Prince of Persia

Visually, this is one of the most refined and mature titles I've ever seen. The art direction, the environments, are just magnificent. Great voice acting and a mildly amusing script also helped. The game has almost no load screens, and in an open world game, it sure is nice. The gameplay mechanics work really fluidly, so getting the Prince around is a breeze. That all being said, this is a very poor installment in the PoP series, for the gameplay is ridiculously redundant, and its puzzle solving elements could be completed by a nine year old. Not that I have anything against nine year olds, it's just that when a game's combat is a rarity I would expect something else to redeem it. Unfortunately, it is not the case here. The platforming is enjoyable for the first few hours, but it gets real old real fast. Also notable, you can figure exactly what will happen the entire length of the game within the first hour of starting it. So, what does PoP offer us ultimately? A beautiful world to explore, compelling banter between the two protagonists, and a very fluid platforming element. On the other hand, the story is laid out in the first 20 minutes, the combat (which is enjoyable) is scarce, and every other facet is so easy I can't fathom how they were targeting anyone over the age of 12 to enjoy this in its entirety. So basically, it fails on PoP's three historical strengths. Play the demo, and leave it at that.

This game has a great visual style, good styled world, well-built locations, nice graphics, parkour system is simple but interesting to watch. That's where the pros end.

In general, the game gives the impression that it lacks something. The gameplay is monotonous. The essence of the game is that in one large location you need to activate 20 places to revive this world, the whole process of moving from one place to another is the same everywhere.

There are 4 power that open as the game progresses and allow you to use a new way of moving, something like a strong jump or flight, but it doesn't change the gameplay too much.

There are only 2 or 3 puzzles in all game, and this is only in the last location. The plot is nothing, it is presented in the form of 2-3 words between the characters, the cut-scenes are poor, there is no disclosure of the characters, who they are, where they come from, and they are not interesting at all.

Very terrible combat system, apparently the developers wanted to bring something new, but it's didn't work, it all comes down to the fact that you just need to press a certain combination of buttons in time (only like 4 combinations), just the same as with parkour.

The whole game you just need to press the right buttons in time, the player can only choose which way to go and which of the 3 combinations of buttons to press in battle.

I don't think this attempt of reimagining the series worked.

Well not entirely true, the "Two Thrones" game for some reason was released on the Wii, and technically that prince is not in this game. However, the series has reached the newest consoles and I applaud their first effort that is rather good, though part three in the series is still the best one I have played. The story has a new guy lost in the desert searching for his donkey who has all the gold he got from a previous adventure. This character is by no means a prince, rather he is an adventurer who is about to get tangled up in a very difficult ordeal involving a princess. Well he meets a princess being pursued by men and he steps in. Which could be considered a mistake, however this leads him on a quest with the princess to revive lands in a kingdom tainted by a dark god. Once all the lands in this kingdom are healed the dark god who is threatening to escape will be imprisoned securely once more. There is more to it than that, including why the bonds holding this dark god are breaking in the first place, but if you play the game you shall learn yourself. Most of the game is the acrobatics one is used to from the last three games in this series. You do a number of climbs, jumps, and figure puzzles during this quest. The fights, while not many in number though are the highlight as they are very cinematic in nature and really fun when you hit a good combo. Do not worry about dying as I did not die the entire game. The princess sees to it your character stays alive and this may seem to make the game less challenging the thought of doing some of those lands without her make me cringe. You would be seeing a lot of game over screens that is for sure. The characters are good too as the prince is rather funny and has a better personality than the last one. You get to have some rather humorous exchanges between he and the princess. The problems in the game are just enough to make this game score an eight. One, it gets a tad repetitive when you have to go through the same area a couple of times to collect orbs. The ending is obviously setting up a sequel and is kind of irritating as you went through a whole lot to have the prince do what he does. It also just does not feel epic enough in areas as the end credits are a bit disappointing compared to part 1 and 3 from the previous games. There could have been a bit more enemies to fight as well as you kind of have to fight the same ones over and over. Still a good first effort so I hope this one does well enough so I can see how this story continues.

Quicktime events ruin the combat.

The sword combat could feel brilliant and flow with beauty. However, Prince of Persia never lets this happen, as it's interrupted with quicktime events. This was that era. The absolute worst thing of the Seventh Generation: QTE. Quite disappointing. Seriously some of the best swordplay I've experienced in a video game, but the QTE ruins it. Just awful. Sad.

The last level isn't fun.

The variation of perspective and lack of colour for the parkour-ing makes it difficult in an un-fun and un-challenging way. Just annoying. I feel personally insulted when game devs don't respect my time, and don't play-test games enough. Yes, it looks beautiful. Initially. But any game can look dull and uninspiring when you've seen the same stage for the tenth time in the same fifteen minutes.

The levels are too linear.

You can choose where to go, but you really can't take alternate routes to get there. Makes traveling the same areas feel pointless after you collect the spirit things that unlock powers, so it's essential you can teleport to fast-travel. As the paths are so linear the parkour would have benefited from more parts where the route is better defined, which allows for efficient sleekness of uninterrupted gameplay.

...That's really the heart of PoP's problem: in an effort to tell its story, Prince of Persia constantly interrupts itself needlessly. Makes me appreciate something revolutionary that much more, like when The Last of Us showed gamers that story could be told during travel, during breaks in action, without stopping the natural flow of the game. I understand needing to tell the story, but we now know better ways to do this without stopping the player's meaningful interaction completely dead.

