Prey

Tommy isn't completely alone. He can call on his Grandfather's spirit for help and the ghostly senior passes on the spiritual power of the Cherokee. The means access to the Spirit Bird: a phantasmal hawk that enables Tommy to comprehend the aliens' writing and spoken language, and can also distract enemies during battle. Also the Spirit Walk, which allows Tommy to temporarily leave his body as an ethereal presence. As a spirit, Tommy can execute stealth attacks with his bow, and phase through walls to steal the goodies beyond (so long as his enemies don't discover his immobile body first).

Grandpa also teaches you the Death Walk, which rethinks the concept of death itself in the single-player game. Instead of the tired, typical save/die/reload cycle, when you succumb to your injuries, it'll trigger a mini-game in which you arrow-snipe demons attempting to take your spirit. The better you shoot, the more health you'll have when you're brought back to life. Granted, returning to the exact location where space nasties blasted your soul clear out of your body may sound like a re-death wish, but remember: your enemies think you are dead, and have probably turned their attention elsewhere. Surprise, suckers

Prey has taken an alarmingly long time to come together; nearly a decade has passed from the time the project was announced in 1997 to its expected release date this June. But some things are very much worth the wait, and the dizzying, feverish promise of this experience has us thinking Prey might be one of those things.