Prince of Persia

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The graphics and level design in this game are phenomenal, this is one beauty of a game. My wife actually stopped dead in her tracks to comment on the beauty of it.

Gameplay is dead on, I have played for around 5 hours and not once have I been frustrated by unresponsive controls or bad camera angles etc...99.9% of all my mistakes I can blame on myself.

Elika is a beauty and her role is perfect, she is the perfect AI companion, and she never hinders gameplay. The only complaint I might have about the game is that it's set up so you can't really fail, she is always there to bail you out.

Trophies galore!

I purchased this for the PS3 because of the controller, I am one of the few that absolutely love the Playstation controllers, especially for platforming and action based games. FPS games I give the nod to my 360 and that wonderfully bulky controller.

In my opinion this game is a must buy, PS3, 360, doesnt matter, go out and buy this phenomenal game now.

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To give some perspective for my review, I think I should point out that on the scale of gamers, I fall somewhere between the "casual fan" and the "obsessive fanboy."

With that said, I found Prince of Persia disappointing for several reasons. First and foremost was Ubisoft's (second) failure to fully take advantage of their astounding open-world engine. I cannot dispute that the developer has, like Assassin's Creed, created an extraordinarily beautiful world with some of richest colors and textures I've seen on the PS3. In the case of PoP, the cell-shading animation of the Prince, his allies, and his villains is reminicent of Okami...jaw-droppingly gorgeous. But while the graphics astound, the gameplay suffers. It was a groundbreaking to be able to interact with every nook and cranny around the player, but the luster of this level of interactivity quickly wears off. I still have the sense that there has to be some way that Ubisoft could improve the gameplay to be less repetetive. The gold-standard for open-world gameplay has to be GTA4, in my opinion, and the city feels ALIVE. In PoP, however, the world seems to be nothing more than an excuse to showcase beautiful scenery and show-off how cool some of the player animations can be...you never feel as connected to the world as you do to Liberty City.

My second complaint is one that I've read on this product review, but I'll point it out anyway. The game is wholly comprised of the following pattern: execute acrobatic moves until you reach an enemy, fight the enemy...and repeat. The acrobatics and animations of both the "traveling" and the "fight" are seemless and stunning, but they happen over and over and over again. I found myself bored rather quickly.

Finally, I found this game incredibly easy. I completed the main story in less than ten hours. I did not die once as the Prince's companion makes such an occurrence a virtual impossibility. I easily won eight or so boss battles by pressing the "SQUARE" button repeatedly. And finally, the game will prompt which button to push in combat situations...the computer gives you a crutch you cannot turn off. Dissenters might point out that by button mashing in combat situations I am missing out on some beautiful extended combos and animations. I counter with the opinion that a combat system is seriously flawed if the player can easily succeed by pressing one button continuously.

Overall, I'm in the middle on PoP simply because it was incredibly beautiful and had a decent story with excellent characters. If I were you, however, I'd wait to buy this at a discount instead of paying full price. As beautiful as it is, you shouldn't be in a rush to pay full price for PoP.

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The new entry in Prince of Persia is actually not related to the old POP/PS2 games. Our new Prince is just a ordinary man who accepts the responsibility of cleansing the world. This is a entirely new story and the gameplay is totally new. The main character has four moves mapped to the face buttons.. as simple as that. The same action button does different thing at different times based on your situation. It makes it for a smooth gameplay. No complicated button combos for movement and no frustrating deaths. I have to applaud the developers for producing a very satisfying game play with simple mechanics.

Artstyle is so refreshing, it is this generations OKAMI. Character animations are the best we have ever seen in video games. As the game progresses prince can pull off some amazing tricks like roof crawl, it is a pure visual feast. There is a lot of variety in play mechanics. There are even some flying quests, carrying Elka in your back. First you travel through infested dark world where the game play is totally linear. Once you beat the final boss the level gets freed from corruption, it becomes cheerfully colorful. Then it becomes like mario star collection. More skillfull you are more you can collect. The second try of the levels are lot more difficult than the first runup to kill the big boss. Which makes it a win-win for every one. Skilled players can go all out in collection to get skills faster and earn trophies. Where in normal players can finish the game without throwing the controller to the wall. What ever the situation you are in Elka will save you. You miss judge a jump she is there, you screw up in combat and want a break she will help you. Combat is near perfect this time around.. no mindless button mashing. Every boss battle is different from other. Some require Elka, some require use of environment etc. etc. I personally like the new combat compared to the old POP games. If are patient and chain the combos you can beat them in 2 or 3 rounds. Especially when you start to chain areal combos it gives chills. Visual combat animations for combos are amazing. It is not as extravagant as DMC4, but very well done.

