Just got the mag last night, and Tom’s look at Prey was the first bit I read (well, after following the Duke Nukem tease on the cover, actually).
I must say, I really like the approach Tom and Steve take in previews for CGM versus other mags. Well, those sumbitches can write, for one thing, but even better is the fact that they let their ugly, wrinkled, jaded-old-bastard gamer core bubble up instead of taking the developer cock-sucking ‘lol i cant believe im standing here with George Broussard omg this is so awesome lol lol’ tack.
Anyway, Prey looks like a cool art combo of machine-fused biology: shambling, seeping, short-circuiting cyborg-gone-wrong wetness. The ‘sphinc-doors’ on the ship look exactly like what I pictured in my head when going against The Many in SysShock 2.
But the part that really caught my eye was where Tom mentioned that there’s crates. And, if you smash 'em in Prey, you find new rooms inside. Or underneath, I guess. That’s a new twist on the crate mythos.
Was also glad to read that Duke Nukem is technically complete. The thing where George Broussard emailed Tom as Duke from inside the game was cool. But a little disappointing at the same time. I mean, I know it was improptu and off-the cuff, but if you ask me, if Duke Nukem is emailing a guy named “Chick”, you’d think he could come up with something more… I dunno, pithy or adult, than just telling him his own coordinates and what he’s doing.