Thought Overflow

Prince of Persia has been one of those games I’ve been waiting to play since I saw the trailers and watched the video review on Gamespot. Actually, it’s been a game I’ve been waiting eagerly to play since I heard of it as a successor to the Sands of Time trilogy I’ve written about so many times. It’s hard not to get excited about a new Prince of Persia game, especially if you loved the previous trilogy as much as I did. I realize this review is really late, considering the game was released in December, 2008.

For most of this review, I’m going to compare aspects of Prince of Persia with The Sands of Time game released in 2003. This is primarily because The Sands of Time has, for me, defined what Prince of Persia is all about, or should be all about. However, I will also try to judge this game on its own merits, seeing as how it’s a completely new project not based on The Sands of Time trilogy.

Let’s start off with the basics—the story. It’s a simple enough plot. The unnamed ‘Prince’ is a common tomb-raider, a thief, who loses his donkey with a full load of treasure in a desert storm. Out of nowhere, a running Elika stumbles into his path, and the story begins. Elika is a Princess whose father has let loose Ahriman, an evil God bent on releasing corruption and darkness onto the world. It’s up to Elika, with the Prince’s help of course, to contain Ahriman and save the world. The problem is that the finer details of the plot just don’t tie up, and there is an inherent inconsistency in the story and the characters that attempt to tie it up. For instance, the Prince is portrayed as generally self-centred, mistrusting and a bit of a loner who would not go out of his way to help others. Yet, for some reason, he embarks on this long, treacherous journey with a mysterious lady with magical powers. It leaves me questioning why he would do anything for her. There’s also no major development in the relationship that the characters share, and the attachment the Prince develops for Elika towards the end of the game seems contrived, somehow. The story, when compared with The Sands of Time, leaves a bit to be desired. It doesn’t hold up to scrutiny, and the ending doesn’t quite leave you wanting more. A perfect ending to a game should leave you wanting more and yet somehow satisfied in revelling in the glory of the game. This is a feeling I’ve felt at the end of most of the truly great games, but not here.

The story, however, is just one small part of a game. Gameplay is a lot more important, of course. Prince of Persia’s gameplay can be very roughly divided into categories—platforming and combat. The platforming is solid and aesthetically pleasing. The Prince is more acrobatic than ever before and many new moves have been introduced, such as the ability to crawl on ceilings. The controls are simple and very forgiving, making the game easier than I would have imagined. There are barely any timed sequences like there were in the previous games, which takes away a fair amount of challenge from the game. Combat is interesting and fights are always against a single opponent only. This makes battles intense and generally quite long-lasting. It may take a while to get accustomed to the combat, but once you do, it’s fun to watch the Prince pull together complex combos in tandem with Elika, whose attacks are controlled by the player as well. However, because the fights are generally quite similar, it leads to the possibility of players developing a strong preference for a certain combo or two, which can make combat sequences seem remarkably repetitive and mundane. Also, the Prince never dies, never in combat and never while platforming. For every mistimed jump or overshot ledge, Elika saves you. Everytime a foe is about to deliver a fatal blow during combat, Elika saves you. Combine this aspect with the not very challenging platforming, and you have a game that, in my opinion, is far too easy. While it’s fine to have a game that embraces new players, I would have liked a bit more of a challenge. A few deaths before finishing the game would have been welcome too.

The Prince of Persia series is also known for incorporating a number of puzzles into the game. While this game continues that tradition, I personally felt that the difficulty level of the puzzles was also not too high, since I could solve most of the puzzles in a matter of minutes, if not seconds. And when I say “most of the puzzles”, it may sound like there’re a lot, but really, there aren’t too many. The boss battles, which were quite innovative and challenging in the last POP game (The Two Thrones), are not quite as innovative here. They consist of the same kind of combat that you would have been engaged in throughout the game, so there’s barely anything special about them. Each boss battle is broken into parts, probably to give the player a bit of relief to break up what could end up being very long fights, but each part is identical, unlike the boss battles from TTT that required platforming and timed silent kills to emerge victorious.

The music and ambient sounds of the game are not bad, but not spectacular either. The theme fits in very well and the atmosphere during the menus is a tribute to Elika, who steals the spotlight for majority of the game. In fact, it feels like this game is more of Elika’s story and the Prince just happens to be a side-kick. The voice acting for Elika is great, but the same can’t be said for the Prince, who speaks in a very thick American accent and happens to pass comments that are occasionally not very witty, and very frequently, typical of smartass American quips. It’s clichéd and gets old pretty fast.

However, let not my negative comments deter you from playing this game. If you are a fan of the Prince of Persia series or even if you just want to play a good platforming game, then you shouldn’t miss out on this game. The graphics and atmosphere are magical and fun to behold. The Prince’s movements and animation are smooth, and Elika is brilliant, proving to be a wonderful companion, always available for support but not once getting in your way. The Prince of Persia is a game that somewhat falls short of the promise showed during the trailers, but it’s still a pretty good game nonetheless. Go play!

Rating: 8/10