The latest reinvention of Ubisoft’s Prince of Persia was out on PC on Friday, a week after the console release, and with rumours of (the shop version) containing no DRM. Having played the PC version all the way through, here’s Wot I Think.
Lipstick on a pig, to borrow this year’s favourite insult, would be slightly too cruel a phrase to apply to the latest reinvention of the Prince of Persia series. It’s more of an oil painting on a donkey. An astonishingly beautiful game, which fluctuates between banal and frustrating, occasionally kicking you in the face.
Much appears traditional. You have a large world of walls and beams to bounce around, and baddies to fight. But not all is familiar. The previous trilogy of PoP introduced a stunning new way to play a platform game. The Dagger of Time allowed the Prince to undo his acrobatic mistakes by rewinding time. It was a revelation, reinventing the reliance on checkpoints and quicksaves. Now the big red reset button has been pressed once again, it’s all gone. It’s replaced by an NPC buddy, Elika.
Elika is a princess of a land ravaged by the Corruption – a malevolent, pulsating disease turning the formerly beautiful world into something morbid and dying. Her father has chopped down a tree and unleashed a terrible god. Together, for some reason, you need to leap and fight through the game’s twenty regions, repeatedly defeating four of its bosses, and finally attempt to restore the Tree of Life. This is mostly achieved by using Elika’s magics to reverse the Corruption and restore the pretties… No one mention Zelda: The Twilight Princess – it might get awkward.
The Prince is awkwardly forced to rely on Elika, whose apparent ability to fly means she can boost him slightly further than the limits of his jumps, and rescue him when he falls, putting him back on the last flat platform. The result is a peculiarly artificial interdependence between them, in a world designed to reach just beyond the Prince’s abilities. However, for reasons unfathomable, Elika needs to be given a piggyback when climbing ivy, and requires help being hauled up to some ledges, despite being able to fly. Unfortunately, this doesn’t come close to replacing the majestic time manipulation in a way that’s a fifth as satisfying. It’s simply an elaborate “loading” screen, as she swoops in and dumps you to the checkpoint. Which is fine – preferable over tortuous replaying of large sections – but they used to have something so much better.
After you’ve de-corrupted an area, you then run around it all over again collecting Light Seeds. Enough of these seeds will unlock a new power for Elika back at the Temple, which means you can use a new coloured “plate”. These are pods on the walls that when used will send the Prince charging through the air, or along Sonic-like pathways, dodging obstacles. These range between automatic, where the game flies you to the next area, to maddening, where you’re asked to psychically dodge objects or be reset to the very beginning of the arcade sequence.
But there are two other changes that are more significant. The first is the combat. The previous trilogy always struggled with this, spoiling the fantastic acrobatic sequences by making you slog your way through repetitive encounters. It’s demoralising to realise how little was learned. The combat is now utterly monstrous. The majority of your fights will be against the same four bosses, over and over and over, and each is more like Mortal Kombat than a third-person action game. Using combos and a variety of attacks (sword, claw hand, and Elika), the aim is more often to get the enemy to the edge of the arena than to kill them. A bit like Bloodsports. Early on it’s far easier just to ignore combos and hammer the sword attack. Once the fights get too tough for that, it becomes so infuriatingly fiddly that combos become almost impossible as you’re incessantly blocked, and you’re left to picking bits of health off here and there. Should you be about to die, Elika will rescue you, and your opponent will regain some of his health bar. Each encounter has your heart sink. And this is made far worse by almost never getting to kill the enemies, but instead watch them slink off for the next fight.
The second change is the nature of how you move around the world. Sands of Time’s fantastic puzzling exploration of the environment is almost entirely abandoned, replaced with a game that’s about a linear series of non-optional quick-time events. Except very intermittent. Slow-time events, if you will. You spend almost as much time wall-running as you do on the ground, and it’s about pressing the corresponding button as you auto-run past the right object. You don’t even need to hold ‘forward’ while running, so automated is the whole design. This is all extremely elementary, and because you can approach the twenty sections in any order you wish, there’s no increase in the acrobatic challenge as you progress, but for the introduction of some annoying blobs on the walls. You’re on level 1 for the entire game.
The Prince is equipped with a metal claw on one hand that lets him haul himself higher on walls, or grind down them (think fingernails and blackboards: the game!), and even – somehow – allows him to temporarily run upside down. But again, this isn’t a tool you can use to improvise routes through the adventure playgrounds. It’s the only option you have to make your way along the single prescribed corridor. The beautiful corridor, with the swift, detailed animations, that looks simply stunning. But the corridor.
