The first 'Prince of Persia' game, originally released in 1989 and created by Jordan Mechner
[hope I pronounced that right] was very successful due to its rotoscoped animation and
emphasis on challenging acrobatic platformer gameplay. It was followed by two sequels,
including a 3D one that was not received that well. The franchise that was inspired by the
Arabian nights stories as well as adventure films was bought by
Ubisoft who hoped to make a game featuring the title character that would breathe life into the action-adventure genre. The question is,
did they succeed?
The setting, time period and characters are fairly similar to before, with the story being narrated by the Prince, who we first see join his
father [and army] in sacking a palace. The Prince takes the Dagger of Time,
the army take an hourglass known as the Sands of Time, as well as capture a princess named Farah.
These all appear to be gifts for the Sultan of Azad, but a Vizier who's about to die tricks
the Prince into releasing the Sands from the hourglass which turn people into sand creatures.
The Prince, Farah and the Vizier narrowly escape the Sands. The Prince has a dagger that can rewind time
and a reluctant ally in Farah, and only he can prevent the Sands from spreading,
but can he trust Farah, or escape the Vizier, or survive the sand creatures and traps in the palace of Azad?
You as the player control the main protagonist from a third-person perspective,
as you engage in combat, solve puzzles and pull off some insane acrobatic moves.
You don't need to be familiar with the previous 'Prince of Persia' games as most of the basics are taught to you in the opening section where the palace is sacked.
One of the most notable moves that you can pull off is wall-running, which is
instrumental in landing on or jumping off to a platform.
Alongside this, you can swing on and jump from poles, pillars, climb along and across ledges and more.
These acrobatic moves are generally responsive and may leave you in awe.
You may fail more than once to line up a jump, get impaled from a trap, fall from a great height or struggle with the camera,
but thankfully you have the Dagger of Time to help you out. With the press of a button,
you can rewind time up to a certain length to fix your mistakes.
This looks and sounds cool and is an important aspect of the game. You can only use your sand powers a limited number of times,
so you have to get sand from enemies or look around for hidden sand clouds.
You will generally have to go out of your way to look for those sand clouds, as well as magic fountains that increase your maximum
health [which can be restored by drinking water from regular fountains and pools], but the adventure is generally linear.
That's not really a problem, as the level and puzzle design, as well as structure and sense of progression is easily the game's biggest strength.
It all seems logical, with jumping from one platform to another feeling seamless without resorting to cheap tricks.
The challenges gradually get more difficult, with the basic moves always being utilised,
plus the gradual learning of other basic moves that are easy to understand.
Puzzles that don't require much in the way of acrobatics are also featured and can lead to quite a bit of head-scratching.
You will also get assistance from the princess Farah who can fit through tiny cracks,
help you solve puzzles from out-of-reach areas, as well as shoot arrows at enemies [and the Prince by accident if you're not careful].
This is where we come onto the combat, which can be fun,
but you may find to be tiresome, repetitive or frustrating. Many of the enemies can only be defeated by knocking them
unconscious and sucking the sand out of them with your dagger.
Some enemies have certain defences or moves, which means they can only be hurt in specific ways,
such as jumping over them or bouncing off a wall.
Most of the time, combat is done in small or narrow areas, which can lead to you feeling quite overwhelmed by enemies sometimes.
There are occasions when there aren't bodies of water nearby, which can potentially result in you fighting with little health and
resorting to rewinding time constantly. Even if there is water nearby, enemies will surely be behind your back.
Sometimes, when you aim to use your dagger to properly suck sand out of an unconscious enemy,
the dagger may aim for another enemy instead, which is annoying, despite the fact that
you can freeze enemies with the weapon [there are other powers you can use with the dagger, but you're better off discovering them for yourself].
Add to this the aforementioned struggling with the camera and the times where you have to protect Farah, and you've got one of the weaker
aspects of the game. It's not a deal-breaker, however, and can be fun sometimes.
The presentation is quite nice too.
The graphics are done in a more cartoony style, and they still look reasonably good even today – especially in the cutscenes.
The game runs on the Jade engine [originally designed for Ubisoft's 'Beyond Good and Evil']
to allow for smoother animation and nice lighting and particle effects.
Unfortunately, there are clipping issues [such as the Prince's arm going through a fountain]
as well as glitches [such as an enemy falling through stairs].
The sound is good too, but also needed work. The voice acting is not too bad,
but sometimes it's hard to hear due to questionable sound mixing.
[Farah] "I heard it said that you are kind as well as brave. Please believe me. Help me find the hourglass."
The music is a combination of rock elements, Middle Eastern music and melodies, plus vocal tracks.
It fits the story and what happens on-screen [especially in combat sections],
but, apart from the end credits song, not much of it is particularly memorable.
Development of the game was problematic [such as the pre-production period being extended from ten months to fourteen months]
which is probably a reason as to why the presentation, camera and controls are not exactly perfect.
Plus, the game is fairly short, taking anywhere between 8 and 12 hours to complete
[maybe less if you're really good], and ends with a fairly disappointing final boss fight.
Despite all this, the game has to be commended for its well-done level and puzzle design,
nice animation and art style, as well as its simple, yet compelling story that is suitably emotional in the way it pans out.
The game is so fun and challenging, that it's almost worth playing it more than once just for the sake of it –
which means that the game doesn't overstay its welcome despite its short length.
The Prince's acrobatics and animation were brought back in 2003 in fine style, and then some,
making for one of the most memorable action-adventure games ever made.
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