Prince of Persia - Pretty, Not Fun

Review written by Zikron on 1/31/09
Last edited on 1/31/09

Prince of Persia was this writers most anticipated game this holiday season. This was reinforced by the marketing job this game got. The artistic look of the game looked amazing, from the vast worlds to the beautiful cel-shaded figures. I was a huge fan of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and was hoping that this title could recapture the magic that title possessed many years ago.

Sadly, this game falls far short of the fun and challenges presented by the Sands of Time. What was so great about Sands of Time was the perfect mix of combat with platforming and puzzles. You would have to figure out a way to jump from wall to wall over moving razor blades only to land in an area and have to fight 5 or 6 enemies. Well the platforming is still there in Prince of Persia but it is a lot more straight forward this time around. Timing is important but there aren't as many obstacles in your way. But the major area Prince of Persia fails in is the combat as you never fight more than one enemy at a time. This makes the combat of the game feel dull and lacking the action one is accustomed to when playing a Prince of Persia game.

The game does have its strong points though. As mentioned above the game looks great. You can see great distances and take in the world. The figures are beautifully cel-shaded and exploring the world is what kept me going for as long as I did.

The game also takes a unique take on death. Whenever you fall Elika, the female lead, uses her powers to save you and start you at the previous checkpoint which is never more than a few minutes away. I like this approach as it speeds up the gameplay. Nothing if more annoying to me than watching my dumb ass die in slow motion with no option to skip. It like having an annoying fucking friend score a goal on you in NHL 09 or a TD in Madden and he shows the replay over and over again and all you want to do is smack them across their fucking face and give them a swift kick in the balls. As I was saying… the game is always moving this also applies to boss battles which I was less thrilled about. You can't lose a fight basically, you can literally leave the game unpaused and have the monster beat your ass and come back an hour later to kill him. I think some sort of death sequence is needed here.

Overall if you haven't already been spoiled by Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time I would recommend you pick that up for a few bucks at Gamestop. You will get a lot more out of that game than you will here. I was less impressed by the sequels the Sands of Time spawned but after playing this version I think I will go back and give them another try.