Prince of Persia

I will not spend time comparing this installment of the Prince with its predecessors, but will focus on couple of main issues I am having with this game.

First of all, let me say that this game is incredibly beautiful. Some of the levels are mesmerizing, especially when you revisit them after a healing. I would be happy if there was a 2 hours movie comprised only of scenes from the game that i could play in the background as some kind of an elaborate screen-saver.

The mechanics of the game-play are not hard to grasp, but very soon after the initial novelty, the moves you will be using throughout the game become very stale. The "identity" move also basically performs itself, so you will often have a eeling that the game plays itself. The adventure and its tasks do not present a serious challenge, except that you might get lost in the start (which is more a frustration than a challenge), since the map you will be using is not very precise, but more of a overview of a general direction you are heading.

My main objection is the fighting though. First of all, the introductory fight is quite easy but does not manage to instruct you in any tangible way about what exactly are you supposed to do. I need to say that I am not expecting a kind of "hand holding" through something that is meant to be understood through playing itself, but the basics should have been better explained, and then the fights themselves made challenging. Like this, the mechanics of fights are vague at best, it took me a long time before I could do some moves with any certainty. The 'whack-a-mole' mechanics of defending yourself also get very tiring and frustrating. Or maybe I am just a lousy player. That I do not know :p

The worst "offender" though was the Epilogue (which is downloadable content (DLC) or even sold with some versions of the game), which present us with the same boss fight over and over... and over and over and over and over... and over... and over again. Now believe me that writing this sentence was actually *more* fun than playing the Shapeshifter boss fights in the Epilogue. Did the developer want to get a small expansion out as soon as possible so they just used whatever they already had? And even though the boss fights are just one aspect of this kinds of games, some variety is expected.

This repetitiveness is probably an outcome of the fact that Prince himself does not ever change weapons or in the fact that he is limited in his movement - he cant jump easily, cant use different speed of walking or running, cant use the environment directly (unless it is designed to be used), etc.

The most disappointing thing for me was that from the beginning till the very end, Prince learned absolutely nothing new, nor did any new abilities open up, which can be explained by the fact that they had to keep the bosses on the same level (since you can choose your own path of playing through the game, so what was the first boss for me could very well be last boss for you), but I still felt that sense of progress of the character itself, besides the obvious progression of the story line, was very lacking.

The biggest pluses, besides the design and art direction: music is excellent, atmospheric and energizing when it is suited for either, the dialogues and the story line are not bad, though sometimes cliche (but hey, no one is expecting Proust in this setting), the characters are likable and engaging, and even though some of his jokes were kinda lame, the Prince is a well rounded game character.

Let me start off by saying that I haven't played any of the previous Prince Of Persia games so I'm new to this character.

After reading positive reviews about this game, I decided to purchase it thinking it looked original and interesting. While it is an original game, it is not really that interesting. The game starts with the main character looking for his donkey. He comes across a couple of ruffians that are pushing a young lady around. After stopping the bullies, he follows her to her castle where things are going a bit pear-shaped. The dark forces that are imprisoned beneath the castle are escaping and it's up to you and Elika to stop them! Thus begins a repetative tale of moving through a level and then killing the bad guy.

The graphics are very nice to look at and look even better on an HDTV but this cannot save the repetative gameplay. Jump here, wall run there, repeat until your eyes bleed. After dispatching with the bad guy on the level you then have to heal the corrupted land. You do this everytime, so basically your goal is exactly the same on each level. After healing the land, light seeds will appear and you have to collect them to advance through the game. This slows down the action somewhat but I can't help but feel that this was the game designer's intention to pad out the game length, but it's a little too much collecting for my tastes. The game really picked up in pace once I'd collected every single light seed that I needed but not long afterwards the game was finished. Also, you cannot die. That's right, Elika will save you every time which removes the challenge from this game. So, it's not a case of will you do it but rather how long will it take you. The controls are very simple and a three year old could play this game.

I could play this for an hour at a time before I got bored, so I don't think it's really ideal for a long gaming session but for casual gaming it's pretty good.

7/10

A series re-invention that wasnt really necessary. The Sands of Time trilogy are absolute classics, so changing the formula this drastically was always going to be a gamble.
It appears Ubisoft Montreal have tried to distance this entry as much as possible. Aside from switching the visuals to a cel shaded, cartoon style, the characters are also completely new. The 'Prince' is one in nickname only, and opens the game searching for his missing donkey. Here he runs into a princess named Elika, and becomes embroiled in a plot to unleash an ancient evil upon the land.
The prince is painted as a loveable rogue, but comes across as goofy and childish, with some truly awful dialogue. In motion, he's more memorable, even if the controls are blatantly lifted from Assassins Creed. This does take some adjustment, and like that game, you never get the feeling of being totally in control of whats happening on screen. Jumps dont even have to be timed well. There is a nice selection of new moves however, including a ceiling run, and a grip fall ability, which allows the prince to freefall down most vertical surfaces.

Amongst the many changes, the Sands of Time mechanic has been removed. In its place is an unlimited lives system, as Elika rescues you after every fail. This removes much of the challenge; and appreciation of the tight level design is lost somewhat by the stop start gameplay. Furthermore, watching the same rescue cut scene gets boring fast. Another overhaul is the combat system. This release has opted for a cinematic approach, with sweeping views and a more dramatic feel. Multiple enemy battles are out, replaced by a one on one system. Yet, more often than not these become battles of attrition, with poor skills only prolonging the battle. Rather than deepening the system, combat feels simplified, and with much less variety. Boss battles are also shamelessly recycled. Failure at anything just prompts Elika to rescue you. Once again. This hand holding approach is sure to split opinions, but it can all become tedious, especially with the inclusion of QTE's.
More repetition sets in elsewhere. Each section of the open-world map has to be 'healed'. This involves travelling there, defeating a monster, then hammering a QTE until the land is healthy again. This causes light seeds to appear, which need collecting in order to advance to new sections of the map. Repeat until credits roll.

Prince of Persia is a solid adventure game, and may be enjoyed more by newcomers to the series. But the script is less intriguing than Assassins Creed, and the action isnt as successfully implemented as Uncharted.
Overall, a disappointing entry for a classic franchise.