Prince Of Persia

This game takes the magical spirit of Sands of Time, the opressive, menacing dark world painted in Warrior Within and blends it with the flowing gameplay of The Two Thrones.

It then takes the Prince of Persia handbook and throws it out of the window. Instead of giving us more of the same structured - oh god booby traps - avoid them and then meet a bunch of enemies and then work out this spatial/mirror/light/turn a crank puzzle gameplay - ubisoft montreal have taken the fun platforming, wall running and swinging found in previous installments and made them entire pathways for you to traverse and help you move through the enviroment with great pace, finesse and ease.

The prince is han solo in anything but name, the princess is very padme - but somehow through amazing dialogue and little deliberate nuances and animations to the characters - the developers make you care for them. This game is a masterpiece - the level designs are clever and intuitive to progress through if a little unelegant and the disney/studio ghibli art style used - finally makes the question of whether games are an art form - assanine.

The combat certainly has learning curve - but once you grasp the basics becomes a welcome distraction from the leaping about. You can not die in this game. If you fall in to an abyss - Princess Elika will just grab your hand and set you back on solid ground. Even in combat scenarios she is always there to throw you back in to the heat of battle. This is a welcome addition and lets the game flow (no game over screen) and allow you to progress through the game with little hassle. There are some quick time events during fights scenes - but you can not die (there is no health metre) so they become more of a small inconvenience rather than a big problem.

The game will probably take about 10 hours - depending on how much you stop to enjoy the view (Believe me there are some amazing vistas to enjoy in this one - the game is drop dead gorgeous throughout) but getting to the end is worth it as there has not been a conclusion to a full retail game this satisfying and damn right thought provoking all year along. Embrace the light. Mani.

This is not prince of persia!!!!

Right the good old prince of persia trilogy. I loved it. The main character grew on you through each game as he noticably matures throughout the great adventure. (Well the first game was 3+ and the second was 16+) he fought hordes of enemys, slayed large bosses and played with time as he pleased and could die!!!!. They really should continue that story....

But no. They didnt. Instead, they threw away that concept, and created this... This... Movie. Im not saying its a bad game, but its like your playing a film basically. The graphics are excellent, but the game is far too simple. You cant die, there is very few fights, his voice is extremely annoying (definitely not persian!!) and the girl that follows can be tedious at times.

The overall point here is, if your looking for a game to satisfy your hunger for another prince of persia, you have been sadly let down, but if your looking for graphical power and a relaxed game, then this is for you.

This is by far one of the worst games i have played all year.
I loved the last three prince of persia games (although the second two had many flaws) and this game lets down the series.
It is set in a different place and apparently universe to the others and it also appears that the prince is not the same character.
The gamesplay is mostly acrobatics but with the addition of "the claw" which allows you to slowly slide down walls (which they vastly overuse having some sections where you manage to "slide" for about 30 seconds...) there is also the magic woman who follows you around. Her ability to fly means that she can save the prince whenever he falls, sounds good but in reality it takes all the fear and tension out of the game because you are completely invincible. The combat is arena based with none of the cool moves seen in the first one, such as wall flip attacks, swinging attacks etc. This leaves the combat sections as a weak version of soul calibre. Also missing are the sands of time seen in the first three. This decision has removed the slowmotion ability as well as the rewind and other sand powers which makes the game far less interesting and fun.
There are new "power plates" which allow the prince and compainion special powers such as flying, jumping long distances, wall (and ceiling) running (sonic style) and some kind of helicopter type thing (yes, as stupid as it sounds).
The story lacks any of the motivation of the previous games, the voice acting is good, but often childish and repetetive.
The fight system is dull and often frustrating. The acrobatic sections lack the dificulty of previous ones as well as being mostly based around one button. The graphics appear good untill you notice the lazy lipsync and lack of attension to detail.
All in all the game is a disappiontment and not worth the £40 pricetag.
I hope this helps you in your (lack of) purchase. Sorry if i made any ubisoft workers cry...

I was unsure of this at first and only bought it as it was cheap (would buy now even if it was £40!) - since the previous releases just had more of the same thing and it was severly annoying if you died, so kudos to the life-saving system!
It seems to handle a lot more smoothly to what you actually input in the controller (which is a big thing for me) in comparison to the older POP's (i.e. you point the stick in one direction and it does actually follow!) .
It is far more refined, the graphics are actually pretty damn good! In particular the scenery. The story is captivating and you can explore it fully if you want (by talking to the "princess"), or just carry on with the action! As well as the fighting system being simpler and easier to use.

All in all, I would highly recommend this excellent and most of all fun new addition to the POP series. Well worth it!

This a really fun game for the fist few hours but then got repetative because all you do is the same thing and the fighting system is a bit crap but the graphics are quite good.
4/5