Despite resetting you when you fall, Elika is too often a burden. She slows you down with her mad piggybacking, and maddeningly will shove you out the way halfway through a move. Swinging from pole to pole occasionally lets you enjoy the fluidity of the movement, until she tries to land exactly where you already were, and pushes you into a wall. She’ll also occasionally knock into you while you’re getting ready to jump, resetting the animation, and breaking your flow.
The result is something that’s clearly going to appeal to some, and infuriate others (hello!). If you want that illusion of choice that defined Sands of Time, using your abilities to discover the correct route to scale a room, you’ll be enormously disappointed. If you want a feeling of almost flying through levels, embracing the culture of QTE to an almost music-rhythm game level, then the standard movement will appeal.
Sadly the story fails to engage, which wouldn’t be a problem were it not for the enormous numbers of interrupting cutscenes. The heavy-handed suggestions that Elika has a dark secret are as beleaguering as the Prince’s unskippable dickish comments throughout. We get it, he’s a dick. And unfortunately, this builds up to an ending so aggravating that you’ll wonder if the game was an elaborate joke played on you. So while the graphics are never less than breathtaking, and the score is beautiful, it all feels rather despondent.
It’s undeniably one of the most visually stunning games ever. The art is spectacular. The game is by no means a disaster. But when your predecessor was so lovely (although certainly with its flaws), the comparison is going to make you look worse than perhaps you are. This is a game that has forgotten what made Sands of Time so entertaining and interesting, replacing the fun of solving a room with a corridor-like inevitability throughout. And somehow makes the combat worse. It’s big, and it’s functional, it’s too often annoying, and despite the care that’s gone into the presentation, the passion is gone.
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I think those words are maybe a little strong to describe what was a good game mechanic.
Also, the fact that Elika can only fly to save the prince is because of precisely that. (As far as I can tell,) she can only control her powers to a certain extent, they seem to come and go when she needs them, not when she wants to use them. Although I agree the saving animation is ridiculously awkward, especially for something you see so much of in the game.
Also, on the combat, for the first time reading this blog, I was forced to say out loud “What the fuck is he talking about?”
The combat for me, while not (as with everything in the game) challenging, is incredibly cool, awesome to look at, and pretty darned fun overall. In some respects it’s a step backwards from the Time series, but the sheer amount of combinations you can make, and learning them over the course of the game, is brilliant.
Haven’t finished it yet, so I can’t say on the story, but it seems alright. Seems like a very good game so far.
However, the main reason I bought the game was because the Spec Ed Box art was simply sublime. Absolutely beautiful. Was an instant buy.
“(of Ahriman, Ohmazd, the four bosses and the Ahura) ”
Do you learn about the aftermath of his Rubric?
(ba-dum-pssh!)
epic gg prince, EGG.
This is a game that has forgotten what made Sands of Time so entertaining and interesting
As if there was ever any doubt. If anyone from RPS interviews someone working on the next PoP game and they mention it being ‘closer to SoT’ please just punch them in the face.
On the DRM thing, I’ve started a thread in the forum if anyone wants to talk about that rather than the game itself.
any feelings you may have towards SoT, rest assured they are mostly stemming from nostalgia. I tried it again recently and I must say it hasn’t aged that well. IMO.
I find myself playing it at least once a year and it’s still brilliant in many, many ways. I could write thousands of words on what it does well in comparison to the latest game.
But….
But….
It’s…. so…. pretty….
I feel like you’re telling me the stunning blond cheerleader might not actually be a great conversationalist.
duh. combat was good fun in warrior and 2thrones
I actually preferd the combat over the platforming (but its me – I like slashers) anyway it was well done,
in new PoP the combat seems rahter easy, combos are fun, you just need to learn and practice a bit mr John Walker
also John Walker please dont call a simple 1-button mechanics QTE
QTE is an arbitrary key sequence wich has no underlying mechanic or consistency at all, just “press this shit I tell you NOW! quick!”
here we have an action universaly used throut the game – its not quite the same
Speaking of QTE’s, does anyone know a place where sailors hangout?
One of the best reviews I’ve read in a long time. Witty, very well written and not just a PR operation.
Thank you very much John. Talent!
“here we have an action universaly used throut the game – its not quite the same”
In the combat, the buttons you need to press to save the prince are completely arbitrary, save that x is the only one pressed rapidly.
