Just finished Prince of Persia

[Sylvanas]

So I just finnished the most recent PoP platformer which I bought off Steam when they had the 50% off deal going and in short: fun game definitely worth the buy.

First thing you notice is that it's cell shaded and the environment and art scheme looks beautiful- top marks to Ubisoft on this (also the music is well done). The voice acting and storyline, are decent, nothing award winning and I wouldn't say it was bad just satisfactory. The object is rather repeditive in that you go round fighting the badies and using the princess to 'Heal' the area of badies then move onto the next zone- this can get old fast as by the end of the game you just want to hurry up and clease the area so you can find the end boss of the respective zone. The fighting itself I found very frustrating as to execute many of the combos required a rediculously short reaction time. Although it should be said, the main focus of this game is on the platformer style in that its how you move about the zone that the basis of the game is built- and that is where it is indeed very fun. You pretty much point the prince in the direction you want to go then press a series of buttons to makesure he executes the series of moves to jump from building to building (combination moves with the princess are common and add another element to getting from A to B)- very console like in the controls (4 buttons). Although it may sound easy, pulling off some of the combos requires some forethought and when you do successfully pull them off it is quite enjoyable. In all, I had fun, and it was something you could just jump into an go if you had some spare time.

Anyone else finnished it? Thoughts?

 

[NYHoustonman]

It was certainly repetitive, but as you mentioned it's surprisingly good-looking. The combat was not a strong suit - it's all about the running/jumping, which I found enjoyable. All of the fights save one of the bosses were essentially the same, and I ended up going for counters every time. The general consensus is that the ending sucked, but I actually kind of enjoyed it... Overall, a solid B.

 

[ZzZGuy]

I'm saving it for when I got about 30 minutes in a day to play games.

 

[JoshGuru7]

I liked the art direction a lot too, but actually thought the combat was way too easy. It was complicated, but you couldn't die and as soon as you figured out the pattern to each of the four bosses the challenge was gone. I liked the platforming the most, and exploring to find every last collectable.

I thought the ending was alright too but am surprised the OP didn't mention it.

 

[Dumac]

It was very repetitive and below the bar set by Sands of Time.

I hated the ending. It was stupid.

 

[Corporate Thug]

Just got the 360 version...after a few minutes of play, I am not very happy with the combat scheme.

 

[coldmeat]

How are the controls? Is it easy to control with a mouse/keyboard?

 

[Corporate Thug]

Originally posted by: coldmeat
How are the controls? Is it easy to control with a mouse/keyboard?

The last PoP was a real pain in the arse without a controller.

 

[Sylvanas]

I had no problem playing with the keyboard and mouse, it's not a hard game to pickup the control scheme. As for the ending, I liked it especially how it is not a sit and watch cinematic to wrap things up- it was more interactive and sets it up for another installment .

 

[TidusZ]

Can someone pm me a real short blurb about what the ending is or simply why its not good, I'm kinda curious ( I haven't touched the game and likely never will ).

 

[Qbah]

Well, I enjoyed the game very very much. The art, the music, the feel of the game were amazing imo. And the fights? There's a boss each Fertile Ground and one "guardian" between every FG - and if you're fast enough you can kill every guardian without actually fighting. So yeah, there are soooo many fights in this game However they look effective, are fast paced, require some reflex and are there as an addition. The "enrages" add a change to the pace of each fight.

What I enjoyed the most is just the running around and trying to figure out how to get to places. And hearing the Prince and Elika exchange small dialogues. The game is very fluid and very natural and to people saying it's too easy... I must've died a thousand times, the exeption being it was Elika who "quick loads", not me. Though I must admit, it got kinda tedious in the end to the point where I didn't "clear" each area, just killed the boss and moved on. The talks between the Prince and Elika are nice plus the game has so much detail in it. Both characters interact "physically" in the game perfectly. The last boss fight is a bit different, which is nice. Plus the ending is really nice imo... was a "WTF?!" and a moment later "Heeeey! Hmmm...." kinda feel

All in all I'd say one of the better games I've played, a solid 8/10.

