An enthralling experience.
Introduction:
Prince of Persia is an acrobatic platformer, developed by Ubisoft Montreal. The premise of the game is simple: Ahriman, the God of darkness, has been freed from his prison and corrupted the land. The Prince(whose real name never is revealed in the game), along with the magic-wielding princess Elika, must heal the land and reimprison Ahriman.
Good Stuff:
Beautiful
Prince of Persia is a beautiful game, in every sense of the word. While the cel-shaded graphics aren't particularly impressive on the technical side, the art direction is breathtaking. The game looks like a painting come alive, and has a storybook vibe that fits the game's setting perfectly. The draw distance is excellent, and imposing towers and massive mountain walls are always visible in the distance. The structures are intricately designed, the acrobatic moves are fluidly animated and have great flow, the corrupted areas really give the feeling that the land has become sick... visually, Prince of Persia is nothing short of a masterpiece. The soundtrack, while not quite as stupendous as the graphics, is a joy to hear and works with the visuals to create a fantastic atmosphere.
Trigger Dialogue
Prince of Persia doesn't have a lot of cutscenes. Instead, you can press the right or left trigger at any point in the game to have the Prince talk to Elika. Their conversations often give you information about the area you're in or insight into the characters' personalities, and are a joy to listen to thanks to excellent writing and voice acting. You'll miss out on a great deal if you choose not to listen to them, but the fact that they are completely optional is really neat nonetheless.
The Corrupted
There four main enemies of the game are the Corrupted, Ahriman's finest soldiers. You occasionally encounter regular, generic enemies, but those can be dealt with in a matter of seconds - the Corrupted, however, are far stronger and must be fought numerous times before you can finish them off. Each corrupted has it's own look, personality and fighting style, and some interesting backstory. There are four areas in the game(each of them split into four sub-areas), one for each Corrupted, and the order in which you deal with these areas is completely up to you. When you complete a sub-area, Elika will 'heal' it, making it brighter and grassier. Once you've completed a Corrupted's four sub-areas, you'll be able to go into it's lair for a final showdown. The Corrupted all had different reasons for selling their souls to Ahriman, and you might even feel bad for killing certain ones, despite the necessity of taking their lives.
Elika
Elika is the perfect partner. She never dies, she never gets in the way, and she's always there for you. By pressing the Y button you can have her do a variety of things, depending on the situation. If you're just standing around, she'll create a magic orb that shows you the best path to your destination. If you're in the middle of a jump, she'll make you jump farther. If you're in combat, she'll do a magic attack. Add to that a likeable personality, and you've got the best partner to ever grace a game. Oh, she also saves your sorry ass whenever you blunder, which brings me to the next point.
Forgiving
Prince of Persia's death mechanic - or rather, lack thereof - is interesting. Whenever you make a fatal mistake, Elika rescues you and takes you to the last solid platform you were standing on. This makes the platforming a lot more enjoyable - being forced to watch a game over screen just because you jumped a bit too early isn't fun or rewarding in any way, and does nothing but break immersion and create frustration. This game's solution works brilliantly, keeping you immersed in the world while encouraging you to attempt things you otherwise wouldn't(Hmm... I wonder if can make it over that gap?).
Bad Stuff:
Poor Combat
In Prince of Persia's battles you never face more than one enemy, which makes each encounter feel important. While the combat is incredibly cinematic and visually impressive, it's not very fun. The problem lies in the mechanics - your movement is limited(for example, you can't jump), and there are only four different attacks. These attacks(a basic sword slash, an acrobatic attack, a throw attack and Elika's magic attack) can be chained together to from elaborate combos, but since you never gain new combat abilities to mix it up, this quickly gets boring. The fact that the quick-time events range from too easy to impossibly hard doesn't really help.
New Abilities?
Apropos of the absence of new combat abilities, the character improvement(we're talking gameplay-wise now, not personality-wise), in this game is horrible. The reason is simple - there is none. The Prince and the Elika that you finish the game with are exactly the same as the ones you start off with. Aside from four powers that allow you to travel from point A to point B in flashy, barely interactive ways, you gain no new equipment or techniques. This was very disappointing - when I beat a boss fight or find a secluded place, I want to be rewarded with a neat weapon, or a magic ability, or... just something.
Too Forgiving
While the no-death mechanic works wonders outside of combat, it becomes a little bit too helpful when you're fighting dudes. If you die in combat, Elika restores your health(there isn't really a health bar - after taking two hits you are susceptible to one-hit-kills, avoidable through quick-time events). The enemy's health, on the other hand, is just restored slightly. This makes combat a tad too easy for my tastes, and greatly decreases the satisfaction you get when you've defeated a tough enemy. The game is a bit too forgiving outside of combat as well, as the time-windows for button presses are enormous - the acrobatics feel more like quick-time events than something you actually do yourself.
On-rails
The game really tries to give you the illusion of freedom, but ultimately fails. While the world is open, the times when there are more than one way to reach your destination are rare. Exploration is practically nonexistent, and there are no hidden goodies to find. The path you are to take is also predetermined - for example, places that the game wants you to wall-run on are marked by scratches on the walls, and wall-running elsewhere almost exclusively leads to death.
