One thing should be mentioned before starting: Ubisoft always said that this new Prince of Persia game is a “re-imagination” of the franchise – and that’s why I consider it fair enough to write a review about PoP and not one about Prince of Persia vs. the Sands of Time. The games’ publisher considers them two distinct chapters and I believe we should do the same.
Unlike other modern, high-budget games, the new Prince of Persia does not begin with a 30 minutes-long cutscene, but instead opts to present a “teaser” for the story: the Prince bumps into Elika, a beautiful girl that tries to get away from some fierce, ugly guards and he decides to help her. The story then unfolds as you play and you’ll soon find out about the evil god Ahriman who’s being freed by Elika’s father; about the only way to stop him: by “healing” specific fertile lands; and finally about the guards who must be defeated along the way.
Although rather simple and not juicing with originality, I must admit that Prince of Persia’s story really impressed me: the script is incredibly well written, the Prince himself delivers some really great one liners which made me laugh out loud (and even my girlfriend, who was around but wasn’t paying too much attention to the game, giggled a few times when she heard some of the Prince’s lines) and generally you have the impression of experiencing a great Hollywood script with only one thing missing: the popcorn.
Gameplay wise, Ubisoft decided to keep it very simple: just a few buttons an an incredibly easy to use interface will help you guide the Prince through the levels at high pace. However, I did have some trouble syncing my moves because the same button is used for both wall running and jumping and usually I felt the need to press the button a bit more often than necessary. But, as I said, once you get used to it, it’s going to be a breeze – yet entertaining enough to keep you going.
Battles are really entertaining at first and always spectacular: you’ll be generally fighting against “bosses”, each with different combat skills and weaknesses. However, these battles are never challenging and after a few creatures are defeated, the rest will seem rather repetitive, because the “uniqueness” of your enemies does not change things too much and oblige you to use very different strategies, unfortunately.
The game world is vast enough to thrill all the adventure seekers with tons of ways to test the Prince’s new abilities and enjoy some of the best looking acrobatics ever seen in a video game. You will be allowed to select which path to follow, but it’s not a completely free-to-explore world: you have four separate paths to explore at first and you will be allowed to progressively unlock more. This means that you won’t be just exploring and healing the lands, but you’ll also be collecting orbs which are used to unlock further areas.
The visuals are simply mind blowing: when I first heard that Prince of Persia will be turned into a cartoon I had an impulse to throw a poisoned spike right at the game’s heart – but now, after seeing how good PoP looks, I’ve changed my mind: the visual experience is simply amazing. Actually, it’s flawless, I would dare to say! The same can be said about Prince of Persia’s sound: the soundtrack is great, the voice acting is also flawless and combined with the well penned script I talked about already, it adds great value to the title. All in all, two aspects Ubisoft paid great attention to and the results are impressive.
Prince of Persia should be looked at as a reinvention of the franchise – otherwise you risk to miss the point and consider the game less impressive than it actually is. Indeed, it is simplified to the bone – which for more experienced or hardcore players is a minus – and in the end it gets repetitive, but it is still a good title. It is simple and fun, fast paced and entertaining, visually stunning and rewarding. It is a new approach to the franchise and it should be considered as a success – not at all a failure. So at least give it a try.
Final rating
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