Joe doesn’t have anything on Alex in game battle

The old expression is, "You can't judge a book by its cover." I'd like to amend that cliche today to, "You really, really, really can't judge a video game by its cover. Seriously. I am not kidding."

Look at the box covers of two games: "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra" (good box, bad game) and "Prototype" (forgettable box, awesome game).

The "G.I. Joe" box is tempting. It features faces of soldiers who hold slick guns and a samurai sword, while jets fly patriotically in the background. But then you play "G.I. Joe," and it's a terrible, subpar shooting game that looks and feels like some 1990s version of "Bionic Commando," where the set pieces are cartoon jungles that look like maps that kids drew.

Your G.I. Joe character is the size of a thumb on your TV (that's small), and you always move forward with your finger pressed on the shooting button (that's lame), while your crappy bullets seek bad guys the sizes of thumbs (idiots). This becomes tedious in about 45 seconds.

By contrast, the box cover for "Prototype" merely features the profile of a dull-looking guy wearing a hoodie and holding up his lobster claw-type hand. Sounds stupid and smelly, right?

But then you play "Prototype," and you can't believe how sumptuous it is in its story lines, actions, game play and settings.

You portray Alex Mercer, a guy who wakes up with amnesia in Manhattan, where a conspiratorial apocalypse is happening: A virus is unleashing mutants on the streets, where they cause chaos; New Yorkers scream and run in terror, while military soldiers, tanks and helicopters rain shells upon everyone in an attempt to stop the madness.

Anyway, you wake up from a coma and realize you have somehow attained a stunning array of superpowers. You can jump 40 feet into the air, land on a helicopter and punch it to death. You can run up the exterior walls of buildings superfast then glide over the city, using your arms as wings.

You kill soldiers to absorb their memories, which you see in glorious little film cuts. You can shapeshift into rivals' images in order to gain entry into buildings, tanks and military helicopters.

By way of character development, Alex is very, very angry that he has amnesia, has to find people who can tell him about his life (sometimes by sucking out their memories), and has to battle weird mutants and soldiers with his lobster claws and superpunches.

"They call me a killer, a monster, a terrorist -- I'm all of these things," Alex grumps.

At least he knows who he is.

Like any great game, the real power of "Prototype" isn't the story or the idea of all those action methods, which seem like a combination of Spider-Man meets The Incredible Hulk. No, the real power is in the execution of the game-making.

This crazy game looks and plays fantastic, moves fluidly, and offers compelling story line twists and video flashbacks. I hope it spawns sequels and more ominous box covers.

("G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra" by EA retails for $50 for Wii, Xbox 360 and PS 3; $40 for PSP; $30 for DS and PS 2 -- Plays very dull. Looks subpar. Moderately easy. Rated "T" for fantasy violence. One star out of four.)

("Prototype" by Activision retails for $60 for Xbox 360 and PS 3; $50 for PC -- Plays intriguingly fun. Looks great. Moderately easy. Rated "M" for violence, language. Four stars.)

Doug Elfman's column appears on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Contact him at 383-0391 or e-mail him at delfman@reviewjournal.com. He also blogs at reviewjournal.com/elfman.