History YMMV / Prototype

** The above mentioned PrecisionFStrike is answered with the other ability in-game that is equally as awesome, the fact that as Alex Mercer [[spoiler: Really the Blacklight virus wearing him]], Can and will ELBOW DROP A TANK AND WIN! infact the tutorial section ''makes'' you do this.

* FranchiseOriginalSin: Many fans will insist that Blackwatch in the first game is portrayed as an army of stone-cold NecessaryEvil badasses and lament their descent into StupidEvil in the sequel, but they really aren't much better here. They accidentally developed a zombie virus as part of a plot to exterminate minorities; said virus gets released while they're trying to kill Mercer because he wants to leave Gentek/Blackwatch, and he wants to leave Blackwatch because Blackwatch is the kind of place that would kill you for trying to quit. They not only lose ground to the infected for the entire game but actively make things worse, and they're so deeply corrupt and disorganized that of the three major Blackwatch players one is actively sabotaging them, one is grossly incompetent to the point of collapsing the whole war effort by himself, and one sets off a nuke without bothering to tell anybody. Their only real success besides shooting civilians is making Bloodtox, which only pans out better than Whitelight does because Mercer personally babysits the last batch of the stuff. The only real difference is that Blackwatch gets more screentime (hence more opportunities for dog-kicking) in the sequel, and their inept violence is played for BlackComedy.

* FranchiseOriginalSin: Many fans will insist that Blackwatch here is portrayed as an army of stone-cold NecessaryEvil badasses and lament their descent into StupidEvil in the sequel, but they really aren't much better here. They accidentally developed a zombie virus as part of a plot to exterminate minorities; said virus gets released while they're trying to kill Mercer because he wants to leave Gentek/Blackwatch, and he wants to leave Blackwatch because Blackwatch is the kind of place that would kill you for trying to quit. They not only lose ground to the infected for the entire game but actively make things worse, and they're so deeply corrupt and disorganized that of the three major Blackwatch players one is actively sabotaging them, one is grossly incompetent to the point of collapsing the whole war effort by himself, and one sets off a nuke without bothering to tell anybody. Their only real success besides shooting civilians is making Bloodtox, which only pans out better than Whitelight does because Mercer personally babysits them on missions. The only real difference is that Blackwatch gets more screentime (hence more opportunities for dog-kicking) in the sequel, and their inept violence is played for BlackComedy

** Blackwatch tends to get played up by the fanbase as stone-cold, professional badasses in contrast to their more over-the-top sequel incarnations. They're clearly portrayed as StupidEvil, incompetent, and so deeply corrupt and disorganized that of the three major Blackwatch players one is actively sabotaging them, one is grossly incompetent to the point of collapsing the whole war effort by himself, and one sets off a nuke without bothering to tell anybody.

** Helicopter hijacking, especially since most missions have Strike Teams. Both military and infected have no real way of dealing with you when you're in a chopper so they're an easy (albeit boring) way to cheese any mission they're available in. It's not a coincidence that most of the hardest missions have Strike Teams disabled.

** Helicopter hijacking, especially since most missions have Strike Teams. Both military and infected have no real way of dealing with you when you're in a chopper so they work as get-out-of-jail-free cards. It's not a coincidence that most of the hardest missions have Strike Teams disabled.

** This game is rather similar to ''VideoGame/{{Spiderman Web Of Shadows}}'', which came out approximatively a year before this game. The Symbiotes are even pretty similar to some of the infected and Spidey’s black suit’s gameplay and attacks are rather similar to Alex’s attacks in the game. Heck, the two games even have a similar plot: New York, or at least part of New York, is under quarantine for an epidemic that gives people superpowers but also turns them into monstrous creatures. Spidey and Alex are both infected(Spidey with his black suit, Alex with Blacklight). [[BigBad Venom and Elizabeth Greene]] even have the same goal: To infect the entire world. [[spoiler:Also, the final boss battles of both games both take place on a gray-colored military ship/carrier of sorts.]] Both games also take place in a free roam open world environment and both New Yorks get more and more apocalyptic as the game goes on, which gives them a rather similar background esthetic.

* FriendlyFandoms: With ''Film/Venom2018'', due to fans comparing how Venom's and Riot's transformation powers in the live-action film resemble a lot of Alex Mercer's moves and abilities from this game. Taking the plot of both titles into consideration, ''Venom'' can also be seen as a SpiritualAdaptation to ''[PROTOTYPE]''.

** For Radical Entertainment's own ''VideoGame/TheIncredibleHulkUltimateDestruction'', from which it retained a lot mechanics and further refined the formula.

* FoeYay: There's a disturbing amount of this between Mercer and Greene. [[spoiler:The Supreme Hunter]] is effectively created in a [[http://prototype.wikia.com/wiki/File:Mercer_Greene_Parasite.png metaphorical birthing scene]] ''after'' a metaphorical sexual moment between Mercer and Greene. And given [[spoiler:the protagonist's true nature]], it could probably be seen as [[spoiler:ParentalIncest]] as well.

* CrossoverShip: Alex Mercer is paired with [[Manga/ElfenLeid Lucy]] in multiple fan arts. Probably due to their similar powers and personalities, they could make it work.

