Game Review: Prince of Persia

I had a gift card, so I bought it. The main reason being that it was only $20, and another reason being that the back of the case promised an "open world" adventure. I was like, "Okay!" Sounds good to me. I had pretty much played Red Dead Redemption into the red dead dust a few days before, so I needed something new to mess around with: preferably something that would take me awhile to get through.

Plus, I have fond memories of my last Prince of Persia outing, which would have been Sands of Time. Ah, the Gamecube days.

Anyway, I get the game and, first of all, I'm blown away by the visuals. UbiSoft have taken cel-shading graphics to new heights in this game. They brought back fond memories of Wind Waker, and Assassin's Creed; a fantasy world that seemed like something ripped from a fairy tale, and the freedom such a world should provide.

You go through a quick tutorial, where you learn how you will be traveling across...Persia? It's like Assassin's Creed, but waaaaay simpler. You approach a wall, press A, and you're running across it. You approach a gap, press A, and you're jumping across it. You approach a series of pillars, press A, and you'll jump from pillar to pillar.

I'm making this sound simple because it is. This game is devastatingly simple. Mario is laughing at this games simplicity. A jumping, Italian plumber has a more complicated and challenging game than the Prince of Persia.

And, see, I could even deal with that, had the "open world' actually been open. It's not. It's as open as your typical Mario game. In fact, if you took Super Mario Galaxy, took all those levels, stages, so on, and linked them all together into an Oblivion-type free-roaming setting, you would have Prince of Persia. But, unlike Super Mario Galaxy, the Prince's world is a very, very boring one.

It's you (the Prince) and the princess, a girl named Elika. That's it. You will have nil contact with any other human in the game (save for one, but he doesn't count). This world, though crazily, visually inspiring, is pretty much dead. Maybe that was the point of the story. This "open world" game is very empty.

EVEN THEN, I could have dealt with the game. The simplistic controls, the awesome, yet desolate, world, the lack of a good story. I could have dealt with all of that, but there's one other thing that just slapped me across the face. Aside from the boss battles, you'll only fight one other enemy per level. So, once again, bring back to mind that linked together Oblivion-type Mario world I was talking about, and then imagine there is exactly one other enemy per level.

This game is devoid of story, open world, and any challenge. Not to even mention the fact that you cannot die in this game. No matter what ledge you jump off of, your princess companion will be there to catch you. Every. Single. Tiiiiiime.

This game is the anti-Knight. It's the type of game that I try to avoid every time I put money down, which is a rare event in itself. It has beautiful visuals, and, additionally, a beautiful score by the composer of Dragon Age: Origins, Inon Zur. (Here's a sample from the game.)

To that end, there is one - and only one- reason why I am not only keeping the game, but will be keeping an eye out for an eventual sequel: the characters. Despite all of this game's failings, and there are many, the Prince With No Name and Elika are very, very well-written. I mean...it's like David Gaider and Drew Karpyshyn took a brief vacation and wrote all of the dialogue for this game. It's reflective, it's funny, it's tear-jerking. I wanted there to be a book about them that I could read.

This here's one of my most favorite conversations in the game: RIGHT HERE.

So, the characters got to me. Despite literally EVERYTHING else in the game working against me, the characters saved it. And the ending made me want to know what would happen to the Prince and Elika, enough that I'll likely buy a sequel, should they ever make one. And I'm hoping that UbiSoft puts as much effort into said sequel as they have with their other amazing sequels of late (i.e. Assassin's Creed II).

So, can I recommend this game? It's very hard for me to. Unless you happen to be walking along in a shop and find it for under $20, I'd say go for it. Other than that, you might as well do what I'm doing and wait for the eventual, more competently-executed, sequel.