Prince of Persia: Warrior Within Review (Some_kind_of_no_name)
The Good:
Sountracks in this game absolutely rocks! The metal vibes in it really set up the feeling of a dangerous adventure. Parkour is also quite nice. Prince can shimmy on ledges, run across walls, jump like a frog and do all sorts of amazing acrobatics. Combat here is alright, it has enough depths to not bore you during the playthrough, although it is not without flaws, which I will come back to in a minute. Playing as Dark Prince felt great. Health drain isn't a problem since you have unlimited sands. I wish I could keep it until the very end, cause it felt great to use. Lastly, the designs here are awesome, from flourishing/abandones castle to hideous monsters and the lovely ladies. I wish games didn't shy away from these kinds of designs nowadays.
The Bad:
May be I am stupid, but didn't quite understand the plot. All those back and forth runs between past and present, the grandfather paradox with "Sand wraith" left me confused and wondering how it makes any sense.
Even though this game came to consoles and is clearly designed for them, Steam version had no controller support. I had to use Steam Big Picture to brute force it, and even then my right stick did not work at all.
This game is full of jank. From not being able to remove target lock from enemies (when you want to just run past them), to jumping when you want to dodge (both are the same button) and not being able to skip cutscenes (only fast forward them). It's and old game and it shows.
Sometimes it's hard to tell what to do. I remember being stuck in a big room because exit requied you to run up the wall in specific area, but camera never suggsted it. The bosses are also kind of cryptic. I didn't know how to counter Empress time slow once my sand runs out so I had to cheese her with a ledge.
The Ugly:
Prince's biggest enemy is not Empress or Dahaka, it's the cameraman. Camera often takes stupid angles that either disorient you or leave you wondering where to go. You often have to use cinematic camera to get a better view of surroundings. This is especailly the case when you need to run fast and can not afford to stop and check your surroundings. Nothing feels worse than failing a chase because cameraman suddenly changed the angle to show you this cool shot.
Backtracking extends the duration of the playthough by what feels like 80%. From going to and back from 2 towers, to running though every location at least twice (or even more times) to fucking retracing your own steps as Dark Prince. I just started to runs past every enemy once I realised I'm essentailly running in circles.
Final Thoughts:
Despite all my complaints, I think it is a solid game, although definitely not great. The Bad didn't affect my opinion too much, but the Ugly made me wonder if everyone's love of Warrior Within in just rose tinted glasses. Let me know what you think!