3D Realms was one of the best first-person shooter developers in the mid to late 1990s. Responsible for games like Rise of the Triad: Dark War (developed under the Apogee name), Duke Nukem 3D, Shadow Warrior, and Blood, they always had a unique feel to their games. Like all first-person shooters at the time, they used the style of Doom as a start. But from there, 3D Realms took different directions for their games. All of their games used the Build engine, which gave the genre its first instance of destructible terrain and interactive environments. The games themselves were also parodies of other material. The risque and somewhat immature one-liners in Duke Nukem 3D were inspired by American action movies and actors such as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Clint Eastwood. Their next title, Shadow Warrior, was essentially the Asian version of Duke Nukem, with protagonist Lo Wang taking every opportunity to reference something ranging from video games to anime. Finally, they had Blood, which was actually finished by Monolith Productions, though it was started by 3D Realms. Blood parodied horror films such as Army of Darkness and Friday the 13th, with the humor being less risque and more in-line with Bruce Campbell's character of Ash Williams in the aforementioned Army of Darkness. 3D Realms' games were far from perfect, but they had unique aspects that made them different and, in some ways, better than the likes of Doom or Quake. However, this came at a price: their games were often delayed. Every one of the above games was delayed at some point during their developments. This was usually a good thing, as new ideas were thought up. This is how we got the jump pad-filled insanity of Rise of the Triad: Dark War and the now iconic personality of Duke Nukem. However, there were instances were this prevented a game from even being released. One case of this, and arguably the most known case, was Duke Nukem Forever. However, there was one other game that was in development for over a decade. It followed a similar pattern to Duke Nukem Forever. It was announced, delayed, announced again, and then finally thought to be gone. Then Human Head Studios, known for their RPG series Rune, was assigned to help finish 3D Realms' work. The final result was released in 2006, and was a massive surprise.

Prey wasn't supposed to be this good. Prey wasn't supposed to be this engrossing and immersive. Prey certainly wasn't supposed to be this dark and mature, either. But it's all of that and much more. 3D Realms have surprised us before, and Human Head Studios has too. But no one could have expected what they could have brought to the table with their combined talents, especially for a game developed on and off in tandem with other projects. Yet, by some miracle, Prey turned out to be more than any kind of generic shooter. It wasn't a letdown by any stretch of the imagination. Instead, Prey is a shining example of a first-person shooter. With polished graphics, amazing sound, a dark and surprisingly Cherokee-inspired tale, and fast-paced gunplay, Prey is certainly an underrated gem for all the right reasons. It also happens to tie with Tron 2.0 and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, two games I surprisingly loved, as the greatest first-person shooters I have ever played.

When Human Head Studios was brought on board to help finish Prey, the game's engine was changed from the Unreal Engine to the newer id Tech 4 engine, which haden't even been used in gaming yet. But immediately, Human Head Studios went to tweaking the engine for the uses they had planned for it in Prey, and it definitely shows. Even almost a decade on, Prey still hold up on every platform. The levels, especially on the Sphere, are highly detailed and varied, with plenty of detail in the textures and overall look of the environments. The character and weapon models also avoid the common issue with id Tech 4 of looking very hexagonal and bumpy around the edges. Plus, the lighting is top-notch, which is to be expected from a game on id Tech 4. But there are obviously modifications, which become obvious once you reach the Sphere. The engine has been tweaked to allow for switching gravity and portals, both of which were refreshing and even somewhat new for the genre. When gravity switches, everything falls in that direction with impressive physics, including the enemy corpses. Portals are also introduced into the engine, and are implemented really well. But the real standout of it all is the level design. Unlike Doom 3 and even Quake 4, Prey is not constricted to corridors. Prey does have highly open environments that are just impressive. The fact that the framerate doesn't dip at all is just amazing, especially from the engine that powered Doom 3.

The sound design in Prey is also incredible, especially in the voice acting and soundtrack. The overall effects are done really well. The environment of the Sphere is heightened by some really well done effects such as machinery and the cries of prisoners. It all goes to make the place feel truly hostile, a feat that games seldom accomplish. The guns also feel really powerful, especially for alien weapons. They don't sound like underpowered, flesh-covered weapons. Instead, each weapon has an identifiable punch to it that helps when coming up with strategies in combat. It's all really top-notch stuff, though it can't really hold a candle to the voice acting and soundtrack. The voice acting is rather unique, hiring real Native American descendents to do the voices. This is especially true when looking at Michael Greyeyes and Crystle Lightning, who are both Plains Cree. Playing the parts of Tommy and Jen, respectively, these two really give authentic performances for their characters. But it's Michael Greyeyes' performance that steals the show here. Playing Tommy, the game's protagonist, he really gives the reluctant hero archetype a new dimension and even rises Tommy above it. Tommy has a definite goal, but it stuck having to do something else in the meantime.

But as good as all of that is, it's the soundtrack that really steals the show in the sound design. The whole soundtrack is comprised of both licensed songs and a cinematic score. The licensed soundtrack is comprised of recognizable hits like Heart and Don't Fear The Reaper, the latter of which is used in an excellent opening sequence. This side of the soundtrack is great and all, but then there's the cinematic soundtrack, composed by brothers Jeremy and Julian Soule. Now, Jeremy Soule is an award-winning composer that is known for the amazing soundtrack in games like The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion and Icewind Dale. Here, in Prey, he really shows what he's made of. Prey's cinematic soundtrack is just incredible, and pretty much faultless.

