Chapter 619: True Lawnmowing
The CG ended.
After a brief long shot, the protagonist Alex descended from the sky, landing gracefully on the pavement beside Times Square.
The military forces in Times Square spotted him immediately, and countless gun barrels swiveled in his direction.
Alex, however, wore a calm and carefree expression, even casually rolling his shoulders.
The camera zoomed in, and Zou Zhuo felt as if he had possessed Alex, seeing through his perspective.
At the same time, the current mission objective appeared on the interface: Eliminate all military personnel!
Zou Zhuo jolted in fright. "It's starting already? I'm not ready yet!"
Unlike the opening scene of *Dark Souls*, the protagonist here faced several heavily armed soldiers right from the start. And before the player could even react, those soldiers had already pulled the triggers and opened fire!
At the edges of the screen, prompts kept reminding Zou Zhuo of the actions he could take, including sprinting, jumping, attacking, and so on.
Flames spat from the soldiers' gun muzzles. Zou Zhuo felt his body being struck by countless bullets, accompanied by a dense, vibrating sensation. In VR mode, every hit delivered a clear vibration to indicate the location of the impact, while also enhancing the realism.
This vibration was very subtle, like a light tickle, much gentler than the impact feedback in most games. But Zou Zhuo still felt extremely tense and leaped high into the air.
Because in VR mode, the player's senses became sharper. And after all, it was gunfire. Under the triple stimulation of sight, sound, and touch, Zou Zhuo's subconscious had already accepted this as real gunfire, making him involuntarily nervous.
The lethal power of firearms against ordinary people was still deeply ingrained in most players' minds.
The moment he jumped, Zou Zhuo was startled.
"Holy crap, I jumped that high?"
Zou Zhuo soared into the air, leaping at least four or five meters. From this bird's-eye view, he could see every move the soldiers made, even the crisscrossing network of gunfire covering the spot where he had just been standing.
Feeling uneasy, Zou Zhuo glanced at the health bar in the upper-left corner of the interface, at the edge of his vision. To his great surprise, it had only dropped a tiny bit!
The health bar had three colors: red represented current health, orange represented damage taken. Zou Zhuo hadn't unlocked any skills yet; once he did, a blue bar would appear for additional health.
At that moment, Zou Zhuo's health bar showed only a sliver of orange, less than a tenth of the entire bar. This meant that despite taking such a dense barrage of gunfire, he had only lost that much health.
Zou Zhuo landed beside a soldier and threw a punch!
The blow struck the soldier square in the chest. The soldier flew through the air like a broken sack, his automatic rifle spinning away from his grasp.
Zou Zhuo continued his assault. Alex's punching speed was incredibly fast; a combo was executed almost instantly. The soldier was beaten until every bone in his body shattered, then crashed to the ground.
Under the physics system of the Pangu Engine, this scene played out with stunning realism, making Zou Zhuo exclaim, "Holy crap, that's awesome!"
Punches, kicks, flying strikes... Although Alex's unarmed combat moves weren't numerous, they were all practical. His fighting stances were fluid and incredibly cool.
Zou Zhuo could feel himself becoming a nimble martial arts expert. These heavily armed soldiers had no chance to fight back as he knocked them down one by one!
Despite taking many hits, Alex's health remained fairly healthy, with no real danger.
Moreover, in *Prototype*, players could switch to a third-person follow camera at any time.
This so-called third-person follow camera was the perspective used in many of Chen Mo's previous AAA titles. The camera stayed behind the protagonist's head, following his every move. It allowed players to see both the protagonist's field of view and his back and actions.
This perspective was common on PC, and *Dark Souls* also used it on the Switch. It had many advantages: it expanded the player's field of view, enhanced immersion in the scene, and clearly showed the character's movements.
However, since the player's field of view in VR mode matched normal human vision, the first-person perspective—being the most immersive—was the mainstream choice. In first-person, the player felt as if they had "possessed" the game character, offering an advantage over the third-person follow camera.
But *Prototype* was special. Because the protagonist Alex had such a cool outfit and moves, Chen Mo provided players with the ability to switch perspectives at any time during gameplay. Players could freely choose their preferred view.
Most players would likely use first-person for general gameplay, then switch to third-person follow when climbing walls or unleashing special skills to admire Alex's stylish actions.
"Whew... Keep moving!"
Following the system prompts, Zou Zhuo started sprinting forward!
The surrounding scenery blurred past, and the sound of howling wind rushed into his ears.
"So... so fast!"
Zou Zhuo was startled. Alex's running speed was just as exaggerated as his jumping ability! This pace was comparable to speeding in a car, and in VR mode, it was enough to make one's legs go weak.
At first, Zou Zhuo was afraid Alex would crash into cars. The entire city was in chaos, littered with wrecked vehicles and building debris. But whenever Alex approached an obstacle, he automatically leaped over it gracefully, like a parkour expert.
Zou Zhuo tried jumping a few more times. He still went very high, and jumping during a sprint didn't slow him down at all. He only left cracked impressions on the ground when he landed.
"So satisfying!!"
Zou Zhuo charged forward. He felt like a rampaging tank—not just reckless, but incredibly agile, as if nothing could stop him!
Arriving at the next checkpoint, another brief cutscene played. Alex clenched his fists. A rust-red mist flashed, and his hands transformed into claws, gleaming with a chilling, cold light!
"Holy crap, awesome! Isn't that the ability from the CG? It's real!"
Zou Zhuo leaped down from a tall building. His claws swung wildly, slicing soldiers' bodies in two. Blood sprayed, and severed limbs flew everywhere!
Although Chen Mo had slightly toned down the gore—the spurting blood would quickly vanish, and dismembered limbs wouldn't linger in the scene for long—the moment the blades pierced flesh was still explosively impactful!
This slaughter was even more exhilarating than using fists and feet. Zou Zhuo swung his claws excitedly, realizing he had truly found that "lawnmowing" feeling in this game!
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