I feel totally blown away. For those of you who believe that video games can truly be a medium for story telling, the Prince of Persia restart is a true example of precisely this. Emotions fly, witty dialogue is exchanged, sexual tension rises and a climactic ending was of course, inevitable. For those who don't know, the new Prince of Persia games available for 360 and PS3 are a series reboot, and have nothing to do with the Sands of Time (SoT) trilogy from last generations machines. The fresh start has done away with a few things that were keeping the old games a part of the old guard and added in a few ideas that give the game a fresh appeal. Although these changes exist, the game is still definitely a Prince of Persia game, whether you're familiar with it from MS-DOS or the PS2.
So lets talk about these changes, most importantly, in regards to the game mechanics. The 'make it look easy approach' of the SoT trilogy has been taken a step further, meaning that whilst a large amount of control has been taken away from the player, the wall runs and jumps feel a lot more fluid and give the game a more fun rather than challenging aesthetic. Whether this appeals is for you to decide, personal I thought that this change made the game extremely enjoyable. Challenges really came from having good timing, a sense of direction and razor sharp reflexes. One of the fun new additions comes in the form of your co-adventurer; Elika. Rather than having the ability to rewind time as you did in the SoT trilogy, here you have Elika to save you from those perilous falls. Essentially it's impossible to die in the game, whenever you fall from a cliff, or are close to being finished off by an enemy, Elika will jump in to save you. Surely this is the antithesis of all those arcade games that used to give you one life for that sole piece of change in your pocket, all those years ago. This game mechanic allows you to be that little bit more adventurous in how you play the game. Risking longer and farther jumps isn't a problem when you have infinite lives.
The combat is an interesting point, and one that I'm in two minds about, so lets get the negative out of the way first. The fighting system is extremely shallow. There, I said it. It's shallow like a footballers wife with new boobs. That's how shallow it is. The positive spin for this is that as with the movement the fighting feels slick and streamlined. You only ever take on one enemy at a time and have a handful of combos at your disposal, all stemming from three different types of attack; sword, grapple and magic. Whilst this does make the fighting a little dull after so long spent in the game, it is important to remember that their are much fewer battles in this game than there are in other third person action games, and in this game, as long as you're quick you can defeat an enemy with a one blow kill before the fight can properly begin.
This streamlined approach to the movement and combat gives the game a very cinematic feel. Everything moves beautifully and looks luscious with pop up in the game being an extreme rarity. The soundtrack is amazing, the score in the game truly add to the feeling of grandeur and scale. You may be thinking that I have a point here, and I do (because, hey, I usually have one, right?), the game has a strong visual identity, a fantastic score and movements that make it look almost theatrical. Well, to top this off, the game boasts an amazing story. Not a truly original one, but one that unfolds in the way that stories only unfold when told by the greatest of story tellers. The twists and turns are unexpected and the dialogue shared between the Prince of Persia and Elika gives you an amazing bond with the characters and a need for them to make it through their adventure.
It may not be too much of a shock to you, but I was blown away by this game. It took risks in streamlining the game play and focusing more on the narrative, but I genuinely feel this has payed off. I can see why opinion has been so polarised by this title, so my suggestion to you is to pick it up (it's going for cheap in most places at the moment), play it and decide for yourself. It may be just another average game to you, or one of the most amazing unique experiences of your life. I know it was a great experience for me.
9/10
Okay, confession time. You may have noticed that things have been awfully quiet around here of late, you may be angry, you may even be upset, but whoa, don't go rounding up the mob quite yet, I've been away and brought you all excuses for presents. So, after the last time I posted here, I had an insanely busy week and pretty much survived without sleep for some time while I toiled away, making sure I met real life deadlines. Here's the part where you may need some tissues. After this insane work load I took a break, visited some family, tried to catch up on some sleep and generally have a go at feeling human. During this break, I did skulk off to see my bit on the side, Frugal Gaming. As I'm sure I've already mentioned, I do a wee bit of writing for Frugal from time to time, some of it actually decent. Unfortunately I had to make a decision on where to share my limited free time, and I'm afraid I decided that my personal rant space would have to be neglected while I concentrated on getting some work done for them. Can you ever forgive me? I promise, I never meant to hurt you!
