Prince of Persia Review (Kryger)
What is one grain of sand in the desert? One grain amongst the storm?
New Players:
Prince of Persia is third-person platformer that has you play as some random I assume prince who gets caught in potentially apocalyptic events that can turn the whole world into darkness. He joins the company of Elika and together you attempt to save the world from total darkness.
Review:
It's one of those games that I missed out on from way back, and finally committed time to playing and completing it. I'm a huge fan of the Sand of Time series, which I consider to be the OG PoP experience, hence I didn't think much of this version after release, as it was almost a complete shift away from what made the game great.
That being said, I understand why there are plenty of people who enjoyed this game. It does have a certain special charm to it, and although the experience was somewhat limited, it's one of the most charming and beautiful games I've ever played. On that note, it's also the most boring adventure I've had that I can think of, but I'll get into that.
Gameplay:
The game is a platformer first, no doubt about it. You'll spend most of your time travelling from location to location, doing wall runs, pole swings, the typical Ubisoft experience.
Combat in my opinion has been a massive let down and complete downgrade. Encounters will mostly be with boss figures which total to five rounds before you defeat them. During combat, you're in a locked state and it's mostly about waiting for an attack, parry and counter repeat. This is literally the combat experience, with some exceptions needing to beat an opponent using the environment. It's evident that this version was designed for a more casual audience, but it just didn't speak to me.
The rest of the game you'll spend hunting life seeds which are available in an area after defeating a boss. 540 in total are needed to beat the game, so don't skip out on doing this, but don't waste time getting all of them either, as there's no hidden ending. Fortunately, they're easy to get, but some will be power locked, until you obtain said power to access the area, meaning you need to do some backtracking eventually.
Another important note is that you can't actually die in this game. Falling off heights, getting "killed" in combat, none of this apply as you'll always be saved by Elika. I wasn't too bothered by this, but it definitely takes away the challenge of the game. Nothing is truly serious and therefore there are no consequences either other than the game taking a bit longer to complete.
Graphics:
I've only experienced a couple of games with this art-style, but I have to say, even after all this time, the game looks beautiful. The colors are vibrant, but it has this soft touch to it, given you plenty of eye-candy to enjoy. It's a wonderful fantasy experience. Couple this with the casual approach of the game, it can becomes a relaxing adventure experience.
Story:
After some successful thieving and adventuring, the "prince", is setting off home to enjoy his bounty when a sandstorm hits and you lose your donkey Fahrah. While searching for his donkey, he accidentally bumps into Elika, who is being relentlessly pursued by guards and eventually cornered. Feeling compelled, the prince saves Elika and plunges himself into a potentially apocalyptic adventure.
It turns out that some god of darkness called Ahriman is on the verge of being freed from his prison, which would cover the world in darkness. Elika is among a lineage of women who are sworn to keep Ahriman jailed with the blessings from Ormazd a god of light. Since she is the only one who can truly save the world, the prince serves as an escort and protector to ensure that Elika can use her light powers to heal the land, and once again secure the locks to keep Ahriman from returning.
Conclusion:
I respect that the developers took a chance on something new to revitalize the franchise. True, it's completely different from what I enjoyed, but that doesn't mean it was a bad experience. Why a negative review then? The game becomes boring and stale very quickly. The lack of threat, consequences, meh combat and mostly running after life seeds doesn't make for a memorable experience. I doubt I'll ever play this game again, although I'm glad that I at least gave it a try.