The story is highly influenced by Cherokee culture, and is surprisingly dark and mature, which is unexpected from 3D Realms. Set in the modern day, players take the role of Cherokee descendent Domasi "Tommy" Tawodi, a former United States Army soldier who is working as a garage mechanic on a reservation in Oklahoma. He lives with his grandfather Enisi and girlfriend Jen. The game starts in the Roadhouse, a bar owned by Jen. The opening cutscene shows Tommy's rather tired and angry attitude with being stuck on the reservation and not being able to convince Jen to leave with him. After brawling with a few drunken patrons who are harassing Jen, things quickly go south as the bar and its inhabitants are abducted by an alien ship. Tommy, Jen, and Enisi are transported to the apparent mothership and through its inner workings before a stranger blows up the system, freeing Tommy but not Jen or Enisi. However, Enisi is hooked up to a machine and killed. After this, Tommy becomes determined to find Jen, free her, and escape the ship. However, Tommy is soon forced into another role when a resistance movement notices his actions.

The story in Prey really is one of its strongest aspects for multiple reasons. For one thing, the overall story is very dark and mature, though it's not overdone. It's the kind of dark that draws you in and doesn't let go, but doesn't go into the territory of ridiculousness or tasteless. Prey really pulls emotional punches and throws neat twists around, essentially being the Bioshock before Bioshock. The characters are also really likeable, especially Tommy. He's a really relatable guy with the same kind of problems every person has at some point in their lives, though he still manages to throw out a good quote now and again. The likeability of the cast is thanks to the writing, which gives the characters real human identifiers. It also helps that the profanity in Prey is handled amazingly well. In an industry that seems to be teeming with overused profanity, it's a genuine surprise that it's handled as maturely as it is. Put simply, profanity is used sparingly and in the right places. There are also amazing scripted sequences, especially the abduction scene. This scene has the characters being abducted to the tune of Blue Oyster Cult's Don't Fear The Reaper. It's the kind of scene you just don't see coming, and it's one of the best opening scenes in video games. But probably the most surprising hurdle that Prey cleared was how it handles the Cherokee culture. Prey is a sci-fi first-person shooter through and through, but it also has heavy influences from the Cherokee culture. It's all handled surprisingly well and becomes an integral part of Tommy's conflict about leaving his culture behind him. This all goes to creating a genuinely great and mature story, which is surprising coming from the developer behind Duke Nukem 3D.

For the most part, Prey's gameplay is largely similar to 3D Realms' past. This translates as a mixture of old-school shooting mechanics with puzzles. The shooting works great, which is to be expected from a 3D Realms game. Combat uses Tommy's trusty wrench, as well as a selection of alien guns. These guns act like your typical shooter fare of machine guns, shotguns, sniper rifles, and rocket launchers. The only original weapon is the Leech Gun, which syphons energy from the ship to give the weapon different powers. These powers range from freezing enemies to shooting bolts of lightning, which is really cool. No matter which weapon you use, they all sound great, look great, and pack a punch. The enemies are also pretty diverse, even if they're all alien. There are your foot soliders, tank-like enemies, and flying ones. They each have different weaknesses and attack patterns, leaving the player to decipher the best tactic to take each one down.

Prey's biggest innovations in gameplay come from multiple things. Firstly are the portals. The portals act as spawning points for enemies, for the most part. You'll always see at least one teleport into the combat to get the advantage. The portals also act as doorways to the player, allowing them to move quickly through the ship. While you can't create them yourself (without the use of fan-made mods), it was a step forward for the genre, and a precursor to Valve Software's 2007 game Portal. Secondly was the use of gravity and gravity-switching as a gameplay mechanic. While we're used to seeing zero gravity segments in games now, it was a foreign concept when Prey tried it in 2006. Along with switches that could change the direction of gravity, there were also magnetic walkways the player and enemies can use to walk all around the room. These are used in some well-executed combat sequences, as well as some intricate puzzles.

But Prey's two most notable gameplay aspects stem from Tommy's heritage. These mechanics are Spiritwalk and Deathwalk. Spiritwalk is an ability that allows Tommy's spirit to separate from his physcial form. This allows for a few things. While in his spirit form, Tommy gains control of a spirit bow, which can be used to silently take down enemies. He also has access to previously unreachable and unseen pathways, which makes this useful in puzzles. Then there's Deathwalk, which is Prey's unique take on death. When the player dies, they are transported to a small arena in the spirit form. Here, they shoot red and blue banshee-like creatures to gain back health and spirit energy. While the concept is very neat on paper, it's a double-edged blade. On one hand, it eliminates having to sit through long loading screens, which is especially helpful for Xbox 360 players. On the other hand, it's somewhat useless for PC, Mac OS X, and Linux players thanks to quicksaving. Since players on the aforementioned platforms are likely quicksaving every minute, it ends up being quicker to load a quicksave than to go through the Deathwalk mechanic.

Prey's campaign will take the player around 8-12 hours to beat on its normal difficulty. Thankfully, there is a bit of incentive to replay the game. Beating the game unlocks the harder Cherokee difficulty mode, which removes all health spores and basins from the game. This obviously amps up the challenge. The PC, Mac OS X, and Linux versions also get the Roadhouse mode, which allows players to explore the Roadhouse without advancing in the game. Prey also includes a multiplayer mode, which is called MultiPrey. However, this mode is pretty much dead, and not worth the trouble.

When Prey was released, it didn't cause that much of a stir in the community, which is really strange. Some reviewers even called the experience "generic". But, when you really look at it, Prey is on the opposite end of generic. Prey is groundbreaking, mature, and fun. It pioneered many elements that we now seem to take advantage in games. Plus, the game's pretty much faultless combination of a mature story with old school gameplay is a rarely accomplished task, with the only other victor being 2014's Wolfenstein: The New Order. Despite the somewhat underwhelming reception of Prey, work was beginning on a sequel. Sadly, the project was canceled publicly last November. But don't let that stop you from buying Prey. For its dirt-cheap price tag, you can't get anything better if you're looking for a great story and fast-paced gameplay.