Video Games : Prince of Persia

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from: Ubisoft

: Prince of Persia

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Amazon Maximum Age: 20 years
Amazon Minimum Age: 144 months
Binding: DVD-ROM
Brand: UBI Soft
EAN: 0008888684312
ESRB Age Rating: Teen
Format: DVD-ROM
Label: Ubisoft
Manufacturer: Ubisoft
Model: 68431
Publisher: Ubisoft
Release Date: December 09, 2008
Sales Rank: 1241
Studio: Ubisoft

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Editorial Review:

Product Description:
Experience the new fantasy world of ancient Persia. Masterful storytelling and sprawling environments deliver a brand new adventure that re-opens the Prince of Persia saga. You have the freedom to determine how the game evolves in this non-linear adventure. Decide how you unfold the storyline by choosing your path in the open-ended world. In this strange land, your rogue warrior must use all of his skills, along with a whole new combat system, to battle Ahriman's corrupted lieutenants to heal the land from the dark Corruption and restore the light. Also, history's greatest ally is revealed in the form of Elika, a dynamic AI companion who joins the Prince in his fight to save the world. Gifted with magical powers, she interacts with you in combat, acrobatics and puzzle-solving, enabling the Prince to reach new heights of deadly high-flying artistry through special duo acrobatic moves or devastating fighting combo attacks.



Amazon.com:
Prince of Persia is set in a land rooted in ancient Persian mythology, with the Prince finding himself caught in an epic battle between the primal forces of light and darkness—the god of Light, Ormazd versus his brother Ahriman, the destructive god of Darkness. The Prince arrives just in time to witness the destruction of the legendary Tree of Life, an act which threatens to plunge the entire world into eternal darkness. Manifested in the form of 'the Corruption,' a dark substance that physically contaminates the land and the skies, the Prince must partner with his new deadly companion Elika to heal the world from the evil Corruption.

'Prince of Persia' game logo
The Next-Gen of PoP
Image of the Prince from 'Prince of Persia'
A new Prince for a new story.
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'Prince of Persia' enemy the Hunter
The Hunter is not to be trifled with.
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Elika is a beautiful but deadly ally in 'Prince of Persia'
Elika is a beautiful, but deadly ally.
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A Frightening New Enemy and a Powerful Ally
As Ahriman, the god of Darkness is released so are his minions of monstrous slaves. The most dangerous and powerful set against the Prince is known as "the Hunter." Once a human prince himself, the Hunter was raised in opulent decadence and detached from the day-to-day world. His only passion was for the drama and brutality of the hunt, but soon passion grew to obsession. After killing every variety of beast known, he grew bored and too bold. Recognizing an opportunity Ahriman appeared to him and offered a bargain, a hunt against the most dangerous beasts the world has to offer in return for his soul. Foolishly he accepted and was transformed from man into demonic beast and was hunted by men from all over the world. His all-consuming rage made easy work of the hunters set against him, but also bound him to Ahriman for eternity.

But wherever there is evil, there is also a counter balance to it. Following the defeat and imprisonment of Ahriman, his brother Ormazd, the god of Light, left the world in the care of his servants, the Ahuras, guardians of the tree of life. The Prince’s new ally, Elika, is one of those guardians. Beautiful and mysterious she is a powerful AI companion who accompanies players throughout the game. Filled with an unknown power, she will be helpful in all aspects of gameplay, including acrobatics, combat and puzzle-solving as players quest to rid the land from Ahriman's corruption.

Key Features:

A Franchise With History
The critically acclaimed Prince of Persia franchise returns for the first time on next-generation platforms with an all-new epic journey. Built by the same award-winning Ubisoft Montreal studio that created Assassins Creed, Prince of Persia has been in development for over three years to deliver a whole new action-adventure gaming experience to consumers. With a whole new Prince, storyline, open world environments, combat style, signature illustrative graphical style and the addition of Elika, a deadly new ally, Prince of Persia brings the franchise to new heights of deadly acrobatic, artistry and is set to become the #1 action-adventure game of 2008.





Customer Reviews
Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars - While still good, it was somewhat of a disappointment
This game has many good things going for it, but overall it was somewhat of a disappointment for me.

I've played the previous Prince of Persia triology games (Sands of Time, Warrior Within, & The Two Thrones) and enjoyed them very much, so yes, I am comparing this game to the previous set of Prince of Persia games. After all, why call it "Prince of Persia" if it doesn't somewhat resemble the previous games?

But let me start with the good. The graphics in this game are excellent! While the art style is a little different, it didn't really bother me. The voice acting is also good and really helps you get into the relationships of the different characters. The story is interesting and it's fun to watch the sparks start to fly between the Prince and Elika.

