Worst?!? Wow, I really have to disagree with you there. I've been playing it on the PC and the graphics and gameplay have continually amazed me.

It's pretty inexplicable. I guess that's the power of the Cell (tm) processor and Blu-Ray (tm).

Yet the model looks much crisper on the 360.

I wouldn't call myself "amazed" by the graphics. They are incredibly low detail and lacking in personality. Although it compensates for the by the impressive animation and by being smooth even with so much insanity happening on-screen, whereas most sandbox games start chugging into a barely playable framerate the second you stop standing still.

Also, yeah, I'm personally loving Prototype, probably more then any other game released this year. It's looking to be one of those rare games I actually finish. It's strange, but I tend to lose interest in the open-world titles that are mostly highly acclaimed (GTA IV, Infamous), but I end up loving the ones that are polarizing (Assassin's Creed, Far Cry 2 and now Prototype).

For those too lazy to read TFP, the PS3 version is the same resolution as the 360 one, but uses Quincunx AA, while the 360 one does 2xMSAA.

Er, the "fake shadows" "in the textures" are the dynamic shadow maps they're talking about? Shadow-mapping's a derivative of bump-mapping - if the shadows there were just part of the texture they'd be bizarre and backwards if you looked away from the light source. Shadow-maps react properly to the view direction.

I'm not saying this is a major graphical difference - shadow mapping can do a lot to avoid "plastic painted ground syndrome", but I get the impression you don't spend a lot of time looking at the ground in Prototype - but please either know what you're talking about or run a five-second search before commenting on technical matters.

If you see the ground when playing this game, you're doing it wrong!

My point, Hypocee, was that the debris are "baked into" the graphics rather than dynamically generated. It's not like the game is throwing objects around and not generating shadows for them, which was the impression I got before looking at screenshots.

I think for the first time, I agree with Tom.. this game is kinda lame. Maybe its because I just got done with Infamous and am in the middle of Red Faction when I started this one.

The screenshots of buildings look very lame to me... very flat-looking walls and unconvincing windows. Just not enough polygons on the buildings to make them look good, and considering how much time you spend in the air that seems pretty detrimental to quality of immersion.

Prototype is not the most amazing game ever, but by no means is it the worst. The graphics aren't on par with say GTA IV, but honestly I'm having to much fun playing to notice. The power sets are fun to wreak havoc, and the story while a little weak is better than a lot of crap i've seen in games recently.

What Hypocee said. Your article suggests that 'shadow mapping' is just changing the texture. It's bump mapping.
The shadows are 'dynamically generated' in that the shadows are shown differently depending on your camera orientation. They are dynamic shadows of static content though (a heightmap).
No comment on how useful it is in game, I think it depends on the game a lot and I haven't played it. More detail looks better in screenshots, but the real game is in motion.

looks like they implemented paralax mapping on the ps3 but not on the xbox360

I'm just speculating because I have no first hand knowledge of the rendering system in Prototype, but the difference here actually COULD be "the power of Bluray".

Looking only at screenshots (I don't own the game... or a PS3) it looks like those shadows may just be pre-generated using a lightmapping system of the type that some PC games have been using since the software rendering days, but lightmaps at the level of resolution you see for that debris would take up an awful lot of disk space, something the PS3's Bluray drive obviously offers more of than a single Xbox 360 or PC ~9 gig DVD does.

Usually I can see where a reviewer is coming from when they speak negatively about a game, even if I happen to disagree.

But I honestly cannot understand all the bad press I'm reading about this one. Yeah, the plot isn't grandiose, but very few videogames DO have good plots. That's sort of like complaining that it's hot on a summer day. The graphics are pretty top-notch. The ability to run up a wall, jump and glide off a roof, hit the ground running, snatch a car in mid stride and hurl said car at a tank as you sprint by is fairly amazing, especially with zero loss of framerate (I'm playing the PC version).

And most of all, this game is just flat-out fun. shadows from debris on the ground or not.

I don't know if ps3 could do that , but it looks like "displacement mapping" which is real vertex displacement (in 3 D) and not just an optical illusion.

dude, you can elbow drop a TANK.

360 is better

its better on the ps3

360 is MUCH better