Prince of Persia reviewed

ROC1977

Region free game. Came out in the US today. Got NTSC version.

J-blk

Thanks for the impressions ROC1977, I'm looking forward to it even more now . Read a couple of reviews online and they have been very positive but I always find it a lot more useful to hear from other people here.

ROC1977 wrote: »

brings the girls magic into play (can't remember her name, she doesn't tell you who she is for a bit)

Her name is Elika...

johnny_ultimate

Will wait til Christmas to play this since I should probably get the most out of Fallout, Left 4 Dead etc.. before adding another game to the increasingly large pile. Plus, y'know, should probably be doing some college stuff. But the reviews are all positive. If it is close enough to the SoT standard I will be extremely happy (I couldn't play much of Warrior Within because they hurt the game so very, very badly - damn rock music). Roll on Christmas holidays.

Placebo

how long wud play take to deliver

J-blk

Placebo wrote: »

how long wud play take to deliver

Play.com can be a bit slow with delivery, usually 4-5 working days. The fastest I've ever received anything from them was 3 working days. I pre-ordered Prince of Persia and it still hasn't shipped, so no chance of getting it until next week...

Retr0gamer

Play.com will probbaly be even slower with the christmas rush. My advice is to use videogamesplus.ca It will be cheaper and they usually deliver much faster than play.com despite being based in canada.

wayne040576

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Play.com will probbaly be even slower with the christmas rush. My advice is to use videogamesplus.ca It will be cheaper and they usually deliver much faster than play.com despite being based in canada.

I think the last posting date from the north America to here is 11th.

Placebo

will have to buy it in shops.
just ****in bought left 4 dead.

EXPENSIVE.

Mr E

Only 6/10 on Eurogamer. Its repetitive and runs out of ideas very early on, plus its impossible to die.

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=324101

ShaneU

Mr E wrote: »

Only 6/10 on Eurogamer. Its repetitive and runs out of ideas very early on, plus its impossible to die.

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=324101

That review is certainly bucking the trend.

http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/ps3/princeofpersia

87 on metacritic right now.

Mr E

I know. I still want it !!
Damn game flood... at least this is the last big one this year.

thebman

ShaneU wrote: »

That review is certainly bucking the trend.

http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/ps3/princeofpersia

87 on metacritic right now.

Yeah its amazing what a publisher fooking money at something can do these days isn't it

The game just has no challenges in it whatsoever.

It might as well be a Disney title and it seems to be designed for that audience. Probably to attract that audience before the Sands of Time movie comes out which I think will probably be very Disney like and make most POP fans want to kill themselves or at least the director.

Most reviews state that being saved each time by your partner is no different to rewinding time but they are wrong.

By introducing the rewinding time element to sands of time, it allowed them to expand the game later on to keep it fresh by introducing new time moves to mix up the puzzles. Pretty soon, you were wondering, should I slow down time to make this part etc...

From the actual proper reviews of this game, it appears there is not much difficulty to the puzzles at all and you can't die. Where is the challenge? Is the game purely for people on the dole with nothing better to do during the day?

Try fooking harder POP team!

See:
http://penny-arcade.com/2008/12/3/

McDermotX

ShaneU wrote: »

That review is certainly bucking the trend.

http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/ps3/princeofpersia

87 on metacritic right now.

To be honest,
I lost interest in this title as soon as I discovered that the control dynamic had been dumbed down, and it was my biggest fear that the game would be significantly altered from its predecessors as a result..
One of the biggest things from the POP games for me was the satisfaction you get from making a successful jump/swing etc.......it was a very intuitive feeling of connection with the game to along with the story for me..

Taken from maxconsole.net of a review of the latest one from Wired (although they do state they're of a similar opinion)...............now normally I wouldn't base an opinion on many reviews out there from anybody, from the joke that is Eurogamer to the paid-for opinions of IGN and Gamespot..
But, this opinion does seem to reflect a lot of the concerns I'd have going into the game...........

Prince of Persia Review: Don’t get lost in nostalgia

It seems fairly common these days for a highly hyped title to deliver a big review score from a number of publications. And the new Prince of Persia seems no exception as it is currently averaging a metacritic score of 90. Based on such scores, anyone would think that this game is near enough flawless and excessively entertaining but it certainly is none of those. Read on for a refreshing review which seeks to bring back some order to these negligent review practices of scoring games too high despite a variety of issues.


Image courtesy of Ubisoft.