* CrazyAwesome: Almost everything you can do in this game. Kick a helicopter to death, throw a car at it, throw another helicopter you just shot down at it, throw ''people'' at it... the possibilities are endless.

* Main/{{Expy}}: The [[spoiler: Supreme Hunter]] looks almost exactly like a [[Franchise/ResidentEvil Tyrant]], it's an incredibly blatant rip-off.

* MagnificentBastard: [[EvilCounterpart The Supreme Hunter]] is the ultimate creation of [[DiscOneFinalBoss Elizabeth Greene]], who gained sentience after being defeated by Alex Mercer. Regenerating itself, the Supreme Hunter, at some point in time, tracked down and consumed Captain Robert Cross, [[KillAndReplace taking his form and fooling everyone around it]] into trusting it. Manipulating Alex Mercer into eliminating key Blackwatch figures, before it used him to get close to General Randall to make sure Randall activated the nuke that was intended to wipe out Manhattan. Allowing Alex to consume Randall, The Supreme Hunter revealed itself to Alex, announcing its intention to consume Alex to empower itself to survive the explosion, to make the whole world to believe it is dead, while it can start to [[{{Plaguemaster}} spread the virus]] somewhere else again.

* MagnificentBastard: [[EvilCounterpart The Supreme Hunter]] is the ultimate creation of [[DiscOneFinalBoss Elizabeth Greene]], who gained sentience after being defeated by Alex Mercer. Regenerating itself, the Supreme Hunter, at some point in time, tracked down and consumed Captain Robert Cross, [[KillAndReplace taking his form and fooling everyone around it]] into trusting it. Manipulating Alex Mercer into eliminating key Blackwatch figures, before it used him to get close to General Randall to make sure Randall activated the nuke that was intended to wipe out Manhattan. Allowing Alex to consume Randall, The Supreme Hunter revealed itself to Alex, announcing its intention to consume Alex to empower itself to survive the explosion, to make the whole world to believe it is dead, while he can start to [[{{Plaguemaster}} spread the virus]] somewhere else again.

* CompleteMonster: [[spoiler:The real Alex Mercer]] was a cold-blooded MadScientist who bragged about making the Blacklight virus ten times as deadly as it already was. When asked how he felt about his work being used on human test subjects, he replied "[[LackOfEmpathy Morality was not my job]]". Later, after being pursued by Blackwatch agents and cornered at Penn Station, he decided to [[spoiler:[[TakingYouWithMe release the Blacklight virus on Manhattan as he was gunned down]], despite being aware that his own sister]] was in the city at the time; this final act of callousness resulted in the deaths of over 10 million people. After discovering this, [[spoiler:the virus itself]] [[EvenEvilHasStandards expresses disgust]] with [[spoiler:Mercer's]] crimes.

** The prospect of a lethal viral epidemic occurring in New York City has become a terrifying reality thanks to the global COVID-19 pandemic, which has resulted in New York becoming an epicentre of the virus' American outbreak. Even worse is that a biotech company's employee's (unwittingly) spread COVID-19 across America and the many conspiracy theories stating that it's an engineered bioweapon, much like the Blacklight Virus.

* AscendedMeme:
** You can do a flying kick that homes towards helicopters, and it is one of the RuleOfCool things that many players and critics made fun of, such as in [[http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2009/06/19 this comic]] by ''Webcomic/PennyArcade''. Afterwards, conventions like New York Comic Con / Anime Fest have ''Prototype'' booths set up that allow fans to have their picture taken ''karate kicking (among other things) a helicopter.''
** In ''VideoGame/{{Prototype 2}}'', the ''Webcomic/PennyArcade'' comic showing Mercer karate-kicking a helicopter is used as the decal for an achievement involving karate-kicking a helicopter.

* MoralEventHorizon: [[spoiler:Alex Mercer, both for his work in making the Blacklight virus, which was nasty enough before he got there, TEN TIMES as lethal as before. Also for unleashing it when cornered by Black Watch after he stole a sample.]] [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential The player themselves can gleefully slaughter anyone they please]], though civilians don't net you any EP unless they're infected. As well as [[spoiler:Blackwatch infecting Hope, Idaho for no better reason than to test out the virus on people.]] ''Even [[spoiler:the virus itself]]'' [[EvenEvilHasStandards is disgusted by the actions of]] [[spoiler:Alex Mercer and the higher-ups of Blackwatch]].

* SpiritualSuccessor: This game is rather similar to ''VideoGame/{{Spiderman Web Of Shadows}}'', which came out approximatively a year before this game. The Symbiotes are even pretty similar to some of the infected and Spidey’s black suit’s gameplay and attacks are rather similar to Alex’s attacks in the game. Heck, the two games even have a similar plot: New York, or at least part of New York, is under quarantine for an epidemic that gives people superpowers but also turns them into monstrous creatures. Spidey and Alex are both infected(Spidey with his black suit, Alex with Blacklight). [[BigBad Venom and Elizabeth Greene]] even have the same goal: To infect the entire world. [[spoiler:Also, the final boss battles of both games both take place on a gray-colored military ship/carrier of sorts.]] Both games also take place in a free roam open world environment and both New Yorks get more and more apocalyptic as the game goes on, which gives them a rather similar background esthetic.