Prince of Persia
We doubt that you’ve seen a videogame more beautiful than the new Prince of Persia, and suspect that you won’t have played a more gripping adventure. Could Ubisoft have a Christmas blockbuster on its hands? We’re almost willing this to be the case on the publisher’s behalf.
The thing with tradition is that it often means a history of getting things just right. Not always, granted, but to knock tradition as just ‘old hat’ is a mistake. There are a lot of traditional elements gone into the foundations of the new Prince of Persia. Chiefly that you’re very much led by the hand – sometimes literally – in order to fulfil your destiny. The same can be said about recent hits Gears of War 2 and Dead Space, and for the same reason: to tell a story.
Thank goodness we’re past expecting every game post Driver and GTAIII to be an open-world extravaganza, where ‘anything is possible’ and you can tackle challenges in random order. Sometimes to become a character you need to believe in their story, which means presenting scenarios in dramatic order, and Prince of Persia calls for this magical sheen more than most. Indeed a compelling storyline is one of the so-called ‘pillars’ that Ubisoft builds each new Prince of Persia upon, alongside stunning acrobatics and, of course, a prince! Doesn’t need to be the same prince however, just a prince – think ‘Tales of the Arabian Nights’, a series of adventures against a common backdrop but never the same location or central theme.
Similar to Nintendo’s famous Legend of Zelda series, also propelled by its storytelling smarts, it is possible to access new areas upon learning new abilities in POP. But in the case of our prince, he only ever depends on his inherent acrobatic skills while a new sidekick – princess Elika – receives the upgrades. Elika is a stroke-of-genius addition from Ubisoft, simultaneously providing a spectacular associate in battle, much-needed accomplice in puzzle solving, and an excuse to rid the game literally of tiresome pitfalls. Usually in a ‘platform adventure’ the hero plummets to his doom after missing a vital leap. For the sake of continuity and to keep the player immersed in the fantasy world, Elika never allows the prince to meet such a fate – she’ll always reach out and grab him before returning him magically to his starting position.
Elika shadows the prince wherever he goes, and her talents enable the pair to leap powerfully from wall to wall or cling to ceilings among other things. Depending on her for such duties, and the process of nurturing these skills, means that as a player you start to care for her – even a little bit romantically if you’re a guy. We suspect this might lead to some tense scenarios further into the game…
The balance of puzzle solving and combat is fairly even with quality in evidence on both counts. While your mind is busily figuring out how to get from A to B enemies are conjured into being from the shadows to keep the prince busy. Skilled players with the prince’s tricks and flicks under their fingers stand a chance of defeating enemies before they are fully formed. Otherwise you have a duel on your hands, whereupon larger beasts or guardians require tactics beyond just stabbing frantically at the buttons to overcome. In fact POP is not what you might call a ‘twitch’ game at all. Every input should be measured. Less haste more speed.
We’ll know whether or not Ubisoft’s gamble on such a traditional though lavish production has paid off when the game is released for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC on 5 December. Look out for the review here on Yahoo! UK Games.
