Prey 2

Krux is a guy you will encounter throughout the game. When you climb up to his perch high in the starry sky, he offers to tell you where Dra'Gar is for 2000 credits. You only have 1643 though, so you can either go away and get more by doing other missions or try something else.

The "something else" in this case involves threatening him - by shooting his bodyguard backwards off the platform.

"Your reputation precedes you," Dra'Gar notes. "They said you were stupid. I will give you the information, but you can expect me to call in a favour down the line." Apparently this means he'll become a mission-giver at some point, although it's not clear if he would have done so anyway.

Dra'Gar is in a nightclub. You grab a nearby thug as a human shield and make your way toward him, but he has legions of bodyguards who quickly reduce your barrier to pulp. Dra'Gar, meanwhile, has some sort of teleportation device and beats a hasty retreat. The chase is on.

You throw grenades, but this only results in a charmingly warm explosion that takes out a few goons. You toss some more electric bolas, but these only bring him to the ground long enough for him to teleport ahead. You fire rockets but Dra'Gar dodges through walls, so you pursue using parkour moves to duck and dive through holes and under tables. It's very stylish to watch, although we don't get to sample how it works under your control.

In a dark bar, you draw on your night-vision gadget to carve through more of Dra'Gar's bewildered entourage. In the next alley he sets a chaingunner on you, who you lift up with anti-grav and punish with a railgun.

He then teleports over some railway lines as a pair of trains go past in opposite directions, and like a modern-day Frogger you leap onto one going one way then leap to the next and ride it back to the area into which he fled.

"There's still a lot to prove, and in the eyes of fans who are upset by the absence of portals and the decision not to bother with multiplayer, perhaps a lot to answer for."

Dra'Gar's teleporter wasn't made for this much use, though, and at this point it goes on the fritz. You calmly walk up to him and he offers you a bribe. It's more money than you would earn turning him in, but you do so anyway, placing him in a restraining field that then prompts you either to interrogate him or send him through a portal to the client.

Having taken the latter option, you're rewarded by a message from a guy called S'Dyi, who says he is Dra'Gar's brother and you're in trouble. In classic video game preview style our presentation ends as a stompy monster with three legs, a big skull head and tons of weapons hones into view to settle the score.

Human Head says that Prey 2 will be a largely linear story within an open game - similar, in terms of how much choice it gives you, to something like Red Dead. Apparently it will take around 15 hours to rush through, more if you soak up the world around you. Other diversions include a range of tracking devices to uncover and disable, which add exploratory depth and a bit of narrative colour like the radio messages in Crackdown 2.

There's still a lot to prove, and in the eyes of fans who are upset by the absence of portals and the decision not to bother with multiplayer, perhaps a lot to answer for. In many ways, however, Prey 2 is refreshing.

There is of course continuity - expect to bump into Tommy somewhere on Exodus, for example - but there is also bravery. Human Head is willing to risk alienating the clutch of people who remember its cult shooter with a new approach, because it believes sequels need a distinctive creative direction.

Whether this approach will pay off remains to be seen, but we certainly wouldn't mind if more sequels threw caution to the wind and tried something new. If you weren't already tracking Prey 2's progress, we recommend you start now.