. It's great to aim down on an opponent and snipe them while you're walking on the ceiling or stuck to the wall.

During the initial week of its release, there were some serious lag problems in the majority of daytime games. However, I encountered very little lag when playing between 2:00am and 8:00am a few nights ago. I'd imagine lag will become less of an issue once this initial release window passes. I also experienced several general connection issues when playing online. There was about an hour straight in which I received connection errors while trying to Quickmatch. When everything worked fine, I actually had a great time playing on XBL. My enthusiasm waned once I reached most of the Achievements, but I can still see many gamers sticking with it long after they've received all their Gamerpoints.

While it may not feature the ridiculously detailed character models of something like Fight Night Round 3, I believe Prey features the best graphics seen yet on the Xbox 360. All of the environments are ridiculously detailed and feature fantastic lighting effects. Some rooms late in the game presented some amazing hallucinatory effects involving environments assembling out of midair. They did a great job creating a truly alien world filled with some intriguing visuals such as a giant crashed jetliner and an abandoned, ghostly school bus. It's also a treat to see the bar from the prologue re-created in the alien world.

Jeremy Soule assembled the music for Prey, and his score is almost as impressive as the one he put together for Oblivion. It complements the mood created by the visuals perfectly, and starts and stops at very appropriate times. I really liked how the jukebox at the bar was fully interactive, allowing you to turn up the volume and skip tracks (artists include Ted Nugent, Heart and Judas Priest, among others). The initial abduction scene is complemented by flashing lights and Blue Oyster Cult's "Don't Fear the Reaper," and is one of the most well-produced scripted segments I've seen in a very long time.

It may be an easy game, and it may be short, but it offers an extremely engaging and unique FPS single-player mode. Multiplayer mode may not be perfect, but it's good enough to be more than just an afterthought. Any 360 owner that considers themselves a fan of the genre simply must check out Prey.

Graphics: 9.5

Sound: 9.0

First Play: 9.0

Replay Value: 8.0

Gameplay: 9.0

Overall: 9.1