Review: Prince of Persia
TSA reviews Prince of Persia. Or, at least our special new writer does. Enjoy.Published 05/01/2009 at 17:26 by djhsecondnature
Prince of Persia Forgotten Sands Screens [6]
New Prince Of Persia Announced [36]
Prince of Persia Movie Trailer and New Game “Announced” [27]
Repetitive beauty filled with eloquent banter. After a brief phone call with my other half, where I became the middle man between herself and my housemate in a school-yard-esque war of the words including the ever so popular, “You smell”, countered with, “Well you’re small”, I decided to summarise Prince of Persia in just a single sentence and thus avoid a review all together. (Oh imagine if that were true).
For those of you unfamiliar with the Prince of Persia series, you’re in luck. Ubisoft’s first Prince of Persia on the apparent seventh generation of console has been given a substantial makeover. The acrobatic nature of the gameplay is still very much present, however the combat and time mechanic have been altered and removed respectively. The game is somewhat unsurprisingly set at some point in time in Persia and you assume the role of an incredibly athletic and witty Prince, of whose name is unknown. Roaming the mysterious land that a sandstorm has landed you in on your own would be very boring and have voice actors looking in the Friday-Ad for jobs; therefore you are accompanied by a magic-instilled ally named Elika. In search of your beloved gold-carrying donkey you, and blinded by the previously mentioned sandstorm, you cross paths with said Elika, and thus the story unfolds with progression achieved by healing the fertile lands.
Gameplay wise, Prince of Persia is very similar to that of the Sands of Time trilogy, as the acrobatic, puzzle solving nature of the game has been retained, with the objective requiring the player to fight and vault around to heal the fertile grounds located throughout the world. Several key things differ from the soon-to-be-movie Sands of Time, most notably the time manipulation from the Dagger of Time being emitted all together. All of the acrobatics are performed using a series of single button presses that whilst may simplify the controls schemes, to perhaps open to a larger market; they are still satisfying once performed. I am somewhat surprised at claims that the game as a whole is easy: it may not have been the most challenging adventure I’ve ever experienced but it definitely isn’t easy as I needed saving over one hundred times, hence failing to a collect a precious gold trophy.
A major change is the Prince’s companion; maybe supporting character is a better description. Whilst you never directly play as Elika she is the foundation of the gameplay as she is key in both free running and combat but she also saves the Prince from death. That’s right, a game where you cannot die. Any moment when in any standard game you would die, Elika swoops in with her magic to save you from a painful death. Now you would think this would remove all challenge from the game, if you can’t die, how can you lose? Well, it’s not about losing: the essence of Prince of Persia is the free running sections, trying to keep the flow, similar to Mirrors Edge. Having to die, go to a load screen and begin again, just disrupts the rhythm of play. Deciding to have no death was a very smart choice indeed.
Just like the American Pie series, after the original trilogy they decided to change something and it didn’t really work out. The combat is now one-on-one and is simply memorized Quick Time Events, with each face button acting as set attack type. Combinations of the face buttons provide for a vast variety of combos, with a trophy for using them all as an incentive to mix it up. The addition of actual QTE’s with scripted attacks from bosses does become frustrating but seems to have been used to reduce button bashing which it did do for me personally. In keeping with the acrobatics, you cannot die in combat either, but if Elika needs to step in to save your sorry ass this provides your foe an opportune moment to replenish some of their health. Now there’s nothing particularly wrong with the combat, the combinations of moves are well thought out and when executed look stunning in their pre-scripted nature, it just feels slightly slower and stilted than the fast moving free running.
Every single animation within the game looks stunning and with an illustrative art style very similar to that of the beautiful Okami, it provides some vistas that are just awe inspiring. The dialogue between the Prince, who you may recognise as the voice of Nathan Drake from Naughty Dog’s PS3 exclusive Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune (acted by Nolan North), and Elika is humorous and charming as they grow on you as characters throughout the game.
In complete contrast to Sands of Time’s linearity, the current generations reboot gives the player the opportunity to roam the open world environment at ones leisure. The inclusion of collectable light seeds (small orbs of light required to unlock new abilities to access new areas) provides not only a collectable for those that sought out every single star on all of the Mario games, but also their locale often highlights a main path with a level. With a fraction over a thousand seeds to search for and only half of those needed for all of the levels, it never feels like a chore to explore and find them.
Whilst Prince of Persia perhaps fails to reach the heights of Sands of Time, it is a very good revamp for the franchise. It may not be as epic or mind-blowing as some titles currently on the market but it is a very solid game and one that provided me with a very enjoyable experience.