Now for the bad.... Throughout the entire game, controlling the Prince feels somewhat clunky. Now, I am directly comparing this to Warrior Within where the controls were second to none (if you haven't played Warrior Within or Sands of Time then you won't really notice). When you wall run, you jump onto the wall and actually pause for a split second before the wall run begins, which is the complete OPPOSITE of what it was like in the Sands of Time triology. When you jump directly onto a wall you can climb/jump up slightly higher to reach an edge, but again there is a split second pause before you actually begin to CLIMB the wall. Combat is also very slow and a little annoying to participate in. When advancing towards the enemy, the prince walks forward extremely slowly, which again is the complete OPPOSITE of how it was in the Sands of Time triology. You can perform a short dash forwards or backwards, or even roll side to side, but it completely messes up the timing of your attacks or, even worse, your blocks. If you try to roll to the side to dodge an attack you get hit anyway--same thing if you try to dash backwards. It's extremely frustrating at times! It's a good thing Ubisoft didn't put in very many enemies!

Also, the game is WAY to easy. There's only like 2 puzzles that are somewhat hard, but by the time you get to them you've been so dumbed down by the game it takes longer than it should to figure them out because you haven't had to use your brain in so long. Warrior Within was constantly making me think to solve its puzzles and surmount its platforming obstacles.

Additionally, you can't die at all. If you fall off a ledge or make a bad jump, Elika uses her magic to save you. This isn't entirely bad and I actually appreciated it in most cases, but I think Ubisoft should have done it differently, allowing you to be able to die in certain spots. For instance, it makes sense that Elika can save you while your platforming as it's only the two of you and there are no distractions that would keep her from doing so. But in some of the boss battles Elika gets immobilized and is unable to help you fight. This is where Ubisoft should have allowed you to be able to die. In other boss battles Elika gets hit pretty hard which in turn knocks her briefly unconscious. You then have to walk over to her before she wakes up again. This is another place where you should be able to die if you haven't helped Elika wake up first.

One other thing that I found to be a little odd is that there are a couple of places in the game where it seemed like it was trying to be like the Sands of Time or Warrior Within by showing you an artistic angle while you platform. It's weird because the majority of the game is not like that. It's almost like a designer for the previous Sands of Time triology started to make things like they were before but was then scolded for it and told not to do it anymore. Which brings me to my final complaint: there is no free look! Again, this is a direct comparision to the Sands of Time triology (which had a free look feature), but it is very annoying not to be able to look directly above yourself.

Hopefully Ubisoft will change a few things for the next game. Yes, the ending definitely sets it up for a sequel, and I do plan on buying it to see how the story unfolds.

I still recommend this game, but just don't expect a real challenge. Get this game only if you need something new to play, as it is still somewhat entertaining. Ubisoft offers this game as an olive branch to the gaming community and has not included any DRM (Digital Rights Management) of any kind, so it was worth it to me to purchase it for that reason alone. I just hope that the next Prince of Persia will offer the challenge and excitement of Warrior Within.


Rating: 2 out of 5 stars - Although interesting in some aspects, I found the gameplay to be rather mundane
This review is with respect to the PC version. I was surprised to see that this game got such high marks in the reviews thus far (19 reviews at the time I wrote this) given the fact that it hasn't sold well at all since its release.

I purchased Prince of Persia and only played a few hours before the game became too mundane. I personally just didn't find the gameplay to be all that fun -- the main character never dies which reduces the challenge, the combos are simplistic, and the puzzles are too easy to solve. I though this game was great from the perspective that it had a detailed storyline, didn't have any bugs or issues, and adds some interesting twists (running on walls, a companion, etc). However, it just never _really_ captured my interest, which is admittedly an arduous task when developing a game.

As some of the reviews stated, I'm also a big fan of the fact that this game doesn't use DRM -- but that alone isn't reason to give this game a high rating. I noticed some users boasting that the game plays well with old hardware, but this game was realeased in 12/2008 -- when I purchase a newly released game I expect it to be optimized for modern video cards, so I don't consider this a feature. I was unimpressed by Ubisoft's proprietary "Anvil" engine.


Rating: 5 out of 5 stars - Beautiful Game!
This game has a very nice artsy look to it and runs well on my PC. Like many have said it is not a hard game and is more about the experience and adventure. If you are ok with that I think it will be a game you enjoy. Also I would recommend using an Xbox 360 control pad if you have one. Another great thing about this game is the lack of securom. I would almost go as far as saying one should buy this game for that reason alone.


Rating: 5 out of 5 stars - Great game, minor problems
This is a very good game. It's not quite the spectacular sequel to Sands of Time I had hoped, but it stands quite well by itself. The game is fun and the characters are well-developed, though the story they are a part of is somewhat boring. The gameplay, though occasionally overly simple, is still challenging and interesting. The graphics are utterly beautiful; this is a stunning game.