The platforming is essentially a very lax rhythm game, since you don’t even need to press appropriate button anywhere near the object, or even first, to continue. They may as well have just had him swinging through the environment on his own and occasionally you have to press a button they tell you to. There was no need to the prince to even have free movement, because he couldn’t go anywhere other than the route.
Damnit, now I want to dig out my Dreamcast and play through Shen”The Quest for Sailors”mue again…
And the first disc is scratched beyond repair.
I been playing the game for the past couple of hours and i ahve to say that i realy enjoy this game! besides that it looks great i think the level design is great to and i dont care that i cant spend hours figuring ut how to solve an area because the climbing and jumping just works great in this game and you have big levels with a lot of climbing thats just fun
“any feelings you may have towards SoT, rest assured they are mostly stemming from nostalgia. I tried it again recently and I must say it hasn’t aged that well. IMO.”
How could SOT have not aged well? Its still got solid mechanics for what it is and many action-adventures today are still plagued by crappy combat (apparently this new POP is exhibit A), so it’s not special in that way at all. Yet it also has much better storytelling than most subsequent games of this sort.
I’m not sure whether I personally consider it a “classic”, but I don’t find it hard to see how other people would. While “nostalgia” might have boosted it slightly (though the influence is likely massively overrated), the idea that it has outright aged badly is just… what?
I might be interested in the new POP, but I don’t think I’m in the mood for a simple “everyone wins” game at the moment, I might pick it up when its cheap or something though.
@ Spd from Russia: He didn’t actually call them QTEs.
Sands of Time has aged beautifully. It’s still as splendidly lovely in that polished otherworldly way I fell in love with half a decade ago.
I didn’t see anyone ask this question. If this wasn’t called “Prince of Persia” would it be worth getting? I see a lot of unfavourable comparisons with the older games, but then a lot of games compare unfavourably with the way Sands of Time did things.
I loved the sands of time. This PoP looks like it kept everything that I found slightly annoying about it though, and tossed out everything that was good.
Psychopomp, I think you’ll find them @ the port!
Oops, sorry, I was supposed to send you to that bar first :(
Came late to the discussion here, but I have to agree with the people who find this game refreshing. It seems to me that the majority of people who find serious flaws with the game are doing say because they’re upset because they liked the way the first 3 games handled things and this one is different. This is a series reset, so inevitably the gameplay will be different.
I applaud Ubisoft for making this game simply because it challenges so many core concepts of gaming. It’s an attempt to evolve gaming in my mind from the days of arcade games where you had lives and game over screens to get you to put more quarters in, now there are no loading screens, no unnecessary repetition, very few mandatory story sequences (but many optional ones) etc. People see a lot of this as removing the difficulty, but really they’ve only attempted to remove frustration and barriers to enjoyment. For some people frustration and forced repetition is the same as challenge, but not for me.
Also, yes, the game plays more like a rhythm game than a puzzle platformer. You pretty much always know where to go, and getting there is a matter of pressing the appropriate button with the right timing. As others have mentioned, when you’re doing this well it achieves a feeling of flow that I believe games like Mirror’s Edge are going for. Mirror’s Edge was at its worst when you had to stop and look around for where the heck you were supposed to go and how to get there. They removed those elements from this and made it more about the feeling of continual movement. I guess for some those moments of trying to figure it out were part of the fun, but not for me. Oh, and they do include something similar, when the orbs appear, it turns into a puzzle platformer, but they’ve elegantly made it optional at that point if it’s not what you’re into.
Anyways, I think ignoring all the risks this dev team took in an attempt to evolve the platformer as just irritations because they’re not like games that have come before is shortsighted. I find this game a refreshing breath of fresh air and can’t wait to see where they go from here.
All I can really say is, I hope this trend of severely watered down highly repetitive gameplay with faux/pointless “open” worlds coming out of Ubi (this, AC, FC2) doesn’t end up ruining BG&E2 =/
Had a play of this today and yesterday, by my guesstimation I’m currently about 2/5 of the way through.
It’s a bit of an odd one. Personally I find the controls and the platforming a little too pared down and streamlined. That said getting into the rhythm of the movement and free-flowing from one end of the map to the other with the music kicking in as you string moves together is quite something. There’s also some compensation for the paucity of puzzle rooms in winkling out the harder to reach light seeds.
In regards to the combat, at its worst it’s a trudge; it’s very easy to just block most of the time and spam sword attacks early on. When the game forces you to start deflecting attacks and building combos though it develops a pleasing back and forth rhythm. Still not a great fan of it yet though.