Comments
Please note that all comments are the opinion of the individual author and not TheSixthAxis.
cc_star | 05/01/2009 17:41
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Nice review djh, still in two minds as whether to buy the game or not, might be checking it out on a rental
djhsecondnature | 05/01/2009 17:43
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It’s definitely worth a rental. If you’re unsure I’d go for a rental anyway, but you can get it for £18 from Play.
theshockwave | 05/01/2009 17:42
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Yeh, great review. Never played a PoP game, looks like this could be a good place in the series to start.
oMega-W | 05/01/2009 17:50
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Good review. Personally, i enjoyed it as much as you seem to have. My only issues came during my first playthrough, where i was prone to frustration with some of the battles, and the rare occasions where i tried to jump where i “wasn’t allowed to” despite it looking safe. However, i found the “banter” between the two characters extremely cringeworthy at times, so much so, that i never really noticed their relationship develop. Played it through a second time, and appreciated the game (and the ending) a whole lot more.
djhsecondnature | 05/01/2009 17:53
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I think that says something. I’m about to start my second playthrough already. Whilst it may not have loads and loads of replayability as there’s no multiplayer, I enjoyed it enough to play it again.
oMega-W | 05/01/2009 18:02
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You’ll be pleased to know it took me just over 6 hours to complete a second time. So for someone with your renowned abilities, it should be a doddle…
First time through it took me about 13 hours, and that’s including getting all 1001 light seeds, so anyone thinking about buying/renting for a quick play you’re looking at around 10-12 hours. Which isn’t too bad, but i can see some people finding it slightly repetitive.
kamiboy | 05/01/2009 17:54
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Heh, I had a review for this game done a few weeks ago. But I thought since it had launched so long ago it wouldn’t make sense to post it, so I mothballed it.
cc_star | 05/01/2009 18:02
Team TSA: Writer
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I just got into my flying Delorean and had a peek at your article from a while back
A Conversation With A Prince
Still a great read
kamiboy | 05/01/2009 22:15
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Thanks, it was kind of my review of the game, done in a most untraditional manner. A summing up of all that went through my head when I started playing it for a few hours.
Paragonknight | 05/01/2009 18:44
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I found this game really boring after an hour or so. The PoP I’ve ever finished is the PoP: SoT. Played the others but couldn’t be bothered to finish them. I suppose they’re not my kind of games.
3shirts | 05/01/2009 19:07
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Good review, though I prefer Yahtzee’s:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/482-Prince-of-Persia
djhsecondnature | 05/01/2009 19:11
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I loved Yahtzee’s review. Always do though.
SteveTheSkorie | 05/01/2009 20:11
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I enjoyed it enough but after Mirror’s Edge this was just way too easy.
Press X somewhere near the edge of a surface. Press circle somewhere near a ring, press triangle somewhere in the jump. Theres no timing needed. Just press it around when you need to to make the next bit of the run.
I did enjoy it though.
The story was mildly interesting at the start, then non existent until the last few minutes when it really got going!
I think the open worldness of it is what limited the story. They couldn’t make use of set pieces or anything to provoke more story.
It was the same with the gameplay. The challenge never escalated because the developers had no idea of knowing how good a player would be at what bit in the game. You never got the idea you were approaching the climax because the set pieces couldn’t escalate to reflect it.
Though I did enjoy the climax! Particularly the perspective you viewed it from!
Oh well! I look forward to the sequel!
Roarster | 05/01/2009 20:28
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From what I’ve played so far I’d agree with an 8 out of 10. I can see why some people hate it though, sometimes it does just feel like you’re controlling a series of cut scenes.
I find the combat a bit annoying though, I’m not sure if I’m doing something wrong but I keep getting blocked. However, when you get it right, it does look amazing.
Mike | 05/01/2009 20:43
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Great first review secondnature.
You do the site proud
LiquescentShadow | 05/01/2009 22:10
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Cool, nice review dj!
Probably won’t be getting PoP in the near future, though. Maybe once it hits the bargain bin then I’ll pick it up.
cc_star | 05/01/2009 22:12
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It’s possibly not going to get any cheaper than it already is, 18 quid at play
yogh_wayne | 05/01/2009 23:46
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Nice to see one of your reviews on TSA, djh
Haven’t played PoP yet, but it’s on my list.
CrazyKrissZ | 06/01/2009 02:58
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Nice review!
Does’nt convince me to buy the game, but it gives a really good idea.
clank250 | 06/01/2009 05:14
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649 TSA Points | Member since: Oct 2008
I grabbed this game right after Christmas (along with Dead Space) and I enjoy Nolan North, because if you Wikipedia him, he has actually done a lot of roles that have made me laugh with what his character says. Prince of Persia had sme of the funniest dialogue and, personally, if you could find a better actor to play this type of character then tell me and I’ll be the judge of that.
The game could’ve been a lot longer and harder but i’ll take it as it is, and I’m not the most hardcore gamer but collecting the lightseeds seems like a really easy task after beating the game. The only Trophy I’m going to have trouble with is the one where she saves you less than 100 times throughout the game.In the first area I got saved arond 50 times, so you can judge how many times i had to get saved throughout the whole game.
hannes_truce | 06/01/2009 09:00
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I was deliberating whether to pick this up and i think this review may have just swayed me… play.com here i come:-)
manicmushrom | 06/01/2009 19:50
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This game is to easy and repetative. Bring back the old style. Set path, loads more enemies, fuck the magic powers and the old style combat. The sands of time, warrrior within and the two thrones where sooo much better….