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    Prince of Persia

    Game » consists of 21 releases. Released Dec 02, 2008

    A 2008 entry into the Prince of Persia franchise titled simply "Prince of Persia", this game stars an all-new Prince as he teams up with the mysterious Elika to fight Ahriman and cleanse the world of his corruption.

    donkey_kong's Prince of Persia (PC) review

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    A blast from the start, but grows reptitive in time.

    We are now three years removed from the release of Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones and the series has received yet another face lift. Little could Jordan Mechner or anybody have have known in 1989 that his simple game based on Mechner's brother screen captured in pajamas would be the basis for what would later become a stellar trilogy of games. Having been wrapped up nicely in late 2005, the trilogy was over but fans still clamored for more. Knowing a lucrative opportunity when they saw one, but not wanting to release a rehash, Ubisoft created a brand new Prince of Persia experience which was a departure from the 3D prince as we knew him.

    The new Prince of Persia, aptly titled Prince of Persia to signify a fresh start is inherently very similar to the previous three games that we know and love, but in other respects is a world of difference. Our story begins with the brash young hero caught in a Sandstorm and looking for his donkey known as Farah (namedrop). Only wanting to return home and spend his riches presumably garnered from a previous adventure, he is swept up in a plot involving a young woman named Elika who is on the run from Ahriman's dark army. The big bad has apparently sapped the Tree of Life of all of its light seeds rendering it useless. In order to rectify the situation, you must go through the world using the Prince's acrobatic abilities and the help of the daring young Elika to collect these light seeds and generally purge the world of the scourge of evil that is Ahriman's forces.

    The exposition flawlessly justifies the premise of the game, but it certainly didn't have me on the edge of my seat. Part of the issue is that the Prince is completely unlikeable. Considering the setting and time period, you would expect the Prince to not be using tired cliches and sorry one liners that even a character in an 80's movie would roll his eyes at. “Chin up Buckaroo” and “Cheer up Queenie” are not exactly phrases I think of when I imagine an Arabian locale and two characters in a dire circumstance. “We have to cross over there.” says Elika showing the way, “Sure, just climb up the roof, it's not like gravity ever killed anyone!” fires back our snarky protagonist.

    Admittedly, poor scriptwriting or an unengaging story is never a dealbreaker, but who is into this style of dialog? Not only is this script beyond cheesy, but it breaks up the otherwise immersive atmosphere every time the Prince makes an attempt at a witty one-liner. The game's one saving grace, the bulk of the conversations are optional!

    A staple of the series and your mode of transportation as you bring light and goodness back to the world, has always been parkour style free running. Ubisoft has brought back many of the old princes arsenal of acrobatics with such actions as wall-running, pole jumping and leaping from walls onto platforms high above. Unlike the old prince however, this Prince has all of the gear and abilities from the moment you take control of him thereby eliminating any RPG-style character development (Elika does receive new abilities however).

    The Prince's abilities are all relatively similar to what we have seen before, but from the onset they seem almost new due to the fully re-imagined world that this iteration of the franchise takes place in. Complete with vibrant colors and a sick new cel shade like graphics style, the art direction of Prince of Persia is certainly the game's greatest achievement. Thankfully, the platforming and the fight sequences are separated into two different areas in this game allowing you to stop at any point during the exploration process and take in the luscious scenery. The game sounds as good as it looks as well, with orchestrated tracks that fit the mood of the game exceptionally well. The music sounds like the score to an epic when you are exploring the large open-ended world, and it speeds up when the situation turns dire.

    For all the musical and artistic praise that can be heaped onto a game like this, it is a shame that one easily fixable problem derails the entire experience. The game has literally no challenge to it cheapening the entire experience. Every time you mistime your jump or fall from a cliff into a bottomless chasm, Elika magically swoops down, catches your arm, and places you back onto the last solid ground on which you stood. That's it, no loss of inventory as you carry nothing, no checkpoints or backtracking as you are put right where you were so you can try again, no death penalty whatsoever.

    This also extends to the battle sequences. Prince of Persia has quite a winning battle formula which allows you to string together combos involving your sword, gauntlet and Elika to deal massive damage to the enemy. You can either elect to experiment with the combo system or view the Budokai/fighting-game style combo tree wherein you can memorize various button combinations to carry out an intricate cinematic. The underlying issue here is that none of the fights feel particularly dangerous during the combat or rewarding upon completion because you can't die. Taking “Press X to Not Die” to new levels, whenever you are on the verge of defeat, a quicktime event occurs. If you complete the quick time event, Elika pulls you away, no harm no foul. If not, the enemy regains a significant portion of health and the fight continues.

    The bottom line, you are never actually in harm's way and the only person with a health bar is whatever it is you're fighting. Not all games need to be Ninja Gaiden, but there is a reason why in most games you die when you screw up. The inability for your progress to be setback at any point ultimately creates a hum-drum experience. The philosophy, “If humans never had to suffer, life would be boring and unfulfilling,” is particularly applicable to this game's experience.

    The game also allows you to backtrack through itself (forced and otherwise) to collect all 1001 light seeds, but this gameplay mechanic falls right on its face when the game built around it is no fun to begin with. I was quite happy to collect every musical note in Banjo-Kazooie, and more than obliged to steal back each page of the Thevious Racoonus, but you'd have had to hold a gun to my head before I went back for any extra light seeds. Lengthening a game through collection is not inherently bad, it just only works for the best games. In Prince of Persia's case, it is a shame that a game asking $60 new is only ten hours long and only increases its value through backtracking.

    I have nothing but respect for Ubisoft for the manner in which they went about restarting the Prince of Persia franchise. Recognizing that the previous trilogy was done, they attempted to bring the series in a bold new direction without sacrificing the core mechanics that would no doubt alienate the existing fan base if they went absent. However, while they couldn't very well have scrapped wall running (or similar mechanics) entirely, they did not add much meaningful content to the experience. How many times am I going to run across a wall, jump to a pole, swing around and climb up the next wall? Make no mistake: the novelty of sliding down a wall wears thin quickly, and there is not a lot of gameplay depth to keep the game interesting once this happens.


    It is also a shame that such a beautiful game aesthetically and otherwise is constantly broken up by shoddy dialog and a utopian system in which you never die or experience any setbacks. Either way, you can be sure that this game will have a sequel of its own, and I am cautiously optimistic. There is a winning combat system and art style at play here, and thats nothing to sneeze at, but these are unfortunately overshadowed by repetitive gameplay and lack of a proper death system rendering even boss fights melodramatic.

    Other reviews for Prince of Persia (PC)

      Magical game is magic. 0

      Ubisoft decided to toss away the memorable, time-warping and ret-conning universe they established last generation with Sands of Time, Warrior Within and Two Thrones. It's another fresh start for the franchise and good lord, what an amazing way to start from square one. The game starts with the new prince caught in a sandstorm, while the narrator questions the relevance of a single grain of sand, which may or not be a reference to the previous trilogy. The prince is looking for his donkey, Farah...

      6 out of 7 found this review helpful.

      Worthy of the Prince of Persia Lineage 0

      Prince of Persia is the latest re-imagining of a franchise that is nearly two decades old now. This new addition retains all the qualities that make a Prince of Persia game great with fun platforming, interesting characters and acrobatic swordplay. There is a special emphasis on the presentation this time around and everything feels a lot more cinematic. However, this outstanding presentation comes at a cost and while the semi-automatic platforming is fun to watch, it's not as...

      2 out of 2 found this review helpful.

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