Don’t believe it, Prince of Persia is not outstanding, it’s not even very good

Two publications were privileged enough to be able to post reviews of Prince of Persia before any other. These were IGN online and GamePro magazine. IGN set the high scoring trend, by awarding Prince of Persia a 9.3 despite none of their individual scores reaching above a 9. They admitted the game has its flaws and it certainly is not the best game released this year but it was still ranked as outstanding. More puzzling is the fact that the game itself will take anyone around 12 hours to complete, yet IGN feel they will carry this game with them “for the next decade”. Why? How many times can you play a scripted platform game which is easily completed in less than half a day? More admirably, GameSpot awarded the game an 80, but this still far too high, especially when one considers the game is “really, really easy”, since when did a non-challenging game in this generation deserve such a high score? It seems Wired is the only publication that agrees with us, Prince of Persia is not an outstanding game, it’s rather average, repetitive and lacks any real challenge.

Review of the main elements of the game

Graphics: Arguably, the graphics are the best element of Prince of Persia. There are some stunning environments to look at and the game makes full use of cel-shading techniques, although the use of this technique may not be to everyone’s tastes. Combat scenes also look fantastically dynamic, although they are let down by their simplicity and at times it feels you are just watching a pre-produced movie. Odd animation hiccup and frame rate problem but nothing serious at all. - 8

Gameplay: The most disappointing aspect of Prince of Persia. All the gloss and pretty presentation can’t make up for the fact the game play is terrible and frustratingly easy. Virtually no control over the Prince’s actions, you just have to push the button and essentially the game queues up your presses to perform the actions as and when it pleases to fit in with its cinematic style proceedings, there is no way to cancel. Control issues lead to the feeling that you are not really playing as the Prince, rather he is selectively listening to you based on what the CPU tells him.

After playing the first level, you may expect things to get a little tougher or progressively more difficult but there is no chance of this. As each level goes by, you are presented with a new one which just a re-collection with acts you’ve already performed but with one of two tiny differences. Unlike other Prince of Persia games, there is no thinking or puzzle solving to do here.

A testament to just how foolishly easy game this is that you can’t die! Each of the bosses that you fight in combat are incredibly easy to defeat due to this fact and that the difficultly of them barely increases. And after you pick up around half a thousand worth of light seeds, there is no need to do any more scavenging in order to reach the end of the game, but collecting the seeds themselves is hardly fun and is just laborious at best. 4

Longevity: The game itself takes around 12 hours to complete perhaps even less for most. It’s kind of like a pretty toy with one or two functions, after one play you will just get bored of it and leave it to one side. One of the only main incentives to re-play the game is to collect all the light seeds and gain some unlock able skins. But whether going through the same old scripted levels is worth it again to just some skins is certainly debatable. 5

Audio and other considerations: The in-game music is certainly embracing and some of the voices are produced in a sound manner. Although, the Prince himself is pretty much irritating, it is hard to truly get a feel and believe his character as some of the lines he comes out with are just WTF moments and do not seem genuine. 7

Bottom Line

Prince of Persia is great to look at, particular attention has been paid to level designs which do provide some initial ‘wow’ movements; However, this is about as good as it gets, there is no challenge within the game, every level is basically the same and you are just playing your part in a repetitive movie which just requires you to push buttons on command. It certainly is a forgettable experience, for us there is absolutely no longevity in the game and the only reason we played it in its entirety was for the purpose of this review. The graphics may be suitable for this generation, but the gameplay which any gamer will tell you is far more important fails on so many levels. Thus, at best, this game is worth a rent at BEST just for the nostalgic attachment that any Prince of Persia may have to the series.

The Good: Fantastic graphics, some very intricately designed levels, enjoyable music, great presentation

The Bad: Combat and levels are very repetitive, there is no challenge, severe lack of longevity, lack of control and connection with the Prince, good looks is no substitute for gameplay, did we already mention the game is ridiculously easy?

Overall score: 5.5 (55/100)

Mr E

Going to try and rent it today and see what its like for myself.

Retr0gamer

Balls, wish I'd seen the eurogamer review before I bought it this morning.

J-blk

If Ubisoft manages to f**k this up as badly as they did with Assassin's Creed (huge potential, horrible execution), I'll have to think very hard about buying any of their games in the future...

Placebo

maybe its suppose to be like ico. Not just inspired by it.
Still gonna buy it tbh, farcry was paraded with 9/10 and it was utter bull

Retr0gamer

I actually quite like it. It really isn;t apatch on Sands of Time. I remember in sands of time being presented with an obstacle and thinking 'how the **** am I going to get up there'. Well it just isn't here in this game. All the routes are sign posted and the platforming is just too easy to pull off to be any kind of challenge. Still great game in it's own right. 6/10 was far too harsh considering they gave Halo 3 10/10. This game is a solid 8/10.

monkeyfudge

Enjoying it a lot as well. The script is very entertaining.

