Prototype (typeset as [PROTOTYPE]) is an action-adventure game published by Activision and developed by Radical Entertainment. The game was released in North America on June 9, 2009, and in southwestern parts of North America as well as Oceania on June 10, and was released in Europe on June 12. The game is set in New York City, where a virulent plague is spreading through Manhattan. Those infected are mutated into hideous monsters. The United States Marine Corps, under the command of the black ops organization BlackWatch, is dispatched to contain it, putting the entire island under quarantine. At the center of it is the protagonist, Alex Mercer, a shapeshifter with no memory of his past. Alex has the ability to absorb other individuals, taking on their biomass, memories, experiences, and physical forms. Through this process, Alex comes to remember his own past and the secret behind the virus infecting Manhattan and him.