Back when I believed western games had been created for the sole purpose of torturing naughty gamers my outlook was changed by one game. That game was the original 3D remake of Prince of Persia by Ubisoft. In the spirit of the time Ubisoft put that franchise to rest after the conclusion of the third game, making the series a trilogy.
No one believed that they had seen the last of the Prince and as flawed as Assassins Creed was its similarities with Prince of Persia wet peoples appetites for what a new game in the series might look and play like on new generation consoles. Well, it seems now people are going to get what they wish for, and the old warning of being careful what one wishes for comes to mind when looking at the way the Prince is being resurrected.
For better or worse Ubisoft seems to be determined to take the new Prince of Persia game into a very new direction. Personally the new concept seems to be borrowing a little too much from Assassins Creed for comfort. Like the fact that linear progression will be scrapped in favour of the ever popular western sandbox approach to progression.
The exquisite visual style of the old Prince of Persia trilogy games is to be thrown away in favour of a cell shaded look. The Prince and all the old characters from the trilogy have also gotten the boot as this will be a completely new story. A story that seemingly will be heavily steeped in the lore of the ancient Persian religion Zoroastrianism.
All fighting is going to be through duels, and since Ubisoft Montreal does not have the best track record for creating solid fighting mechanics that makes me a little worried.
A new Prince of Persia with the visual style of Assassins Creed and the gameplay of the last generation games would have been awesome, but we are not going to get that. Instead let us hope Ubisoft knows what they are doing and this second rebirth of the Prince of Persia franchise will be the best one yet.