Prince of Persia review (PS3, Xbox 360)

When we saw the last Prince of Persia game titled Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones on a console, it was approximately three years ago. With this latest entry into the next generation of consoles, Ubisoft proves that Prince of Persia still has a magical touch. The storyline commences with the Prince traversing his way though a barren desert, and finds him entangled in a furious sandstorm. He is in search of his donkey known as Farah, but he comes across Elika. Elika is a princess, and she leads the Prince into a temple. Once both the Prince and Elika arrive at the temple, they notice that Elika’a father annihilates a tree of life. As a result, the destruction of the tree of life releases the nefarious God of darkness Ahriman. In addition, Ahriman begins permeating its ire on the land. Consequently, the Prince and Elika are the only hope to restore prosperity to the territory. The Prince of Persia games have always seemed to have a riveting plot, and this adaptation falls right in line with its predecessors. The gameplay is a streamlined endeavor that boils down into three phases: exploring, platform jumping, and combat. There are grand total of four segments that span over twenty areas. One of the primary objectives in the game is to fend off the corruption by vanquishing the darkness. Bringing the light to the terrain is achieved by defeating various adversaries. Because each enemy you defeat is one of Ahriman’s minions, you must overthrow that creature to rejuvenate that particular location. The bulk of the combat entails battles against these sadistic foes. Both the Prince and Elika are together during these fights, and you will both have to work cohesively to eradicate the opponents. The battles are engrossing, but some of the challenge is removed by the lack of dying. Rather than a game over screen, the Prince will be rescued by Elika. For example, falling off of a ledge will result in Elika extending her graceful hand and picking up the Prince and dropping him at a nearby safe-haven. Furthermore, that exact same rule can be applied to any near death experience that the Prince faces. Since Elika interferes to prevent the Prince from dying, the only real punishment for getting killed during a fight is a small portion of the monster’s health is replenished. Due to the fact that there is no way of dying, it will make gamers experiment a bit and see what the outcome or outcomes will be. The double jumping and platform jumping is as unsophisticated as the combat. Unlike Assassin’s Creed, players will not be making a terrifying leap of faith. Instead, there is a fairly low risk and high reward mentality. Using Elika is the second component to the gameplay. In order to advance, the Prince has to retrieve orbs. As the Prince eliminates the darkness, the Prince will see new orbs. When you discover and acquire the orbs, Elika can use plates to travel to a new location and progress the narrative. It is a straightforward premise, and there is even an optional white light to navigate your way through the game if you are ever lost. If anyone has ever played a game like Dead Space or Army of Two, it emulates that same philosophy. With all of the athletic feats that the Prince can accomplish, the controls are never a hindrance. The four face buttons are used to use a sword attack, jump, use Elika, and use/lift attack. Left shoulder button communicates with Elika, and the right shoulder button allows the Prince to utilize his gauntlet and block. A conspicuous flaw about the gameplay is that there is too much backtracking, and there is no legitimate reason to obtain all of the orbs. Still, there are moments that you want to play again just to look at the scenery. In terms of visuals, Prince of Persia subscribes to cel-shading (ala X-Men Legends, X-Men Legends II: Rise of the Apocalypse and Jet Set Radio). Clearly, its graphical appeal is more animated than realistic. But that is not necessarily a negative aspect. Without a doubt, some of the animations were inspired by Assassin’s Creed. The character models are sharp and pristine. Moreover, the seamless movements of the Prince and Elika from one platform to the next are brilliant. The audio is also scintillating. Musically, the effervescent songs are astonishing and intensify the combat. The sounds effects are solid, as it is easy to appreciate Elika’s mystic charm. On the downside, the voice acting is dubious. The character who is the Prince is the voice actor who plays Nathan Drake from Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, and he came off as a likable individual in Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune. Nevertheless, he acts more like a pompous fool in Prince of Persia. Elika is far from perfect, nonetheless her voice actress is respectable. Overall, Prince of Persia is a ravishing title. Although it does have some untied loose ends, its scope of mysticism and intrigue is what drives Prince of Persia.

Art Direction 9
Clearly, its graphical appeal is more animated than realistic. But that is not necessarily a negative aspect.
Audio 9
The audio is also scintillating. Musically, the effervescent songs are astonishing and intensify the combat. The sounds effects are solid, as it is easy to appreciate Elika’s mystic charm.
Gameplay 8.5
With this latest entry into the next generation of consoles, Ubisoft proves that Prince of Persia still has a magical touch.
Presentation 9
The Prince of Persia games have always seemed to have a riveting plot, and this adaptation falls right in line with its predecessors.
Replay Value 7
A conspicuous flaw about the gameplay is that there is too much backtracking, and there is no legitimate reason to obtain all of the orbs. Still, there are moments that you want to play again just to look at the scenery.

Final Verdict 8.5 out of 10