Prince of Persia

Of the many franchises out there, the Prince of Persia games have somehow gained a certain amount of respect from me. It is strange, really. I never played any of the originals; not one. I played the entirety of The Sands of Time and absolutely loved it. It was so close to being a perfect game that it gets a special medal from me for outstanding performance.

Then, much to my dismay, Ubisoft decided that a teenage angst personality fit the Prince much better than the appraised smug and sarcastic persona. Due to this, I only bothered playing the first couple hours of The Warrior Within, and never touched The Two Thrones because I thought it was a weak attempt at saving a dead game.

How is it then that a franchise that has disappointed me and essentially failed is getting as much respect as it is? It is hard to say. Perhaps a third person free running game is just something I enjoy more than other genres. Perhaps it was my experience with The Sands of Time that has kept my faith. Perhaps it is because Ubisoft is a developer that I tend to be fond of.

But if I had to pin it on one thing, I would say I respect the Prince of Persia franchise because of the incredible amount of immersion that Ubisoft has been able to include.

I am a humongous fan of immersion. If I can feel what the character is feeling I end up remembering my experience far better than others. Due to lack of immersion I have lost hope in games like Fallout 3, or Oblivion.

Thankfully, the newest Prince of Persia game has managed to start on a clean slate and try again. Yahtzee from Zero Punctuation described this as:

…they hastily stitched it back together, dressed it up in glittery fabric and added some googley eyes. And that’s the new Prince of Persia, an apparently gorgeous experience that failed to disguise the fact that the old bird is dead inside

While to some extent this is true, I think that not only has Ubisoft redressed this dead bird, but also resurrected it.

Another New Prince, Another New Adventure

You are in a fictitious land surrounded by desert. This land is known as “The Land of the Aura”. It has been forgotten by the world and its people have left to discover what lay beyond their birthplace. This land was made with the purpose of concealing the dark god “Arhiman”, who was trapped under the temple with the help of the god of light, “Ormazd”. The “Aura” were men granted the power to preserve Arhiman’s imprisonment.

You play the once again unnamed (hooray!) “Prince”. You aren’t technically a prince, although it is hinted at throughout the game that you once were before your mother and father died and you ran away. Since then you have been a tomb robber. The Prince does have essentially the same character design as the Prince featured in The Sands of Time. That means he is smug, slightly witty, and sarcastic. He also holds little value for much except the freedom to make his own decisions. (His voice is played by my favorite voice actor, Nolan North, who also played Desmond in Assassin’s Creed and Sgt. Forge in Halo Wars).

Through an unlikely chain of events the Prince finds himself caught in an adventure to reseal the prison that just barely holds Arhiman. If they failed, then the dark god would rise against the world, effectively ending it. To do this the Prince and his new companion Princess Elika must heal the many “Fertile Grounds” surrounding the Temple.

Non-Linear, Open World

Prince of Persia makes a bold step towards telling the story in a non-linear format in an open world. Unlike many others, this open world is more like a lot of hallways that piece together in an elaborate system.

It has been divided into four main regions, each with its own recurring boss who guards the five Fertile Ground there. You may choose which Fertile Grounds you want to heal in any order you like, limited only by which magic traveling powers you have chosen at the temple.

Free running is more fluid than ever before. Most of the techniques used to get from one place to another remain the same. Vines, which let you climb a wall in any direction; and grapple hooks, which let you sort of double wall run or climb, are both new. I was initially disappointed to find that I couldn’t rewind time myself, that instead Elika uses her magic to sweep in and save you from the many bottomless pits. In combat she uses magic to push back the enemy right in the nick of time should you falter.

This sort of instant respawn works extraordinarily well. It proves much better even when compared to other games that have tried it. After all, free running games are supposed to be fluid. The only penalty you will encounter is that you will find yourself standing in the last position that you had flat footing. This allows you to instantly get back to killing the evil servant or performing the insanely long combination of wall runs immediately.

Combat

Just when I thought this game was perfect, Ubisoft had to try something different than their old combat system. In The Sands of Time you put down the sand zombies by flipping over them and hitting them in the back with your sword. The variety of enemies compensated for the lack of combos, and it was fine!

In this newest release you hobble back and forth with Elika behind you bashing a mini-boss with your sword. When it attacks you there is precious little you can do except block until it is done or you are shoved off the edge of a cliff. A variety of different combos are available, but most of the time they are blocked before you can even start them. As a result you just want to rapidly press X like you were playing Fable 2.

But even there Ubisoft was determined to keep us frustrated by often requiring you to perform a certain type of attack to make the boss vulnerable to other attacks. This in itself caused problems since you could never really get close enough to grapple, or use magic on the enemy without getting a mouthful of sword.

Nevertheless, there is a sort of satisfaction when you can pull off the longer combos. Additionally, you are rewarded for those combos sufficiently by generous amounts of damage done. The combos do look awfully pretty and brings a feeling of accomplishment. Still, I don’t see why these combos couldn’t be implemented correctly into the old combat system.

Art

If it were not for the outstanding rendering of Prince of Persia, I would have never tried it. The dramatic step away from traditional rendering methods is what made me think that Ubisoft might have finally resurrected the franchise. Yes, it is cel-shaded. But that is okay because the vibrant colours and seemingly hand drawn scenery fill the spaces that would otherwise feel empty.

When you enter an area for the first time, it is covered in black slime called Corruption (the Symbiote slime from Spider-Man in disguise). If this slime manages to swallow you up, you become a brainless servant of Arhiman. Complementing the presence of the black slime is the general dank theme to infected areas. Just running through those places is a bit depressing.

But that is okay, because as soon as you defeat the boss and heal the land you are rewarded with a change from dark greens, and black, to light browns, lush greens, and blue skies. If the first was depressing, the second was more than enough uplifting. I have never before seen the art style of a game to be a reward in itself. But don’t worry; the colour change isn’t the only payback. When you heal the land you can also begin collecting “light seeds” to unlock magic powers.

A Cinematic Experience, Without the Cinema

And so we come full circle. I have already mentioned how the game is incredibly immersive, but I have yet to mention why. Prince of Persia uses story telling techniques I have yet to see in another game and I expect to see them become more popular in the future. Basically, cut-scenes are incredibly short and are there just to give you the bare bones of the story.

If at any time you wish to learn more about the background of the Prince, Elika, or their motivations, relationships, etc. you must only press a button and listen to a short question and answer. Press the button again to hear more. It gives you the feeling that you are asking the questions, instead of having them asked for you. It also gives you the freedom to speed through to the next boss or enjoy every aspect of the journey slowly.

At several parts of the game you are forced to make decisions that normally would be presented in a simple cut-scene. That sucks you in and holds your attention. I won’t give away what decisions these are, but you won’t be disappointed.

All cut-scenes are removed except for the essentials. But in a way that presents more freedom than other games that have done this, such as Half-Life or Bioshock for example.

The final ten minutes of the game presents you with a scenario and forces you into a decision that I found moving at so many levels. I believe that it was specifically designed to make me feel the grief that the Prince felt. I will not give away any more, but the ending was what turned it from a pretty good game, to a game that I will remember forever.

Conclusion

Prince of Persia is a free running game with a layer of combat in between and all around, like a chocolate cake with vanilla icing. The combat itself has been botched when compared to its predecessors, and can be more annoying than anything else. Free running is fluid and enjoyable, yet a little repetitive towards the end. The entire time you play you are presented with differing scenery that is visually pleasing. I would recommend this game to any who enjoy good character development, free running, and innovative games.