Consolation Prize

Prince of Persia is a glorious game to behold – a visual feast for the eyes. From the outset as I witnessed the prince wandering aimlessly amidst a sandstorm, his shouts for his lost donkey “Farah” muffled by the roaring wind; to the first encounter with Elika as she tries to evade her pursuers, I was impressed by the visual splendor. There’s little doubt in my mind that as an opening sequence Prince of Persia successfully seduces the player.

And believe me I was seduced – for most of the time.

Beyond the cell shaded graphics there is a charm to the game that I find appealing. The interaction between the Prince and Elika, which starts out as a necessary companionship born out of the circumstances, develops as the adventure progresses. The early flirtatious sarcasm and teasing matures to become a more heartfelt relationship, and I actually believe that there is some genuine affection between the two - or maybe that’s all just wishful thinking in my head.

However, juxtaposed with the good there are some aspects within Prince of Persia that aren’t quite to my liking. The four magical abilities gained by Elika at the temple of the Tree of Life, which are awarded upon gathering a set amount of light seeds are really just variants of the same theme. The Step of Ormazd shoots you directly from one magical pad to the next like a cannon ball, The Hand of Ormazd shoots you from one pad to another but in a less direct route; and upon gaining the Wings of Ormazd, Elika flies the Prince all over the map, but with only limited control to move up-down-left-right to avoid objects. We really should just view these abilities for what they are; a method to control the players exploration and provide some linearity, but some more interesting and diverse abilities certainly wouldn’t have gone amiss.

Prince of Persia is without a doubt a platforming game and most of the time it’s an enjoyable, dynamic, and fluid affair as the Prince leaps over cavernous gaps, runs across walls, and navigates the environment with athletic prowess. However, I’ve also found that it can lead to bouts of anger and frustration. The reason being the “mothering” of the controls the game enforces upon the player. In an attempt to make the genre more accessible it predicts to a certain degree what you’re trying to accomplish. Pinpoint precision jumping is a thing of the past as the game will compensate for your actions, and for most of the time it works seamlessly. But when the game decides the prince wants to jump in a certain direction, or off of a wall, usually to his death - sorry saviour by Elika - than that, for me, is just annoying. I don’t mind failure if it’s because of my own inadequacy, but when it’s not of my own making then that’s when I will start to lose my patience.

Without wanting to sound completely negative about Prince of Persia I can appreciate what Ubisoft Montreal have accomplished. I’ve enjoyed playing through the game, and following the story and the relationship between the Prince and Elika through to its conclusion. Prince of Persia is still a good game, but it could have been great.

I never got into the PoP series. This one does look really different than the past ones though so maybe I’ll have to check it out.