There's a scene in the fairly tepid Will Smith movie Hancock where the title character - a reluctant superhero by trade - falls from a great height and lands on the pavement, cracking it as he does so.

The developers of Prototype must have just looked at that clip and chuckled to themselves. When their lead character falls from a great height - and you can chuck yourself off skyscrapers to your heart's content here - not only does he leave the road in need of repair, but anything in the vicinity is liable to be damaged too.

For few games in recent history have managed to put such a sustained, gleeful carnival of carnage on the screen. A sandbox game at heart, Prototype puts you in the shoes and many disguises of Alex Mercer, a shape-shifting man on the hunt for those who made him what he is.

Mercer is no ordinary beast. He can fall from those great heights without batting an eyelid. He can upgrade his many powers to the point of being able to employ devastating tactics, and visually stunning moves. And he can flick to another disguise at the touch of a button. And he needs too, as well.

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But mainly he causes destruction; shedloads of it. Gradually teaching you the many facets of controlling the powers that Mercer has at his disposable, the game lures you in with some fabulous - if bitty - set pieces, that see you picking up cars and lobbing them at helicopters, priming giant claws to come out of the ground and generally getting you used to the combos and hand to hand combat that form the cornerstone of much of the game.

The other cornerstone, actually, is travelling around the map, and this feels just how the Spider-Man games should have been. Running up buildings and pulling off ever more impressive jumps stays fresh for a long time, and even when it becomes a little repetitive the visual spectacle can't help but suck you in.

And there are more tricks up the game's sleeve, too. Naturally, just because Mercer has been created as a special prototype it doesn't mean that he's alone, and the game generates some frightening beasts to match your power. Health, as a result, takes a battering, but then the option to consume your opponents comes into play.

This, as with some of the more precise moves the game demands, can be frustrating in the midst of the action, but the idea is basically that you need to grab the foe in question when they are suitably weak and then press another button to consume them.

Consuming someone or something has a few effects. Firstly, there's the work it does for the health bar. Secondly, it allows you, if necessary, to assume their identity (so it's worth consuming a military commander if you want to get hold of some serious hardware from the middle of an army installation). And thirdly, you find out what they know, and basically consume what makes them tick.

Now granted, this might all sound like there's lots going on, but it's generally quite straightforward to get to grips with. There is a need to remember numerous controls, and when you're running round avoiding creatures trying to kill you, while also consuming an enemy to replenish your health, it suddenly gets much more difficult. But it's all so entertaining that you can't help but cut the game some slack.

You do need to cut it a little more where the missions are concerned, though. You can pick and choose missions and events, but certainly the former are arguably the weakest side of the game. There's surprisingly little innovation there and you find yourself fighting tougher and greater numbers of enemies a lot of the time, rather than admiring a skilfully designed sequence. The central character - don't get us wrong - is a fascinating and superbly-executed creation. But it's a pity he's not been given a slightly more interesting game to play through.

Still, there's little denying that Prototype is something different at heart, even if it's sometimes a little too consumed by its own ambition. Crackdown has a lot more polish and is the more ‘complete' game. But Prototype has mayhem in abundance, and in the context of a game like this, that really shouldn't be underestimated.

Destruction abounds and the developers let you enjoy every last bit of it. A little more polish to the missions themselves wouldn't have hurt, but we're still happily signed up for Prototype 2 off the back of this.