I’ve played a few of the previous Prince of Persia titles like The Warrior Within and the original version. The prince (for those of you who don’t know the main character of the series has never had a name except simply, the prince) was always alone and looked like a nomad who was in need of a bath but still looked cooler then cool.
This time around the prince has a companion in the form of Elika. She is able to help the prince fight, make it through the environments, and keep him alive. I think she’ll be taking the place of the dagger of time and help the player make it through the game and instead of stopping time and reversing it when you die with the dagger, she’ll be the one to save you with her magical powers.
One of the new abilities that the prince is getting in this next-gen version is called the “roof run” which allows the prince to run on the roof as he grabs a hold of rings hanging from the ceiling of a level. The developers even mention in one of their commentaries that he can go from a roof run to a vertical wall run. The new ability however really doesn’t make the game next-gen to me. Something that does and hopefully will make it seem much better then the previous installments is the newly revamped combat system. The new system was designed to be a cinematic experience. In the video that is linked they named Final Fantasy: Advent Children and Soul Calibur as inspirations for the combat system.
That’s encouraging to hear.
There are four main buttons that were described.
The Princes Sword button: which seems simple as the prince taking a swing at the monster with his sword. I’m hoping and assuming that the further the you take the combo the better the moves are and in turn the swordplay takes a more cinematic/skillful approach then just a simple swing.
The Elika button: you call in your backup and Elika takes a crack at the monster your fighting and if the videos I’ve seen are anything close to what she’ll be doing it seems that her attacks might be more flashy then the princes.
The Claw/Lift button: the prince uses his other hand to attack with his new claw. Which is also the attack to knock the opponent into the air. Hoping some cool stuff can come from this claw, who knows maybe it can power up and do some massive damage? Fingers are crossed….
The Acrobatic button: last and certainly not least, this button is the one that gets me thinking that the combat really will be a cinematic experience. Just imagine all of the combos that you can make with these four buttons. It would be a great system if they make a lot of button combination animations available.
I’m looking forward to see how everything they are trying to put in the game turns out. We’re probably still pretty far away from the game actually coming out but I for one am expecting it to be a solid game. That is if the game play length is more than 2 hours.
This is just a small amount of info about the game itself if your interested in hear more about the game check out the videos that are available at the main website.
Screw the haters, I love the new art style.
I’m hoping it plays out more like Sands Of Time and The Two Thrones than Warrior Within. It looks pretty snazzy though.
Absolutely.
I think the art is great, I like that there are some games with some style. Everyone is trying to get more and more realism and that’s great too but I’m all for more art in games.
I was thinking about picking up the two thrones, what did you think of it?
I think what makes it next gen to me is the cell-style of graphics.
I remember reading Game Informer (about the only good games rag) and they mentioned that there is more detail in the Prince that the previous three games combined.
I’m all about these games. I own them all. However, my favorite is its spiritual successor Assassin’s Creed.
UPDATE: Just did some checking. December 2 cannot come soon enough.
Nice review 😉 Looks quite a bit different then the others but it also looks like it adds a lot to the series. But I think I’ll have to agree with Nat. I really liked it’s spiritual successor Assassin’s Creed
I loved The Two Thrones. It recaptured a lot of the whimsical feeling from Sands Of Time and used some of the combat improvements from Warrior Within without reverting to Emo Prince.
It’s what Warrior Within should have been…
Plus the Dark Prince is awesome.
@Brock – The Two Thrones sounds pretty good. I might have to check it out.
@Nat – I loved Assassin’s Creed too. I was hoping for the new Prince of Persia to be along the same lines of AC. However, when I saw the screenshots and video for the cell-style direction that they are taking the game, it made me excited to find out more about the game.
December is a wonderful time of the year for gamers isn’t it?
I loved AC when it started but I was soured on it by the end. Not enough stealth, far too much fisticuffs…
Hell, The Force Unleashed brought up a lot of the same feelings I had about AC. Great concept that, when it works, is brilliant. Unfortunately, there are issues that drag it down. Thankfully my issues are with the final assassination of AC and some of the investigation bits and not the majority of the game, unlike Force Unleashed, which just rankled me.
The roof run sounds very Crouching Tiger. Which means it is made of awesome.
I agree. The graphics are absolutely beautiful…The epic scope and the painstaking attention to detail is a great treat for the eyes. I also think it fits very well with the fantasy-like vibe of game. I was a die hard fan of The Sands of Time, but not so much to the sequels. However, I very much like this new reboot of the franchise, though it was a bit too easy…Ubisoft could have afforded to make the platforming more difficult (but it is very fluid, beautiful and well done)I like the combat; it doesn’t feel repetitive enough to give the game 5/10 (EDGE, EUROGAMER…IDIOTS), I just feel that the game critics didn’t know how to chain combos…it is very cinematic and entertaining when learned and done in variation.