While the game was a top seller at the time of release, its dwindling sales eventually resulted in the downsizing of Radical Entertainment.

Similarly to its predecessor, Prototype 2 is an action-adventure game played from a third-person perspective and set in an open world based on modern-day Manhattan.

Like Alex Mercer in the first game, the player character, James Heller, can shapeshift and assume other people's identities and memories by consuming them, although in the sequel this has become more tactical.

Due to Blackwatch's actions in the Yellow Zone, if the player assumes the role of a soldier, people will react to him in a way that shows that they want nothing to do with him.

Heller also possesses superhuman strength and agility, near-invulnerability to harm, near-flight leaping and gliding, infinite stamina, increased speed, and a sonar sense.

The sonar includes a new pulse ability that highlights the key features of an environment to make it easier for the player to find someone, instead of looking in a large crowd for a person with an icon above their head.

Before release, the developers stated that the powers in Prototype 2 would be more meaningful than in the first game, appearing as mutations and upgrades that let players decide how they want to play as Heller.

[7] The story of Prototype 2 begins in 2009, one year after the events of the first game, when U.S. Marine Sergeant James Heller, returning from a tour in Iraq, discovers his wife and daughter to be declared dead, causing him to rejoin the military in the fight for NYZ against the Blacklight virus.

Heller finds out that Alex Mercer, who stopped the original Blacklight infection in 2008, is behind the new outbreak, having lost his faith in humanity and wishing to wipe it out to usher in a new golden age.

Heller escapes and is confronted by Mercer, who claims that the former should take his revenge on Gentek and Blackwatch, since they are responsible for recreating and cultivating the Blacklight virus.

His doubts growing, Guerra then shows Heller a video tape of Mercer releasing the virus for the second time in Penn Station.

Upon confronting Mercer, he reveals that he plans to solve international conflicts and world problems by infecting the entire human race, effectively creating a superorganism, with Maya's unique DNA acting as the catalyst.

Included in the pre-order/launch content was in-game events, additional and optional challenges, avatar items for the Xbox 360 and themes for the PlayStation 3 and behind the scenes videos.

The app is called Blacknet, named after the game's mission system, and it allows fans to work together to "hack" the interface.

Hacking it will allow the fans to uncover a series of videos, interviews and other behind the scenes content, all in the run up to the game's launch.

At ComicCon, Activision employees were handing out Prototype 2 themed merchandise, including T-shirts, posters, giant foam Heller Blade Arms and more materials based on the game.

[14] Activision has released a couple of trailers, Radical Entertainment's team also went to Paris to promote the game in February 2012, and had a video interview with JeuxVideo Live.

The second volume, titled The Survivors, focuses on a former police officer, Conrad, who joins up with Ami Levin, a religiously tolerant person, and Marcie, an art student.

You feel it as you traverse the world, sprinting powerfully up buildings, bounding high into the air just as you reach the lip of the roof and then transitioning with a tap of the right trigger into a glide that will take you to the next rooftop.

"[43] The Guardian gave the Xbox 360 version a similar score of four stars out of five and stated, "The very purity of purpose which makes the game such a fine arcade killbox also renders it unengaging on any level that isn't soggy and littered with stray organs.

"[44] The Digital Fix gave the same console version a score of seven out of ten and said, "It's really not the AAA title it wants to be but that said it's also far from bargain bin fodder, landing somewhere just above the middle.

"[34] Digital Spy gave it three stars out of five and said that it "excels as an open-world killing field, in which you can wrench anyone asunder in gory cascades of blood and guts.

Underneath, it's a pretty standard action game featuring mundane missions that offer no real challenge, wrapped in a story that lacks substance and originality.