Prince of Persia

I have to confess, I never really played any of the Prince of Persia games before diving into the 2008 reboot. I wasn't particularly interested in the franchise, but after catching enticing trailers and noticing the game go on sale, I decided to give it a chance. Boy, am I glad I did! This title is hands down one of the best Ubisoft games I've ever played, which feels kind of bizarre to say because it has surprisingly little combat. Yet, it completely captured my attention, and to this day, I'm still holding out hope for a direct sequel.

The game kicks off with a thrilling encounter-our protagonist is caught in a fierce sandstorm when he comes across a princess on the brink of capture by two soldiers. After some quick banter, he decides to join her quest. It turns out she has incredible time-manipulating powers, and your mission revolves around freeing areas plagued by corruption to aid her in her quest.

At its core, this game is a traversal experience. You navigate through beautifully designed environments, scaling and leaping like a true acrobat. The level design is impressive; it's somewhat linear at times, but there's still plenty of room to explore and hunt for extra loot. A unique aspect is that you can't actually die in the game due to the princess's time powers, which might sound like a downside, but it actually adds to the challenge. I often found myself completely immersed, so focused on the captivating world and gripping story that I completely forgot about the combat-or the lack thereof. The few sword fights were serviceable, if a bit uniquely designed, focusing on enemy movements rather than just button-mashing.

What truly stands out here is the relationship between the two main characters. It might sound cliché, but their bond genuinely deepens, and I found myself emotionally invested in their journey. You can engage in conversations with the princess at almost any point during the game, and it's not just filler chat-there's always something new to discover. These interactions enrich the gameplay and solidify their connection, making every moment you spend traversing that much more meaningful.

Graphically, the game holds up impressively well due to that stunning hand-drawn aesthetic. The art style, along with great music and sound effects, makes for an immersive experience, so no complaints on that front!

The story lasts around 13 hours, but it feels much longer because there's almost no bloat, something Ubisoft is often criticized for in their titles. I enjoyed it so much that I immediately downloaded the extra story DLC after completing the main game. While I won't delve into spoilers, I did notice some areas felt slightly more irritating in the DLC, as if they were designed to stretch out gameplay time.

It's such a shame this game didn't become a massive hit. In my opinion, it's Ubisoft's best title to date, and it seems like the Prince of Persia franchise has faded away into obscurity. I simply don't understand why folks complain about Ubisoft moving away from single-player experiences when a gem like this goes largely unnoticed.

This game deserves more love and recognition. It's a solid 10/10 in my book. Seriously, GO buy it right now. You won't regret it!