I picked up the new Tombraider game this week as well... and control wise I think Prince of Persia is light years ahead of the frustrating experience that Tombraider is.

If I'm going to be playing a game with multiple deadly drops then I'd rather restart at the last platform I was standing on than some arbitrary checkpoint about 5 or so minutes back.

Oh and just €45 in Game.

Retr0gamer

I got it for 45 with the loyalty card in Smyths.

One massive complaint is the Dialogue. I really think the Prince has some terrible one liners that aren't fitting to the setting. It's annoying because the game would have had much better atmosphere with a more endearing protagonist.

Mr E

I really like it too.... rented it in Xtravision and I doubt I'll finish it in a week. The levels have a "Gotta get 'em all" mentality when it comes to collecting those orbs and it is going to take a long time to get them all. The gameplay is different from older POPs - I think its unfair to say its dumbed down - it allows for fluid acrobatics and really fun gameplay.

Really beautiful looking game too.

Not the first time Eurogamer were wrong about a review, and surely not the last.

J-blk

Good stuff. It's nice to hear people are actually finding it enjoyable. Eurogamer are pretty harsh with most reviews, though on the other hand, they don't give out 8 and 9/10 scores as easily as other places do, which I appreciate. I'm still not going to get to play this for awhile, so I think I'll have to stay clear of the thread now that people have the game and it may start going into spoilerific territory .

DeVore

I have to run now but I wanted to say... I've played 4 of the 24 levels and have a good idea of the game now. I cant understand why people are down on this game. Ok, its not Halo but if you wanted Halo... go play Halo (like I do, when I want a good FPS).

This is gorgeous, stylish and controlable (which is the most important thing in this kind of game). I feel in control and yes wall running etc is fairly easy but chaining them makes me feel like "woooooah, that was awesome!" even though I'm pretty much just timing one button!

More later when I have time!

DeV.

thebman

I think most of the people complaining about the game are comparing it to Sands of Time and not Halo.

They took out the challenge, the whole point was the challenge!

That's what POP is. Now this is just a completely different game, raping the franchise name.

Even the 2D POP's were about entering a room, seeing where you need to go and thinking how the hell am I going to get there and working out where and in what order, the switches and other obstacles needed to be reached in order to open a gate.

By the sounds of it, this lacks almost all of that and instead you just spend all your time collecting orbs for no reason. I mean do these orbs even link in to the story or is it just something to keep you busy to lengthen game play?

monkeyfudge

brim4brim wrote: »

By the sounds of it, this lacks almost all of that and instead you just spend all your time collecting orbs for no reason. I mean do these orbs even link in to the story or is it just something to keep you busy to lengthen game play?

Collecting orbs unlocks new powers for Elika, and the new powers allow you to access new areas.

Each area changes quite a bit once you've healed the area, so going back over to collect the orbs really isn't all that repetitive.

I love the Warrior boss... the level where you're fighting him in the crumbling tower is amazing.

rizzla

Really enjoying this game too. Love the stringing together of all the acrobatic skills. I like the dialogue too, sure it may be out of place but I find it quite funny some of the time.

Plus, with the orbs, you don't have to actively search them out. You need about half of them to unlock new powers for Elika but most are on the main path anyway. So the extra orbs are there for people who enjoy being in this world, to explore more of it.

Retr0gamer

I don't mind the no deaths thing with the platformering since it's basically just the same as checkpointing just a lot less hassle. However with combat there are problems since you can't die it's far too easy and loses some tension. having elika revive you and the boss getting a smidgen of health back just isn't harsh enough and you can save yourself with a QTE when you are low on health anyway.

Vic Vinegar

Mr E wrote: »

Really beautiful looking game too.

Not the first time Eurogamer were wrong about a review, and surely not the last.

Agreed! class game, sexy as hell.

I'm nearly finished now and it's been a pleasure, the combat could have been a bit better but apart from that, nothing to grumble about!

thebman

monkeyfudge wrote: »

Collecting orbs unlocks new powers for Elika, and the new powers allow you to access new areas.

Each area changes quite a bit once you've healed the area, so going back over to collect the orbs really isn't all that repetitive.

I love the Warrior boss... the level where you're fighting him in the crumbling tower is amazing.

But do they explain how orbs give her powers?

Whats in the orbs?

monkeyfudge

brim4brim wrote: »

But do they explain how orbs give her powers?

Whats in the orbs?

How do they explain the rings in Sonic?

Her powers all come from an ancient god. When you heal a corrupted land you release all his energy into the land and you have go around and collect as many orbs of energy as you can.