So, the game itself deserves 4 stars. But there are two more things you should know about: a pro and a con.

We'll start with the con. This game is a console port and it shows. My Logitech Rumblepad 2 controller was not recognized as supporting Rumble, likely because, like all developers of PC ports of console games, Ubisoft decided that the only PC controller with rumble was the 360 controller. Gah. The game also has some optimization issues; on my system (2GB RAM, 2.4Ghz quad-core processor, and GeForce 8800GT with 512MB VRAM, which meets or exceeds the recommended specs), the game's graphics settings work strangely. I have a very low-resolution display, so I can only run the game at 1280x1024, making anti-aliasing a must. However, this AA is terribly optimized; it's so poorly done that I have to choose between High graphics with no AA or Medium with 4X if I want a constant 60FPS. I cut off one star for this, reducing my score to 3/5.

However, I still recommend buying the PC version over the PS3 and 360 versions, as long as you have a PC to handle it. Why? Because Ubisoft has finally caught onto the fact that PC gamers don't enjoy intrusive copy protection software like SecuROM. There's no DRM or copy protection functionality here - so no activation limits. Even if you have no interest in the game, buy it to show Ubisoft your support for DRM-free games. Granted, a different game would likely have been better for Ubisoft to test the waters with, one that more people would get for the PC than the 360 and PS3 (because, let's face it, the console versions of this game are going to be much more popular than the PC version, for reasons that have nothing to do with DRM), but it's still a nice gesture of them. Aside from that, with your $50 contribution towards making Ubisoft's games DRM-free, you get a great game to boot. +2 stars for this.

So, all in all, +4 stars for the game, -1 for the poor optimization, and +2 for the lack of DRM; 5 stars in total. Buy it. You won't be sorry.


Rating: 5 out of 5 stars - Buy it for the lack of DRM, love it for the fun :)
I originally bought this because I saw Ubisoft decided to release it for the PC without any DRM like SecuROM which infests many other games I would have purchased otherwise. Ubisoft don't even require a disk in the drive for this game! Good for them and I hope the fleas of a thousand camels infest the armpits of anyone who steals/pirates this game.

System requirements. Although Ubisift list a dual core 2.6 GHz processor as the minimum CPU, I have a 3.5 GHz single core P4 and was able to play the game with no difficulties on XP (I also have 3GB RAM and a GeForce 8600GTS videocard). Double bonus for me since I thought I'd have to wait to upgrade in order to play.

Graphical design. Forget ultra realism. POP uses a more painting-style graphic design. It doesn't make for as impressive screen shots as some games, but when you see it in action it feels awesome and very alive. The scenery is awesome and the level design is fantastic.

I come from an RPG playing background, so platformers are not usually my thing. POP might make me venture into more platformers if POP is the standard. For a while I felt nervous about leaping off the platforms but once you got the hang of the moves, the traveling became a lot of fun and hunting down some of the more difficult to reach light-seeds became almost an obsession. :) The animations of the different motions flow together beautifully. It's almost visual poetry when you traverse a series of obstacles flawlessly.

Combat was very different than in an RPG. There's a lot less of it, for one thing. I really enjoyed the combat system, although I still consider myself quite bad at it. But when you string together some combination moves the animations are great and the result very satisfying.

The characters of the prince and Elika were great, IMO. I loved the banter and chemistry between them. The voice acting was superb: maybe the best I've come across in any game so far. I've heard some folks disliked the prince's 'attitude'. Personally, I found him to be pretty damned funny. The only thing I didn't like about the conversations was that you don't actually get to choose how to direct the conversation. But the quality of the acting was worth the trade-off for me.

The story was interesting: not everything is as it seemed in the beginning.

Ok, so what about the bad points?

The most obvious issue for me was that on some occasions...maybe half a dozen through the game....the camera angle was fixed and it would have been better to have had some freedom to move the camera to better see where you needed to go. A bit annoying but nothing too major.

Game difficulty. I can see how people might feel that the game was too easy because Elika is always present to save your backside, both from badly timed jumps or during combat. Personally, I was bloody glad of it. I'm not a masochist. But for people who play platformers obsessively, I think Ubisoft should have allowed them to have some kind of progressive difficulty rating that capped the number of saves that Elika could make during the game (easy level being unlimited, medium capped at 150 saves, and hard being 75 saves?). Or better yet, some kind of online scoreboard for gamers who complete the game with the fewest rescues by Elika.

My final quibble is due to be being an rpg gamer at heart. As much as I loved POP, it would have been even better if there were more NPC's and side quests to explore in addition to the main story line.

So, thank you again to Ubisoft for making this game DRM free. Not only did it give me an opportunity to support your work by purchasing it, but it was a bloody enjoyable game and I'll keep a weather eye open for any DRM-free (or disk check only) sequels you might produce. I'd love to know what happens next!




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