The prince dates all the way back to 1989 when he first made his appearance on the Atari ST, Game Boy, Apple II, and MS-DOS, and other systems. Since then, he has been developed through a constantly growing series which has been recently taken over in development by
Ubisoft Montreal. In 2003 the prince received his most famous face-lift in
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time on the Playstation 2. Needless to say that Max and I were all over that game when it was released beating is numerous times each (Max beat it on a rental in a single sitting). The Sands of Time eventually grew into a trilogy that seem to gradually decrease in popularity. The new Prince of Persia starts fresh and tries many new things out. Is it good? I'm being srsly hur, it's good.
This year the platforming genre hasn't shown too many notable titles, but the new prince is here to please. The platforming in the game is what you would expect from a Prince of Persia title. You can run on walls (and ceilings), double-jump, shimmy across ledges, and slide down paths. In the new game the prince does have a new metal claw glove on his left hand that allows him to slide down vertical cliffs while directly controlling himself. Nothing we haven't seen before, but the challenge comes from combining all the gameplay aspects together to figure out how to get the prince to certain locations.
Like usual, the prince isn't alone. A new female companion named Elika is along for the ride this time. With her friendship, the typical game stereotypes are portrayed. The prince is solely your combat figure and she is solely your magic user. Elika is the one who will throw you a second time to help you perform a double-jump. Likewise, she is the one who will save you when you're about to die. Oh, you can't die in the game.. We'll get to that.
Around the expansive world there are magic activation points called power plates. There are four type of plates, all which are color coordinated: red, blue, yellow, and green. Red and blue generally do the same thing and yellow and green generally do the same thing. The red and blue plates launch you through the air on pre-designated routes. You can't control yourself, but it's fun to watch though. Green plates allow you to run on walls through pre-determined paths while dodging environmental obstacles. Yellow plates have a similar effect to green, but instead you'll be flying. Elika's magic does help break the routine of the prince's normal acrobatics and her abilities are integrated into many of the puzzles in the game as well. However, the puzzles of the game don't really require much thought. One or two of them are a little tricky, but nothing unbearable. Actually, the whole game is fairly easy. You have an acrobatics/jump button, a combat button, and a "use Elika's magic" button. If you mess up and fall, Elika saves you. If you're about to die in battle, Elika saves you. If you accidentally find yourself drowning in darkness sludge, Elika saves you. While this does drastically take away from difficulty, it does help the fluency of playing the game instead of having to be constantly reloading saves because you accidentally jumped off a cliff.
Elika is always there for you, even in combat. The battle system in the new Prince of Persia revolves around well-timed button pressing to perform attacks and deflection. With proper timing your attacks can be chained together to create some very satisfying and cinematic acrobatic damage to your enemies. Certain buttons will also appear on the screen if your enemies pin you against a wall or ledge. The correct input of the button allows you to counter attack and escape from you enemies grasp. Incorrect input results in Miss Elika saving your butt and the enemy regenerating life. Overall the combat is pleasing and fun to watch. There's simply one problem. You really don't have to use the combat system. For most enemies you are given a time window to get to them. If you get to them within that window you can kill them before they even spawn and you can be on your way. So the only real enemies you are forced to fight are the four bosses of the game.
One of the first things you'll notice about the game is that it took a different route this time design-wise moving into the illustrated type of art. Some people may be hesitant about this design choice, but once you've seen the vastness and beauty of healing the various areas of the world, you'll come to realize that the game is also an incredible piece of art. You can definitely see that the landscapes of the game have been influence by Shadow of the Colossus. In Shadow of the Colossus you have to find and kill baddies in certain areas of the world, then return to the temple in the center of the land. Generally speaking, the same ordeal goes for the new Prince of Persia. Furthermore, the games cut scenes and dialogue are acceptable, helping develop the personalities of the two main characters while adding to the story.
The main downfall of the game is its difficulty. It's not hard. Since Elika is there to save you whenever you need her, the challenge is really taken away from the game. However, if you're trying to go for certain
Xbox achievements/PS3 trophies, then you'll find a relatively challenging task of completing the game with Elika saving you less than 100 times throughout the entire game. There's also a speed run achievement/trophy, but again, not really that difficult. The "hardest" part of the game is really simply finding all 1001 light seeds (if you choose to do so). Like I mentioned before, the puzzles in the game aren't that intuitive either. They consist of simple "I need to turned this lever a few times to match up these symbols" puzzles. I don't mind developers trying to make a game that appeals to a broader audience, but I believe they should have found a way to add a harder mode for hardcore gamers.
Ultimately, the
new Prince of Persia is a game that is easy to pick up and enjoy. The game is relatively short, clocking in at about 8 -13 hours depending on if you decided to collect all 1001 collectible light seeds in the game. Beating the game will unlock new skins for the prince and Elika. After logging into Ubisoft's servers, the prince can become
Assassin's Creed's Altair and Elika can become Jade from
Beyond Good and Evil. Additionally, there's a promotional code that can be found online to unlock the skins for the prince and Farah from The Sands of Time. If you enjoy platformers or if you have played other Prince of Persia titles in the past, you WILL have fun with this game. End of story (and review).