 

[error8]

I'm stuck like an idiot, in a place where you have to jump from one place to 10 other places in one run. I've tried so many times to pass over that, but it seems that every time I try and fail, I get very annoyed and crazy, so I punch the keyboard and other stuff that's on my desk. And when this happens, I just have to exit the game, because other persons from my home, are freaking out.
But it's a great game indeed.

 

[chizow]

Really enjoyed this game. Its visuals are incredible, uses the same engine as Assassins Creed although the art assets and textures are completely different. PoP almost looks cell shaded with deep dark borders, very bright colors, and highly detailed textures and shader effects for model detail instead of traditional high poly counts. The end result is fantastic art direction, a cartoon-like feel, and much less noticeable aliasing due to the black borders on character models.

Also, I'd highly recommend playing this game with an XBox 360 controller, both the wired and wireless are fully supported with key maps, in-game button cues and rumble support. The rumble support is the biggest difference over a non-MS game pad but its a LOT more fun with rumble as you'll feel feedback not only in combat, but as you interact with the various structure and environments as you jump, claw and glide around.

As for the gameplay and combat. The gameplay is just fun without being frustrating. You can't die in this game, which greatly influences overall flow and continuity. I've never been a huge platformer fan, so this is a definite bonus for me. Some hardcore platformers may find the game too easy, but some longer sequences are certainly challenging enough. Combat is also very different from Assassins Creed in that it focuses much more on Combos rather than Counters or stealth kills. There's a pretty detailed combo system based on 4 different attack types.

The story on the surface seems like its just another lame adolescent romance, but once again Ubisoft Montreal has really impressed me here by breaking away from the cookie cutter storyline with some thought provoking storytelling. The constant jabbing and flirting between the Prince and Princess are actually pretty funny and well written overall. There's certainly subtle hints and jokes in there that are geared more towards adults than the game's Teen rating. My only complaint is that you're often deluged all at once with dialogue at certain points, tempting you to just shut the brain down while looking forward to jumping around again. Don't, paying attention to the dialogue will make the ending more worthwhile.

Without giving away anything else, I'll just say Ubi Montreal did a magnificent job of disguising a classical Greek tragedy in a video game. By the end of the game you might find yourself more connected to the protagonists than you might've thought possible. This series with this Prince is supposed to be a trilogy, I'm certainly looking forward to the next installment.
If you want to see the ending without playing the game, just Youtube it.

$29 shipped or less from Amazon

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: coldmeat
How are the controls? Is it easy to control with a mouse/keyboard?

I briefly tried with KB+mouse and its manageable, but I'd highly recommend a 360 controller for this game. Not only is it much more intuitive and fast-paced, the rumble really adds to the enjoyment as well. The 360 controller and key maps also help a ton for combat, which someone mentioned they were having problems with. The color coded action buttons correspond to the 360 button colors, which makes getting past that abstraction layer much easier when mapping to the brain.

Originally posted by: error8
I'm stuck like an idiot, in a place where you have to jump from one place to 10 other places in one run. I've tried so many times to pass over that, but it seems that every time I try and fail, I get very annoyed and crazy, so I punch the keyboard and other stuff that's on my desk. And when this happens, I just have to exit the game, because other persons from my home, are freaking out.
But it's a great game indeed.

Which part? The only major problem I had at first was setting the rules for object/construct/landing interaction. Once you learn the rule = new button press + hold for new object/construct only, then you should be fine. Rings gave me the most problems until I got this down solidly.

 

[habbakuk87]

The game has great visuals and the conversation parts between Prince and Elika were great but the game play feels as if it was designed with 12 year old's in mind,nothing to test your skills and absolutely no sense of challenge.The game producer Ben Mattes said in interviews that combat was inspired from FF 7 movie, yeah so much for fighting the same four bosses over and over again and PoS minions with lame combos and the ending of the game just went against the whole point of doing all the stuff, IMO they could have done better with the story.I hope they do a better job with the sequel especially the combat.

 

[conorvansmack]

Originally posted by: chizow

Originally posted by: coldmeat
How are the controls? Is it easy to control with a mouse/keyboard?

