Prince of Persia

After six hours of play-time, albeit very enjoyable play-time, I have come to the conclusion that the latest Prince of Persia offering is nothing short of quality. At first glance you may be either put off by the new cel-shaded look or enthralled by it. I wasnt buying into it straight away but now I'm hooked by the overall visual theme that the game offers. It is very fresh and obviously the franchise has been given a complete overhaul.
Ubisoft have given us a new Prince too and although he is no less agile than before...the voice talent of Nolan North (Drakes fortune, Assassins Creed) adds to the re-styling of a normally serious and precise character which fans of the previous trilogy have come to know and love.

The gameplay mechanic -

Ubisoft developers have clearly made the game very accessible in terms of easiness and fluidity of play. This is recognisable from the moment you pick up your controller. Comparing to the other games in the series, the controls are exactly what you would expect and completely user friendly. A for jump with the Left analogue stick guiding you in your desired direction. B is occasionally used to extend certain feats, such as ceiling running (a new move to the series). In no way is it a hardship to perform a long jump, wall run or any other of the Princes' signature acrobatic Manoeuvre's. Infact this is one part of the game that some fans may criticise...it can seem a little too easy at times and any sense of complete urgency or fear ie trying to make it to the other side of an area without touching solid ground once is not difficult. You are not required to stretch your imagination too far on how to go about solving a particular level/area. On the plus side of things; gamers wont find high levels of frustration blocking the fun factor which Prince is clearly designed to bring.

Elika -

The Prince is not alone during the course of his latest adventure. Aid is here in the form of Princess Elika. Equally as nimble, agile and acrobatic as her male counterpart and also sporting the lastest in magical techniques, Elika can be compared to a guardian angel of sorts. With Elika at your side you will never have to fear death...thats right...you cannot die in this game. Fall off a ledge? No problem there as Elika will use her talents to swiftly bring you back to safe ground. An enemy getting the better of you? Again, just before the said enemy can finish you, Elika will jump in and buy you enough time to regain your footing and fight on.
Some gamers may scorn this fact. I know that Fable 2, a game which also saw the protagonist being incapable of dying, came under a bit of flak due to this. But I appreciate that Ubisoft have done as much as poss to ensure that the game flows, with no major parts to detract, again, from the fun and overall experience. (there is an achievement for getting through the game without Elika's aid though...so hopefully that will put the more hardcore gamer's minds at rest in light of it being a tough achievement to crack)
Elika's presence allows quite a few Co-op moves aswell. Need to jump that extra yard further to grab onto an overhanging ceiling beam? Tap Y and she will work some of her magic to instantly teleport to your side, grab you and propel you to your needed objective. She is also quite happy to help out while in combat too. Elika's support is always activated with Y.
I have to say that it is refreshing to have Elika at your side. You can converse with her at any time and some of the verbal exchanges can be quite funny and at times, endearing. The conversation part of the game is linear so there are no Fallout 3 type responses. Inturn you get to learn more and more about the Prince and the current state of affairs which are governing Persia. The charm of the dialogue is down to excellent scripting and the vocal talent on offer. Nolan North (The Prince) makes the character his own and his cynical/sarcastic humour is allowed to roam freely which represents the ego of the new Prince perfectly. Anyone familiar to the PS3 title Drakes' Fortune will instantly recognise Nolan and he is a joy to listen to. The counterside is Elika (not sure who does her voice) whom is confident, witty and in no way wooed by the Princes' natural good looks and charm. The harmony between characters is perfectly balanced. The Prince is calm, laid back and wrapped up by his own self belief. Elika is serious, urgent and unimpressed by anything that borders heroic.

Combat -

The same team that worked on Assassins creed have refined the combat for Prince. Gone is the free-form combat of the last trilogy and in comes the best bits of combat from Creed and the nostalgia of the original Prince of Persia game. One on one combat (with Elika there to help out of course).
The main thing is this...the combat is pretty excellent considering its one on one and it pulls the game a long way back to its roots and this I love. Combat can be governed in a number of ways and considering the simplicity of it, it becomes a case of easy to pick up and tricky to master.
The prince is capable of three main attacks, blocking, countering and then there is Elika. She can add to the attack combinations with magic. If you want to play it safe you can always just keep your guard up, wait for the enemy to strike and tapping R trigger at the precise moment ness will allow you to deflect a blow and efficiently counterattack your opponent. Combat can be over quickly or it can drag on, pending the skill of the enemy. Its all put together very well and I do prefer this type of combat over the free-form style, which funnily enough made the last games in the series extremely popular. Like I say though its all very reminisent of the original 2D game.

