Prey is an interesting title, one that has taken almost a decade to finally see the light of release. You may therefore be forgiven for approaching it with hesitance, but thankfully, having fully utilised the Doom 3 engine, the game feels fresh enough and provides some interesting gameplay. It also attempts, with varying success, to bring innovation to first person shooters and games in general.

Prey's story follows the character of Tommy, a Cherokee Indian who is somewhat sick of reservation life and wants nothing more than to take his girl, Jen, out into the ‘real' world. Tommy's grandfather, Enisi, is less than happy with his grandson's reticence to embrace his heritage – however all this doesn't really matter as it's not long before aliens come along and sweep them all up in a grand adventure that sees Tommy re-evaluate his connections to his ancestors and culture.

Tommy's Cherokee heritage is not just a story point; it becomes an integral part of Prey's gameplay. Soon after being sucked up into a mysterious alien ship, with its disturbing blend of mechanical and biological technology (some parts of levels look disturbingly like human orifices, both male and female), other alien forces inadvertently free Tommy from confinement and he's set loose, left alone with only his handy wrench and lighter to take on the alien hordes. However, as with all shooters, it's not long before Tommy gets his hands on some pretty cool weapons. Rather than your staple FPS weapons, these bio-weapons feature main and secondary fires and there are no ammo clips – you simply keep firing until your ammo is used up.

Prey's weapons still align comfortably with most traditional FPS weapons: there's the Acid Gun (the shotgun's analogue), the Hunter Rifle (with a secondary fire much like a sniper rifle) and perhaps the coolest weapon, the Leech Gun. This weapon can leech four different types of energy (ice, red projectile energy, electrical bolts and a constant-fire energy beam) from nearby conduits, allowing you to customise your firepower. The other guns are all quite good and feel suitably alien in nature, with moving parts or dripping globules.

Three main design aspects, some would call them innovations, that Prey brings to the party are portals, gravity switching, and spirit walking. All three of these integrate throughout the game but warrant separate discussion. Portals are impressive, I must admit. There is an awesome potential for these holes in space and reality – but Prey only really scratches the surface of what is possible. The most exhilarating portal experiences in the game involve shrinking you down in size and allowing you to access areas that otherwise seem unreachable. These events are introduced very early in the game and there's something insanely cool about popping across a huge expanse and then back again seamlessly. Portals act as windows to other rooms and areas and it's also possible to shoot enemies through them.

Gravity switching combines logically with portals, allowing you to step out onto the roof of an area and, if the walkways are switched on for gravity, allowing you to walk upside down, around and basically become disoriented. However, it's a great feeling to see an enemy pop from a portal below/above you (whatever the correct terminology may be when you're upside down), jump from a gravity wall, fall back down to the ground and then take him out before he's managed to line you up for a shot. In fact, it's during online multiplayer that this type of gameplay really shines and wall walking becomes a strategic part of play.

The third gameplay mechanic to fit into this integrated puzzle is spirit walking. The Spirit Walk is the spiritual incarnation available to Tommy because of his Cherokee heritage. He doesn't believe in that shit (his words ... actually Tommy is quite the potty mouth throughout the game) but these powers are given to him nonetheless and, seeing as they conveniently help him in his mission to save Jen from those alien bastards, he uses them without compunction. Basically any puzzle that requires Tommy to utilise the Spirit Walk is signposted by a (presumably) Cherokee symbol (I'm unsure as to whether only Tommy can see these or if they were placed their by his disembodied ancestors), whereby you press Y to leave and then re-enter your body. Funnily enough, your spirit is able to physically interact with control panels, as well as collect weapon ammo, so it's pretty handy. I must admit that although the Spirit Walk is actually fun and was used to good effect in solving puzzles, its inclusion only served to taint any credibility that the story possessed. However, seeing as it's only a game, I'm willing to allow a few logical impossibilities for the sake of good gameplay.

As enemies die, they leave behind spirit energy, which refills Tommy's spirit power. As you walk around in spirit form, you can fire spiritual arrows to kill enemies – this is also good fun in multiplayer. Related to the Spirit Walk is the Death Walk – this represents an end to the need to save your game every ten seconds. Yes that's right, you can't actually die in Prey. Every time Tommy ‘dies' his spirit goes to another plain, where a small mini game allows you to fire spiritual arrows at red and blue Death Wraiths. Red Death Wraiths refill Tommy's health and blue ones refill his spirit power. Then, after twenty seconds or so, you're pulled back to the exact moment that you died, ready to fight on and praise the gods that you didn't forget to save your game right before that really hard bit.

Whilst this certainly acts to make the game a lot easier, I applaud the end to frustrated saving and reloading and I'm sure that this is definitely a step in the right direction. Too long have games relied upon archaic modes of game saving and, to an even greater extent, the use of death in games as a punishment. Prey's system gives you unlimited access to be able to swallow deeply, steady your shoulders and go in guns blazing. Yes it makes it easier but also, I would argue, more fun and less frustrating.

So what does all of this combine to make? Well, the game itself is a damn good FPS romp. It looks gorgeous and despite suffering from Doom 3-itis it still manages, I think, to offer much larger and original level design than that game. Prey's use of portals, gravity, Spirit Walk, and Death Walk, combine to make a whole that is definitely more than a sum of its parts. Whilst I would argue that none of these aspects is used to the degree that they possibly could be – and realistically the portals are simply funky versions of doors given the game's linear structure – they still combine in a seamless and satisfying way.

Some questionable story elements aside, the game is enjoyable and manages to maintain a fairly consistent pace throughout. The music is cinematic in nature and many keen ears may pick out similarities to Morrowind and Oblivion as Jeremy Soule has provided the aural ambience for this title.

Playing through the game will net you most of the achivements – the rest of which are tied to 25 kills with each of the game's weapons, and a few secret achievements. Without naming names, myself and another XBW staffer managed to ‘help each other out' with a couple of these achievements but multiplayer is actually quite fun anyway so you should have no trouble racking them up naturally.