Review – Prince of Persia (Xbox 360)

Posted on 10. Dec, 2008 by Dits in Microsoft, Reviews

It’s not often that gaming royalty graces us with its presence. The near 20 year old concept of the Prince of Persia is finally ready to make its next generation debut, and it has a lot to live up to. The Prince made his triumphant return to gaming with the amazing Sands of Time and was sadly followed by some lackluster sequels.

Has our Prince turned into a pauper?

The game begins with the Prince walking through the desert trying to find his donkey that was loaded up with gold from prior exploits. Suddenly a mysterious woman (Elika) who is trying to escape from chasing guards lands on him. The Prince offers to help (in his cocky way) and the games initial tutorial begins. Run, jump and hang commands will all be explained to you as you have to copy the mysterious ladies moves in order to catch up to her.

Prince of Persia veterans will know what to expect at first. Wall runs, climbing up ledges and shimmying around is all back this time, but the control system has been drastically dumbed down. No longer do you have to hold Left trigger to initiate wall runs, its automatic, just run at the right angle and you’re away. It adds to the flowing nature of the game but does take some skill away, a problem that is rife throughout the entire experience. Similarly the A button is used to jump normally and also to jump off wall runs to reach further off places. So that’s running and jumping sorted, onto combat next.

The Prince and Elika are cornered by one of the guards and it’s time for some battle mechanics to go horribly wrong. If you were after a deep combat system or even a taxing one such as the one found in Sands of Time, forget it. Our prince has his trusty sword to bash enemies with and now a claw that can be used to grab and throw enemies into the air. Combat is broken down into visual clues that elude you as to what type of attack to use. If they are glowing blue its sword time, yellow for the claw and so on. It really takes away some of the feeling of power and results in battles being over before they have really begun.

The environment throws up plenty of visual clues as to what button you need to press in a given scenario. If you see a ring on the Wall then tap the B button to grab on and pull yourself up to reach higher places. It feels like a long drawn out quick time event with the same visual clues being dotted around the entire world. It never really tries to mix it up.

After the battle the Prince and Elika manage to make a brief escape but are soon caught up by the guards. The duo try to escape via a bridge, but the guards manage to destroy it whilst they are trying to run across. As they are falling the game throws up its new gaming mechanic. You can’t die. Elika has been infused with magical powers that allow her to teleport you to safety whenever you fall. This mechanic is available throughout the entire game and you don’t have to do anything to initiate it (no Sands of Time here). So whenever you fall, within a few seconds, you will be right back where you started and ready to try again. Elika’s ability also allows the Prince to double jump. A quick press of the Y button mid jump and you will be flung further than you could normally reach. That’s pretty much all of the games basic moves covered, simple and effective and POP does a good job of integrating them into the game’s opening sequence.

You both managed to escape but not before you find out that Elika is a princess and the people who are chasing you are her father’s guards. The duo then make their way to a temple where Elika has to try and stop some evil power from escaping. Before they get there her Father has already unleashed the evil onto the world and covered the palace with a substance known as Corruption and unleashed the minions of the god known as Ahriman. It’s an interesting plot twist and one that grows as you continue on with the story.

The game then splits off into 4 different areas which you can traverse in any order you please. It’s a nice open world structure with the temple acting as the central hub. Each of the 4 areas have been covered in the evil known as corruption and each have their own minion to defeat to save that area. Corrupted areas have a dark and dank feel when entering them. So it’s off to heal the land by running and jumping to clear the areas of the bad guys.

Here one of the games big problems comes into play. The bite sized levels are way too short to offer up any real challenge and often after just 5-10 minutes you will find yourself at the end of section boss, and after a quick game of ‘Simon Says’ you will be ready to head off to the next section. It’s really not a challenge. Elika and her magic powers allow her to cleanse the lands after you have defeated the boss for that area. Bosses are always located on the ‘Fertile Ground’ of that section. Restoring that ground brings life back to the area and takes away the corruption that has engulfed it. If at any time you get lost or don’t know where to go, a quick press on the Y button will send a ball of light off into the distance which you can follow to reach the next section.

UBISoft have utilised a cell shaded look to the game but have managed to add a lot more detail than just single colour textures. Environments also look particularly pretty, especially when you reach very high up areas and are able to see entire sections. Draw distance and their detail are spot on and really add to the stylised feel of the game. The movement of both the Prince and Elika are also very well done; they both float around sections with grace and ease. All of this together makes it a pleasure to look at.

Once areas have returned to their natural state a new game mechanic is introduced, collecting Orbs. Elika can use the Orbs to unlock special powers which can be activated in different coloured panels which are dotted around each level. Different abilities unlock after a predetermined number of Orbs are collected. You may have to collect over 200 Orbs to get onto the next section as you need a certain power to get there. It’s a nice idea in theory as it allows you to traverse the environments trying to reach sections you may not have thought possible before. It does get old very quickly though, and suffers from the same problem that Crackdown did. After you have cleansed an area you never encounter any enemies or corruption to try get in your way. It makes these sections feel boring and just tacked on to add some extra lifespan to the game. I’m sure many will try and collect all 1001 Orbs available but it’s really something I would rather not have to do.

Elika’s special powers come in 4 different types (each for the different areas) and it’s your choice as to what skill you unlock first. 2 are pretty much the same, they allow you to be flung through the air to reach another similar coloured square and have you pinging around the screen much like Sonic on his springs. The green skill allows the Prince to run vertically up walls, avoiding obstacles to reach different sections. The yellow skill is by far the worst it allows you to briefly fly. Now that may sound cool but it’s an on rails flight with control being limited to dodging more obstacles in order to reach the end, very 90’s shooter and just as bland.

Can’t really end this review without mentioning the voice acting. The Prince’s voice actor is strangely the same actor who played Nathan Drake in Uncharted. But this time the Prince is a smarmy unlikable character with so many cheesy one liners that it becomes annoying very quickly. I think UBI were going for a Han Solo kind of charming rebel, but ended up with an unlikable oaf that doesn’t really bring much to the table. POP delivers its dialogue very differently to most games, to initiate conversation you have to press the Left trigger. The amount of dialogue is pretty substantial if you allow yourself to get through it. It allows you to learn a lot more about the story and the kingdom you are trying to save. The relationship between the Prince and Princess actually becomes pretty fun and playful as it seems the more he speaks to her the less of an idiot he becomes. It’s a real nice touch as you can actually hear the chemistry between them grow. I’m not sure many people are going to sit and listen to all the lines of dialogue but it does make an interesting change right near the end of the game that really should have come much, much sooner for anyone to really care.

So the Prince has returned and brought along with him a pretty simple, casual game. Most gamers will be able to complete it after only a few hours playthrough which really will leave a lot of gamers feeling short changed. Sure you can go off and try to collect all the Orbs but is a hollow experience with little to gain from doing so. Word of warning to all of you, much like Fallout once you have completed the last area you cannot go back to the previous levels so save, if you plan on going out on one last Orb run.

Overall I was expecting much more from POP. Sands of Time was one of my favourite games of last generation and this new offering may look prettier but has little of the fun gameplay mechanics which were on offer before. The battle system is shallow and you can only battle one enemy at once which again makes it feel like its on rails. I would recommend renting this as for while it lasts it’s a fun experience but with no online features or extra game modes it’s not going to last anyone to long.

For fans of the series I would recommend it just for the ending. I’m not going to spoil anything but after the credits there is a nice surprise…