Games like Prince of Persia make me angry. It's not just some average game. It's not some forgettable experience. Prince of Persia is a beautiful game with timeless (gameplay) animation and some genuinely enjoyable parkour-style platforming. It's a memorable game. I wouldn't be angered by something notoriously awful like Superman 64. Universally hated, I can watch 10 seconds of gameplay and know that game was a steaming turd. But PoP had so much potential to be a great game. All that held it back were poor decisions. Technological limitations and know-how do not limit Prince of Persia at all. It was simply bad choices. It's incredibly disappointing. I would LOVE a remake that dispenses with the QTE and constant breaks in parkour travel. Fix those things, and you have a great game. Allow the combat to feel continuous. The story should be told in dialogue like it is, but allow it to unfold naturally without interrupting travel.

That's it. Fix these things and you instead have a game that is perfectly-paced and flows with the player, not against her.

I really wanted to love this game. I damn-near did. But I will not be replaying PoP, sadly.

Prince of Persia is remarkable in its animation and some of its gameplay mechanics, but the constant interruption of potential flow ultimately sours the experience.

Some random, reckless adventurer(apparently not a prince... well, it's his nickname, for some reason) with absurd-looking abs stumbles upon a forgotten land in the desert. Buried under the Tree of Life is Ahriman, the god of darkness, and he's being let out. Our lead has to prevent this, of course, and it's by healing the areas, restoring nature(and you can really tell if you're in an area you've taken care of or not) with the use of magic(wait, what? Guys, you're channelling the wrong animated Robin Williams flick!). Who can make this happen? Why, the resident brunette tanned Meg Ryan, Elika. I hope she understands that it's nothing personal, I have to call them as I see them... she is the bane of the game. If you're in danger, she'll save you(in place of the Sands of Time), anytime, including in combat(all that'll happen is that the opponent will regain some health). The compass power can be useful, however, as it shows you exactly what direction to go, it takes away having to find your way(you can even teleport between places where you've gotten your Ferngully on... yes, there's a lot of (open-ended)ground to cover; there didn't need to be!). While these two might not sound that bad, they effectively take away all the risk. Yes, you will have to redo a brief portion if you mess up, and that's like in the other ones. And no, I realize that the fact that you don't "die" shouldn't make that big of a difference(I get it, they wanted to do away with loading, make it smoother)... guess what, it does. Add to that the taking away of a lot of freedom of movement(you'll usually hit the mark whether you're trying to or not), and we're left with an excessively streamlined production that feels like a slightly interactive film. Honestly, you hardly need to touch the keyboard for parts of this! Before, exact precision, coordination, timing and figuring out where to go were vital, and if you couldn't live up to those, you couldn't complete them. This tries so hard to satisfy and coddle us that it forgets to be exciting. There are next to no puzzles at all. We get new acrobatics(thus allowing for different agile stunts), such as the rings(allowing you to continue on your path, regardless of what move you were in the middle of) and the Roof Run. Yes, you run upside down. Part of why this was even made was clearly to raise the middle finger even more towards poor little gravity, as we can see by the four abilities. Two of them are pretty much "launching you in the opposite direction"(one has a "swinging on a vine" style to it), then we have flight(you only get to affect where in the "screen" you are, not where you go), and my favorite, running on any surface(it's the most challenging, as you have to dodge stuff in your way, if it remains a breeze; you get these by collecting Light Seeds, a practice that seems to lose all relevance once you do have the whole quarter). You execute the wall-run by jumping into the surface, and slowly slide down(further taking away the threat of falling... you can't use it everywhere, thankfully), both on account of our still nameless hero having stolen Freddy Krueger's glove. This gauntlet can be applied in the fencing(you grab the other to throw them), in addition to the sword that's literally as long as he is(compensating for something?), a physical move and the aforementioned supernatural assistance(they pulled an Assassin's Creed on the controls, by the way... the four aforementioned are all bound to their specific key, regardless of the situation where you use it... there's also a "talk to her" thing(she'll explain background, and they have dialog... well-written, at times playful and fun), and you can bring up/dismiss the map that gives you a good overview, so you can sit down and play this within mere moments, not a lot to learn), and these can be chained into combos, and the enemies sometimes guard themselves from all other than one type of approach(why yes, it is like an RPG in that way). Yes, there is some "quick chess" to this slower, one on one thing, like the '89 one and SoT(making you wonder why you go up against so few foes in this... and yeah, it can be intense, as can sliding downwards be, and the maneuvering does have moments(not enough)). You're trapped in the arena until the fight(most of them are against bosses, and you fight the same 4 – the concubine, the alchemist, the hunter and the warrior – several times... they tend to be frustrating or easy; the "click this now" thing isn't bad(it's got nothing on The Two Thrones, though)) is over. Block at the correct fraction of a second and you'll deflect, and have a chance of hitting the other. They get repetitive and kind of annoying, as you usually have only one thing to do, and you spend excessive amounts of time just waiting for the other one to get done with their blows so you get an opening. Let's talk graphics, obviously the real raison d'etre of this. They are beautifully done, and the cel-shading looks nice. As far as gorgeous horizons, plant life and the like go, this is this medium's answer to Avatar. The leads are well-done and the level of expression is marvelous... well, hers is, he only looks right when he smiles. The lipsynching is off at times, too. There's no replayability to this... there are alternate skins for the two protagonists and a handful of galleries, that's it. Only one difficulty setting. The ending is weird and a letdown. Visually, "the corruption" is cool, a Venom quality to it, it oozes and tries to reach you. You can save anytime. There is mild violence and suggestive content in this. I recommend this to fans of the franchise not looking for anything tough. 6/10