This is an action adventure game in which players assume the role of Alex Mercer, an amnesiac who uses his "shape-shifting" powers to solve the mystery of a viral outbreak in New York City. The game allows players to sprint at high speeds and glide around an "open-world" environment to battle giant mutants, military personnel, and infected zombie-like citizens. Players can shape-shift their bodies into weapons (e.g., blades, spikes, and a mace) to slice, bludgeon, impale, eviscerate, and dismember enemies and sometimes non-combatants (e.g., pedestrians, police officers). Blood splatter gushes out of injured victims, staining the ground and walls; body parts and dead bodies sometimes litter the environment as well. During the frenetic combat, players can choose to "consume" victims in order to take their memories or adapt their appearance and abilities. Some abilities allow players to summon air strikes, pilot a helicopter, or drive a tank that can run over civilians. The game's cutscenes contain real-world photos with digital manipulations of the following: open surgical wounds; a seagull pecking at a corpse; and various human fetuses in jars. These images are highly stylized, sometimes black-and-white, and are usually presented in quick flashes. Strong profanity (e.g., "f*ck" and "sh*t") can be heard in the dialogue.