I’m also suprised that I’m not finding the Prince irritating like John is. I acknowledge that he’s a colossal penis, but for some reason that, and his repeated declarations that his trousers are in fact new, doesn’t bother me. The relationship between him and Elika also suffers in comparison to SoT, but it’s nice to see the effort put in and they do have their moments.
Oh yes, and it pretty much goes without saying that the game is bloody gorgeous.
Hmm. I’ve yet to play this (Christmas Day, I’ll be all over it), but I did come across this.
http://blog.wired.com/games/2008/06/prince-of-persi.html#previouspost
It’s an odd one, to say the least.
Do you know the way to Wan Xai?
No fun at all Assasins Creed was better
I find it odd that anyone could consider completely removing all challenge from a game ‘evolution’. Also, a challenging game is not necessarily frustrating, the ideal is something that is challenging but fair. Cf the yellow power plates where quite regularly it is impossible to tell which side of an obstacle you’re meant to dodge, with the only way to progress being trial and error; or the boss fights where you have to push the boss to a particular position, only the camera control is taken away so you can’t actually see where that position is. Frankly if you took Elika’s infinite rescuing away you’d be left with an extremely annoying game, not for being more challenging but for being badly designed.
It seems the combat in the previous trilogy is a love/hate thing.
I loved SoT. The story, the characters, the graphics (lightbloom!) and the platforming. But I was pretty much nonplussed by the combat, although it did give me the precious sand, and in hindsight broke up the gameplay enough to keep the platforming from ever getting stale.
I still remember reading the reviews for WW and hearing everyone getting excited for it containing more and improved combat, and just thinking ‘ugh, that’s the bit I least enjoyed about SoT’. Nonetheless, I bought WW but sadly only got about 1/2 through it before I just got sick of being attacked/interrupted every single time I completed a tiny section of platforming, and stopped playing (not to mention the emo prince really grated with me after loving his character and the atmosphere in SoT). When TTT was announced with it’s new gimmick/chain, which promised ‘even more exciting combat’, I just lost all interest in it.
It may be nostalgia, but there have been very few games that upon completion have left me thinking ‘wow… that was breathtaking, I wish it didn’t have to end’ like SoT did.
As for the new one, I love when a game provides a really flowing sequence of play, but that’s mainly because of the feeling of accomplishment usually associated with achieving that, and QTE’s do not provide this for me.
Nonetheless I’ll probably still pick up this new iteration of PoP, since I’ll willingly sit through some horrible gameplay if a game provides some beautiful art like this appears to have (as much as I hate to admit it, since I’d rather not encourage graphics>gameplay at all).
“Nonetheless I’ll probably still pick up this new iteration of PoP, since I’ll willingly sit through some horrible gameplay if a game provides some beautiful art like this appears to have (as much as I hate to admit it, since I’d rather not encourage graphics>gameplay at all).”
I think it’s justifiable here, because you’re supporting the artistic design, rather than just saying “Oooh, slightly shinier human face! Me want!” :)
Well, I liked it.
I see a lot of people complaining about the combat in this game and saying how the sands of time was so good. But if you check out any of the old reviews for the game, you’ll see that the biggest (only?) complain against the game was the combat system. And it was NOT nice (though rest was absolutely wonderful). I’ve played all POPs since sands of time. Combat only picked up with POP2. Betting that many here have seen only screenshots/videos of the old game.
Nostalgia is definately not the cause of my SoT love, as I played the first game around a year or two ago, and instantly added it to my ‘favourite games’ list. This is part of my attempt to play all the well regarded games I’ve missed. Oddly, this means that in my mind, the last couple of years of PC gaming have been the best ever.
I know youll hate me but the new pop is good and the ending is prettty dark.
BTW its never boring with the prince(both sot and the new one)
You know what? I’ve really enjoyed this game! Much more than I enjoyed SoT (although I played that YEARS ago and would probably like it better now). But I played this after Gears of War and Halo, and while obviously those are the better games, PoP is such a nice change of pace. Being able to chill and watch the fluid looking actions instead of freaking about General Raam handing my ass to me every two seconds is really quite nice. And while the writing is not stellar, I enjoy the chemistry between the Prince and Elika (p.s. I don’t care how much you hate her, she’s STILL more useful than Dom). It’s just a great-looking, easy, fluid game, and it may just be because of my gamer mentality at the moment, but I’ve really enjoyed it. :)
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