I briefly tried with KB+mouse and its manageable, but I'd highly recommend a 360 controller for this game. Not only is it much more intuitive and fast-paced, the rumble really adds to the enjoyment as well. The 360 controller and key maps also help a ton for combat, which someone mentioned they were having problems with. The color coded action buttons correspond to the 360 button colors, which makes getting past that abstraction layer much easier when mapping to the brain.

Thanks for the advice. I started this game with kb+mouse and it was pretty frustrating. I'll take another run at it with my 360 controller.

 

[Qbah]

:thumbsup: for the X360 controller. I was using the wireless one (got a Falcon Elite ) and the controls are very natural. You don't think later on, you just know what to press I don't think I could play games like PoP with a keyboard now. Also, there's a DLC out, for X360 and PS3 only though Called PoP: Epilogue. I'll be buying the X360 version shortly (bought it for the PC...). Actually I think this is like one of the last multiplatform games I will buy for the PC. If it's there for X360 I'm just gonna get it - won't get the shaft like with TR:U and PoP... Two games I bought for the PC and thoroughly enjoyed, but can't play the DLC.

 

[error8]

Originally posted by: chizow

Originally posted by: error8
I'm stuck like an idiot, in a place where you have to jump from one place to 10 other places in one run. I've tried so many times to pass over that, but it seems that every time I try and fail, I get very annoyed and crazy, so I punch the keyboard and other stuff that's on my desk. And when this happens, I just have to exit the game, because other persons from my home, are freaking out.
But it's a great game indeed.

Which part? The only major problem I had at first was setting the rules for object/construct/landing interaction. Once you learn the rule = new button press + hold for new object/construct only, then you should be fine. Rings gave me the most problems until I got this down solidly.

I'm at the Royal Spire and I have to jump from one magic ring to another until I reach a pillar and from there, no matter where I jump I just fall or I'm eaten by the evil, even with the extra jump help from Elika.

 

[Robert Munch]

Couldn't stand the fact after defeating the area and the princess does her thing.. The yellow balls pop up all over the map and I feel that I now have to collect most of them and rerun the map all over again. That was very repetitive and the game was deleted after 1 hour of play. Wish it was the gorier version of POP two thrones.

 

[jonks]

Pros:
FUN!!
pretty

cons:
close to zero challenge since you cant die

My fav of the original Trilogy was Two Thrones, loved those wall spring boards. Never felt quite the same rush with the new PoP.

Worth about $15. A movie doesn't cost much less than that and this lasts several times longer.

 

[error8]

Originally posted by: jonks

cons:
close to zero challenge since you cant die

You're still being taken to the last checkpoint, when Elika saves you, so instead of actually dieing you are "saved" but it's the same thing.

 

[Koudelka]

Lets see..

Prince of Persia's strong suit has been the amazing and addictive combat along with the acrobatics.. the new Prince of Persia has none of that. The combat is simply an abomination. The acrobatics are not nearly as fun. Unfortunately, i bought the game, played for 1 hour and shelved the piece of junk. I then re-installed Two Thrones.

My 2 cents.

 

[Corporate Thug]

Originally posted by: Koudelka
Lets see..

Prince of Persia's strong suit has been the amazing and addictive combat along with the acrobatics.. the new Prince of Persia has none of that. The combat is simply an abomination. The acrobatics are not nearly as fun. Unfortunately, i bought the game, played for 1 hour and shelved the piece of junk. I then re-installed Two Thrones.

My 2 cents.

this pretty much sums up my thoughts on the game as well

 

[katank]

Overall, I think I liked it. It's up to the same level as the original trilogy overall by going forward in some places and back from others.

The new save system is definitely nice. Sure beats Warrior Within where you hit the blood soaked game over screen repeatedly.

However, the combat certainly got nerfed. Being able to chain killer combos in Warrior Within or Two Thrones was supremely satisfying. Stealth kills after launching oneself from a springboard and the like is especially satisfying which is sadly absent in this one.

As for the acrobatics, it's still pretty much there along w/ some new moves. Despite the Elika saving you system, the latter parts do feature some extended, fairly challenging acrobatics sections though nothing like the ending part of Sands of Time or other select parts of the original.

 

[RyanPaulShaffer]

"Finished"

"Finnish" is describing something coming from Finland.

Sorry, that just really bugged me, and he repeated it in his post!