The main character prince comes with all the necessary skill from the start of the game. There are some good chain combos for combat to learn. On the other hand Elka gets new power-ups and becomes better as you collect more goodies. She is be best female companion video games ever had. She is always helpful and nice. Without her Prince can't do much, but very unassuming and humble. I liked her more than the main character. The story is her quest to free the world from corruption and prince is more like a mule carrying her around the world. I know it sounds bizarre, the story is amazingly tied well.

I have played the game couple of times, it plays silky smooth. No frame rate issues or hangs. Even though it is built on AC engine, the game is more true to the orignal POP than AC. Dont pass on this one, at least give it a rent. Even if you have never played previous POP or AC this one is a must have.

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This game is truly one of the most enjoyable games I've played in many years. It reminds me of playing some of the earlier Nintendo games such as Legend of Zelda because of the pace and relaxation of the whole experience. There is no hurry in this game and no annoyances that you find in many other games. This is a nice break from some of the awesome but sometimes stressful pace and feel of some of the newer games out there. P.O.P. gives you plenty of opportunities to stop and smell the roses and to check out the BEAUTIFUL scenery that this game provides. Most games I play lately require me to sit up or stand up because they require extreme vigilance and concentration, but this one is more of a sit back and relax kind of exerience.

POP is simply just a lot of fun with no hassle. Some may complain that it's too easy, but this game is meant to provide you with a different type of entertainment than all the others. Controls are easy going and very rhythmical. The graphics are outstanding. The story is very easy to get into and not extremely complicated either. If you're looking for a change of pace or just a nice way to relax on the couch, this is the game to pick up. It's just a beautiful piece of art. Enjoy.

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Sands of Time is by far the most fun platform of all time in my opinion. It was both breathtaking and revolutionary. Unfortunately, the next two sequels were more cookie cutter and repetitive with a fake dark atmosphere and repetitive, needless fighting.

This games returns to the fun of the Sands of Time. The acrobatics are the showcase. The atmosphere, though not the most vibrant, can be lush at times. The concept is simple you go to an area, find a way to the boss level, fight the boss, the area becomes "fertile", then you explore the area and get light seeds. You get enough seeds, you get a power. Your goal is to make all 25 grounds fertile, then fight the main boss.

You jump, drop down, climb onto poles. The same usual Prince of Persia stuff with the great, easy to understand mechanics. No falling because you misaligned yourself, no dying because you didn't press two buttons at the exact right time.

There are only about 3 puzzles and they are relatively easy. There are also very few enemies you only have to fight the boss at the end of a fertile ground, and possibly a simple enemy in between the grounds. The amount of fights has reduced significantly. The main change to the platforming dynamics is Elika, a princesses who helps you double jump and can pick you up when youmeaning you never die. This allows you to actually worry about the game as opposed to worrying about whether you can make a jump.

And for fighting no needless swarms to take care of. As usual, there are a combos you can use, you can use Elika's magic, and that's about it.

It's not all great though. There are two main problems the boss fights are long. You face the same boss for each level 5 times, and these things take forever. Each fight is about 10 minutes long of basically button mashing. Really boring and dull after a while. The second main problem are the special powers your receive. Basically, you jump to a plate, and then you either jump to another plate, fly, or run on a wall. This is basically eye candy with game mechanics that don't run well. You'll find this to an tedious exercise of trial and error. These two things break the flow of the game tremendously.

All in all, it's a fun, simple game that returns to the splendor that was the Sands of Time.

Pros:

Great acrobatics

Open ended

Fun

No walkthrough needed

Less emphasis on fighting

Cons:

Bosses are somewhat annoying

Graphically no wow factor

The "special powers" are annoying.

Time to Complete: 12 hours

Difficulty Level: Low

Frustration Level: Low