Today is a really happy day for me, since I managed to get my hands on Prince of Persia, the latest title in Ubisoft’s franchise. I was very curious to test the game since there are quite some mixed opinions regarding our Prince’s new adventures and there’s no better way to find out how good a game is by testing it for yourself. Right now I’m only presenting you the initial impressions (which might not necessary match the final impressions after finishing the game). So, without further ado, here are my first 60 minutes with Prince of Persia!

00:01: As expected, the visuals are mind blowing. I was not very comfortable with a cartoonish Price, but now that I see how great it looks, it’s OK. However, I had absolutely no idea there was a second woman in the game. Who is Farah?
00:02: Yup, I’m not quite a prince charming. After a quick glance into my eyes, Elika decided to run away. Here we go, tutorial!
00:05: I’m not quite satisfied with the controls (nor with my skills atm). I only have one button to do multiple thing… it’s a real pain. But I keep running and jumping… and falling. Damn!
00:09: The moment after my first fight – one I easily won. Not too impressive, but up to a point it makes me remember the original PoP game, which is great. The battle is quite simplistic and effective. Oh… and I just found out: Farah’s a donkey!
00:14: Strange girl this Elika, she practically invites me to fight against her father. Somebody needs a spanking, that’s a sure thing!
00:18: I am still impressed by the visuals, everything looks awesomely great. Unfortunately, I am disappointed with one thing: why can’t I ever KILL somebody? (except for myself, thank you Elika!)
00:21: Lesson learned: do not let the black slime touch you. Jump, duck, jump and run. Lesson learned. Game on!
00:33: For the beast of all beasts, this Ahriman dude was quite a breeze to defeat. Actually, it seems that I have much bigger problems when it comes to jumping around and running correctly than defeating the enemies – fighting became utterly boring although Ahriman was the third thing I had a fight with. Too repetitive…
00:40: Like all girls, Elika talks waaay too much. However, I must admit I am impressed by the script writing so far: jokes galore, it feels like being in a movie. And judging by the number of areas in the temple, it’s going to be a long movie as well. And that’s not a bad thing at all!
00:41: Time to start running and jumping again!
00:42: Still jumping, running and jumping, jumping and running and trying double jumps. This is not UT!
00:46: If you were wondering… yes, I’m still running. I tried to talk a bit more with Elika but she has other things on her mind. The good thing is that I’m finally starting to learn how to do all sort of acrobatic moves – actually, it’s not difficult at all once you get the hang of things. And apparently, you’ll do nothing but keep practicing.
00:56: Hmm… another really easy and kind of boring boss fight… Probably I chose the easiest area to visit of them all. However, all in all, everything until now was a good tutorial – even though a bit lengthy. I’m ready for the game to start.
01:00: Yeah! I like Elika’s healing of the areas. Especially because this weakens her *grope, grope, touch, feel*

I can say that the first 60 minutes with Prince of Persia were a kind of an extended tutorial. Practically you can learn the controls in 5-10 minutes, but syncing your actions with what is required it’s a bit more difficult. A good challenge, though and I’m looking forward to try this some more. Remember to check back for the full review pretty soon now!