The Game Formerly Known as Prince of Persia

By Alphazero January 4, 2009 5 Comments

The new Prince of Persia is easy. That doesn't mean it's not fun, because it is, but it's pretty much always clear which way to go, and figuring that out in the Sands of Time games was what made it a puzzle. When it isn't clear which way to go -- say, at one of the nodes in the graph for this "open world" -- you can use your companion princess magic powers to directly show you the way. After clearing the corruption from a node on the graph, glowy light seeds, basically the flags from Assassins Creed, will appear all through the now pretty world. Unlike the Assassins Creed flags, however, you need to collect at least 540 of these seeds to unlock all areas of the map.

You have an amazingly detailed world, ugly and dark before you clear the corruption, pretty and fantastic afterward, but the light seed game design forces you to travel through it at least twice. It's a great way to see more of the world and solve some simple jumping puzzles to collect them, but it smacks of forced repetition in the game itself that strikes me as a bit of a cop out.

The platforming is very forgiving, giving you acres of time to hit the right button to make the next move. Getting into the rhythm of these moves can be fun, almost soothing. Unfortunately, for me at least, this same paced button pressing style carries over to the various boss fights and comes across as being simply unresponsive. I really want to hit the oily black bad dude with some magic, but it seems to take a dozen button presses before it happens. The game wants me to take my time with it, but in the heat of the fight I get a little anxious and start button mashing, expecting a more speedy response. The disconnect is between me and what the game expects, I know, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.

There are many great moments in the game. The art direction is astounding. I really like the story, characters, and voice acting.

It's too easy for my tastes, but as an interactive story I think it does succeed. A rogue-like mercenary with a heart of gold meets a princess in a desperate struggle to save the known universe... someone should make that into a movie someday. Maybe throw in some spaceships. It could be big.

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