The Musical Scoring -

The soundtrack is absolutely fantastic!! I havent heard such a powerful set of compositions in a long while and the pacing is perfect for the game and the scenarios that unfold.
There are strong heroic themes, think Aragorn LOTR, and beautiful melodies to accompany the visuals and serenity of everything that Prince of Persia delivers. I love the Howard Shore LOTR pieces and this is to the same standard. Excellent.

I hope this review is helpful. I have endeavoured to point out the best parts of the game, without giving away too much. The storyline, for example, is not extraordinary and its the good old scenario of darkness versus light. The new visual style, revised combat and acrobatics do bring a fresh new take to Prince and accompanied with a Grade A soundtrack the game is clearly polished and very well developed. Its hard to put it down once the characters and setting have gripped you. And here is another feature...the world is pretty much open. Tasks and goals, can be tackled by the players own discretion. It isnt sandbox but you definetely have a sense of freedom to achieve things your way. The regular goal is to visit an area which has fallen into corruption and use Elika to heal the land and make it fertile again. The process is the same for all areas. Pull off some death-defying acrobatic moves, fight a few minions of darkness and then restore light. Once an area is restored you are then able to hunt down light seeds. These glowing orbs are required to open new areas and there are 45 to collect in each. Some are easy to find, while others will leave you scratching your head for a few moments. In no way does the game ever detract from bringing fun. If you want action, adventure, a witty hero and a bit of a fun challenge then this game will definetely float your boat. Its got an epic feel to it that stays with you even after switching your console off.

Perfect entertainment 9/10

Ok, lemme say it from the get go. This lastest installment of Prince of Persia is a little like marmite..Your either going to love it or hate it and there really isn't an inbetween. Now for the record I have really grown to love this game. The enviroment and cell shaded characters are absolute eye candy and the joy of platforming through the various levels, can be great fun. The soundtrack that accompanies the game is well orchestrated quickly turning from an uplifting melody to a dark and monotonous tone whether youre entering a light or dark area of the game. Now, harcore POP fans may be slightly dissapointed with this because it has to be said its quite an easy game. You cant die and your good old sidekick Elika will always save you from death. But to be honest the great thing about this piece of software is that its a joy to play, its not meant to be an extreme challenge, its just pure fun. Lets face it,some the earlier POP games could be frustrating when your hopping around levels, only to miss that crucial jump and end up plummenting to your doom. Yeah it made you feel like a doughnut didnt it? Well not here friends. You can freely explore the enviroments the game has to offer (as the Prince is very agile) and often requires minimal player interaction when it comes to those difficult jumps etc. Combat is pretty much always 1 on 1 but still requires you to use your thinking cap in some instances (when facing the Warrior for example). The boss characters look awesome and display some of the best cell shaded animation seen in a long time. The real joy comes from when you restore 'light' to a corrupted area, and the lush and detailed surroundings really come to life and you then need to collect light seeds for your new pal Elika.
Controls are easy to get to grips with ( A=Jump Y=Magic/Elika) and theres a tutorial bar that pops up in the first level to make sure you get the hang of things before you roam off yourself. The prince also has to activate certain 'light' powers for Elika to progress through certain areas of the game and these can be fun, apart from the yellow ones which can be frustrating ( not giving anything away but ull know what i mean when you come to it). All in all, POP is a fun game and is a pleasure to play. Its easy on the eye, and some of the diaglogue between the Prince and other characters could make you laugh and can be quite entertaining. Gamers wishing for a major challenge- forget this completly. Those of you looking for a good aventure, a few laughs and dont take yourself too seriously as a gamer, check it out! After all lets remeber games arent meant to be made to be a massive challenge, there made so you can fun. And this is it.

I thoroughly enjoyed this game, this is quite a changed direction from the other Prince of Persia titles such as Sands of Time and Warrior Within, and it certainly divides opinion, and thus is clearly not for everyone, many gamers feel it is too repetitive and too easy, as you cant die in this Prince of Persia, which is a huge gameplay change from the other titles, in which death was very much a frequent and to some, frustrating aspect. This is predominantly a platform game, which in my case means, lots and lots of falling down.

However, I personally enjoyed the game a lot, the music is beautiful, the artistic look works wonderfully, healing the lands and seeing their bleakness turn into beauty is a real joy to behold, I also felt the voice acting was good, the prince himself being a bit clichéd, but I thought it worked perfectly well.

As I mentioned before, a major change in this Prince of Persia title was not being able to die, and this is the biggest gripe most people have with it, so if you consider yourself a "hardcore gamer", then this easy ride might not be for you, however if you are less concerned about the difficulty of a game, and enjoy something a bit more easy and straightforward, then you might just find a true gem here.