Some random, reckless adventurer(apparently not a prince... well, it's his nickname, for some reason) with absurd-looking abs stumbles upon a forgotten land in the desert. Buried under the Tree of Life is Ahriman, the god of darkness, and he's being let out. Our lead has to prevent this, of course, and it's by healing the areas, restoring nature(and you can really tell if you're in an area you've taken care of or not) with the use of magic(wait, what? Guys, you're channelling the wrong animated Robin Williams flick!). Who can make this happen? Why, the resident brunette tanned Meg Ryan, Elika. I hope she understands that it's nothing personal, I have to call them as I see them... she is the bane of the game. If you're in danger, she'll save you(in place of the Sands of Time), anytime, including in combat(all that'll happen is that the opponent will regain some health). The compass power can be useful, however, as it shows you exactly what direction to go, it takes away having to find your way(you can even teleport between places where you've gotten your Ferngully on... yes, there's a lot of (open-ended)ground to cover; there didn't need to be!). While these two might not sound that bad, they effectively take away all the risk. Yes, you will have to redo a brief portion if you mess up, and that's like in the other ones. And no, I realize that the fact that you don't "die" shouldn't make that big of a difference(I get it, they wanted to do away with loading, make it smoother)... guess what, it does. Add to that the taking away of a lot of freedom of movement(you'll usually hit the mark whether you're trying to or not), and we're left with an excessively streamlined production that feels like a slightly interactive film. Honestly, you hardly need to touch the keyboard for parts of this! Before, exact precision, coordination, timing and figuring out where to go were vital, and if you couldn't live up to those, you couldn't complete them. This tries so hard to satisfy and coddle us that it forgets to be exciting. There are next to no puzzles at all. We get new acrobatics(thus allowing for different agile stunts), such as the rings(allowing you to continue on your path, regardless of what move you were in the middle of) and the Roof Run. Yes, you run upside down. Part of why this was even made was clearly to raise the middle finger even more towards poor little gravity, as we can see by the four abilities. Two of them are pretty much "launching you in the opposite direction"(one has a "swinging on a vine" style to it), then we have flight(you only get to affect where in the "screen" you are, not where you go), and my favorite, running on any surface(it's the most challenging, as you have to dodge stuff in your way, if it remains a breeze; you get these by collecting Light Seeds, a practice that seems to lose all relevance once you do have the whole quarter). You execute the wall-run by jumping into the surface, and slowly slide down(further taking away the threat of falling... you can't use it everywhere, thankfully), both on account of our still nameless hero having stolen Freddy Krueger's glove. This gauntlet can be applied in the fencing(you grab the other to throw them), in addition to the sword that's literally as long as he is(compensating for something?), a physical move and the aforementioned supernatural assistance(they pulled an Assassin's Creed on the controls, by the way... the four aforementioned are all bound to their specific key, regardless of the situation where you use it... there's also a "talk to her" thing(she'll explain background, and they have dialog... well-written, at times playful and fun), and you can bring up/dismiss the map that gives you a good overview, so you can sit down and play this within mere moments, not a lot to learn), and these can be chained into combos, and the enemies sometimes guard themselves from all other than one type of approach(why yes, it is like an RPG in that way). Yes, there is some "quick chess" to this slower, one on one thing, like the '89 one and SoT(making you wonder why you go up against so few foes in this... and yeah, it can be intense, as can sliding downwards be, and the maneuvering does have moments(not enough)). You're trapped in the arena until the fight(most of them are against bosses, and you fight the same 4 – the concubine, the alchemist, the hunter and the warrior – several times... they tend to be frustrating or easy; the "click this now" thing isn't bad(it's got nothing on The Two Thrones, though)) is over. Block at the correct fraction of a second and you'll deflect, and have a chance of hitting the other. They get repetitive and kind of annoying, as you usually have only one thing to do, and you spend excessive amounts of time just waiting for the other one to get done with their blows so you get an opening. Let's talk graphics, obviously the real raison d'etre of this. They are beautifully done, and the cel-shading looks nice. As far as gorgeous horizons, plant life and the like go, this is this medium's answer to Avatar. The leads are well-done and the level of expression is marvelous... well, hers is, he only looks right when he smiles. The lipsynching is off at times, too. There's no replayability to this... there are alternate skins for the two protagonists and a handful of galleries, that's it. Only one difficulty setting. The ending is weird and a letdown. Visually, "the corruption" is cool, a Venom quality to it, it oozes and tries to reach you. You can save anytime. There is mild violence and suggestive content in this. I recommend this to fans of the franchise not looking for anything tough. 6/10

Visually, this is one of the most refined and mature titles I've ever seen. The art direction, the environments, are just magnificent. Great voice acting and a mildly amusing script also helped. The game has almost no load screens, and in an open world game, it sure is nice. The gameplay mechanics work really fluidly, so getting the Prince around is a breeze. That all being said, this is a very poor installment in the PoP series, for the gameplay is ridiculously redundant, and its puzzle solving elements could be completed by a nine year old. Not that I have anything against nine year olds, it's just that when a game's combat is a rarity I would expect something else to redeem it. Unfortunately, it is not the case here. The platforming is enjoyable for the first few hours, but it gets real old real fast. Also notable, you can figure exactly what will happen the entire length of the game within the first hour of starting it. So, what does PoP offer us ultimately? A beautiful world to explore, compelling banter between the two protagonists, and a very fluid platforming element. On the other hand, the story is laid out in the first 20 minutes, the combat (which is enjoyable) is scarce, and every other facet is so easy I can't fathom how they were targeting anyone over the age of 12 to enjoy this in its entirety. So basically, it fails on PoP's three historical strengths. Play the demo, and leave it at that.

The most unique pop game and with it's cel shaded graphics the game has aged quite well and by far the best looking game in the series, it also has a really nice soundtrack and great environments.

Elika your traveling companion is the heart and soul of this game and she helps the prince alot throughout the entire game, she also stops you from falling which means you can't die in this game but that's really not an issue since it helps the game to flow better without going through a loading screen.

It's a very underrated game in the series and it's a shame that it never got a sequel.

Whoa! That's all I can say about this game right now. This was better than the sands of time in some ways for example, graphics, enemies, more running on walls etc.

You play as the man with no name but he's called Prince. He is walking in the desert, lost his donkey, when he sees a woman being chased by baddies. He goes and rescues her but then realizes he has stumbled into something dangerous. Ahriman, corrupted leader, has broke free of the spells and his terrifying power unleashes. He has no choice but to help,along with Elika, and save the land of his evil clutches.

This game was a letdown to the series. Not! The only things that are wrong with the game are, the repetitive fights, the rating PG which people though was funny, and you can never die in this game since Elika always saves you.

The frustrating this about POP4 was the orb collecting which made crazy and sometimes i would quit the game because the orbs are so hard to get especially the tricky ones.

Music: 8.5 Game play: 9.0 Story: 8.0 Overall: 9.5(Incredible)