Prince of Persia (PS3)

“There will be times when we must all embrace change. For the Prince ( of Persia ), that time is about now. See, at some point, the Prince lost his trademark dagger and donkey. You'd think losing a time-controlling dagger and a treasure laden...”

“There will be times when we must all embrace change. For the Prince ( of Persia ), that time is about now. See, at some point, the Prince lost his trademark dagger and donkey. You'd think losing a time-controlling dagger and a treasure laden donkey would leave a guy fairly upset. Perhaps, in the words of Tycho Brahe, smoldering with even more generic rage than he had prior been. As it turns out though, the Prince is in a pretty good mood. Chipper, even. I haven't played Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, but from what I understand, the Prince's new mood is an improvement.

Honestly, when one considers the laundry list of changes Ubisoft is bringing into the latest installment of the Prince of Persia franchise, it's not hard to see why the Prince is feeling so great.

Players assuming the role of the titular Prince will find themselves whisked away to a fantastical, vaguely Arabian land governed by two warring gods, Ormazd, God of Light, and Ahriman, God of Darkness, by what is apparently a magical sandstorm. Said sandstorm has also transformed the world into the resemblance of an especially vivid fairy tale painting, bucking the current trend toward increasing graphical realism. However, with vistas every bit as astounding as those found in other games and a wonderfully rich colour palette, the striking new watercolour aesthetic has a certain charismatic charm that is all too often absent from recent games.

The Prince isn't given much time to ponder his new surroundings though, because he soon collides with Elika, an exotic, magic-wielding Arabian princess of sorts. Elika enlists the begrudging Prince in her crusade against Ahriman and his corrupted minions. Soon Elika becomes a constant, eventually irreplaceable companion to the Prince and player alike, her ever willingness to lend a helping hand through a particularly tough spot makes her indispensable in gameplay, while her wit and charm entertain and delight.

The world itself is divided into four territories, each tainted by Ahriman's corruption and lorded over by one of Ahriman's corrupted minions. Though players are free to roam these lands in the order they please, areas under Ahriman's dominion are visually desaturated; dull to observe, dangerous to traverse.

Luckily, even without his dagger, the Prince proves more than capable at tackling the obstacles ahead. Players will clamber over rugged cliffs, and leap across gaping chasms with such fluid agility as to make cats jealous. Ahriman's corrupted minions in turn are dealt in with equally fluid attacks and agile acrobatics. All of this is achieved with a certain, deliberate rhythm; the Prince does not care for juvenile buttonmashing. Yet when everything comes together, the actions become so seamless, so gratifying yet almost effortless, a sort of gameplay nirvana emerges. Leave it to a Prince to make life look so easy.

Defeating the local lord permits Elika to heal the land of corruption, restoring vibrant colour to the land, revealing gorgeous landscapes and breathtaking vistas to oogle and light seeds to collect, the light seeds being the currency required to unlock new powers in order to unlock new areas.

All in all, the game is a polished, streamlined experience making for a very entertaining romp, though reliance on quicktime events occasionally disrupt the game's natural flow. Furthermore, Elika's infinite patience with the sometimes blundering Prince, and the cleverly concealed, but nonetheless linear map design makes an already rather short and easy game perhaps a bit too short and too easy.

Verdict: The Prince is back in town with a whole new groove. Featuring a gorgeously stylish new world to explore and an attractive new companion to explore with, all layered upon fluid, streamlined gameplay, the Prince's new groove, even sans trademark dagger, is, well, princely. Don't tell Ubisoft I said this, but between you and me? I would've traded the dagger for Elika alone. The fact that the Prince is such a competent platformer in a heretofore underrepresented genre is just icing on the cake. Unfortunately, while collectibles abound, the general lack of replay value and easy difficulty bring the fairy tale to a close all too soon.

Purchased: $35

Value: $35 ± $5”

“Visually stunning and very funny, the best in the series yet for how pleasing it was to view all the amazing scenery. I have a lot of issues with Ubisoft and they always let me down in one way or another, this game would be no different. The game...”

“Visually stunning and very funny, the best in the series yet for how pleasing it was to view all the amazing scenery. I have a lot of issues with Ubisoft and they always let me down in one way or another, this game would be no different. The game was lush and well thought out with all the platforming but when combat happened the game tranformed into a 2-D Mortal Kombat rip off... The combat was a let down, fighting any monsters was a pain and very slow moving. The fact that you could never die no matter how hard you tried was stupid too.

Ubisoft, you may always let me down in every single game you have ever made, and I've lost my faith in you... However this game was a step in the right direction. I may follow this series yet.”

“My two cents on the game: - Gorgeus art graphics and enviroments. Best cell shading graphics to date, simply jaw dropping. - Jumping mechanics can get repetitive. - The no-gameover idea is nice but makes the game somewhat less challenging -...”

“My two cents on the game:
- Gorgeus art graphics and enviroments. Best cell shading graphics to date, simply jaw dropping.
- Jumping mechanics can get repetitive.
- The no-gameover idea is nice but makes the game somewhat less challenging
- Some of the "use the power-pads" part are tedious, especially the flying parts.
- Lack of enemies and weapons makes the game repetitive and monotonous in some way.
- Combat is well executed, controls and mechanichs are fine, but all the enemies behave the same way and yes it does also get repititive
- The voice over are hit and miss, sometimes they are quite good and sometimes they are just hilariously bad
- The ending is great, not expected.
- Finished the game under 12 hours and 60% of trophies, trophy whores this is your game.
- In the end the experience feels good, the controls are very good and the combat is satisfying. The problem is the lack of variety on enemies, weapons and jumping challenges gives the whole game a monotonous feel. 7/10


”

“Amazing game and amazing cell shading design”

“Amazing game and amazing cell shading design”

“beatiful but ordinary”

“beatiful but ordinary”

“I liked Warrior Withing more but it's not that bad. View are awesome, so you can just sit and watch everything, and costumes option is a good idiea”

“I liked Warrior Withing more but it's not that bad. View are awesome, so you can just sit and watch everything, and costumes option is a good idiea”