Prince of Persia reviewed

ROC1977

Ign have a review of Prince of Persia for both 360 and Ps3. Video review is up on youtube too. Solid 9.3 overall.
I personally can't wait for this game. Its meant to be a bit easy, but I love the visuals and the game play on this. Roll on next week or when ever its out.

Vic Vinegar

Looking forward to this too, looks very nice. I saw a review on that sh1te show Playr, it did come across as seeming easy alright, they seemed to have dumbed down the controls a bit maybe? still a definite buy for me though!

silvine

Hate to burst your bubble but they give it a 5.3 here: http://xbox360.ign.com/objects/904/904861.html

J-blk

silvine wrote: »

Hate to burst your bubble but they give it a 5.3 here: http://xbox360.ign.com/objects/904/904861.html

What does "The Last Remnant" have to do with "Prince of Persia"?

Retr0gamer

silvine wrote: »

Hate to burst your bubble but they give it a 5.3 here: http://xbox360.ign.com/objects/904/904861.html

Epic Fail!

RAIN

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Epic Fail!

QFT

Vic Vinegar

"To err is human, but to really foul things up requires a computer Silvine"



Only joking man!

ROC1977

J-blk wrote: »

What does "The Last Remnant" have to do with "Prince of Persia"?

lol can get both on the 360 maybe? lol

My bubble burst alright with laughter!!!

I think its easy because basically you can't fall or die. Coz that girl with you saves you all the time.

J-blk

ROC1977 wrote: »

I think its easy because basically you can't fall or die. Coz that girl with you saves you all the time.

You could rewind time and save your a** a bazillion times in the three previous ones though too, so can't see the idea they're using now to essentially "rewind" being that different - I enjoyed the last three ones (well, maybe not so much with "Warrior Within") so I'm really looking forward to this one .

solace

J-blk wrote: »

You could rewind time and save your a** a bazillion times in the three previous ones though too, so can't see the idea they're using now to essentially "rewind" being that different - I enjoyed the last three ones (well, maybe not so much with "Warrior Within") so I'm really looking forward to this one .

The dialogue and voice acting for the Prince was dire... truly awful. The bits where he's talking to himself (good vs evil).... shudder.

J-blk

solace wrote: »

The dialogue and voice acting for the Prince was dire... truly awful.

Ah yes, I think I repressed that . Though for the ultimate example of horrible voice acting, you should try the "Conan" demo - I don't even want to think what the full game may sound like...

Retr0gamer

It was still a massive improvement on Arnies acting

solace

Ooooh, the Time Crisis games are hilariously bad for voice acting. And the earlier Resident Evils.

Retr0gamer

Nothing beats House of the Dead 2. Nothing.

http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=WPpayQFqoAE

DeVore

PoP is an auto buy, day 1, for me so I'll let you guys know all about it soon enough!

DeV.

wes

Ordered this from play.com, to get the special edition. Really looking forward to it.

J-blk

wes wrote: »

Ordered this from play.com, to get the special edition. Really looking forward to it.

Any details on what the special unlock codes from Play.com will be? The missus will be getting me this for Christmas but won't let me play it until the 25th so I'm thinking of telling her to get it from Play, since I have to wait anyway...

J-blk

Ah ok, didn't notice it was right there on the product page:

"Pre-Order Pack contents:
Scratch card with unique code to unlock exclusive in-game skins for the Prince (Prince "Classic" skin) and Elika ("Farah" skin)
High quality collector box set featuring varnish and metallic blue arabesque finish
Exclusive 24-page Comic book unveiling the backstory of the Hunter, one of the key bosses of the game
Bonus DVD including soundtrack, videos, e-goodies, widget and more!"

Might go for it...

wes

J-blk wrote: »

Might go for it...

Its a great set and well worth it imo.

ROC1977

J-blk wrote: »

Ah yes, I think I repressed that . Though for the ultimate example of horrible voice acting, you should try the "Conan" demo - I don't even want to think what the full game may sound like...

Its better than the voice acting in the Conan movies thats for sure! lol

ROC1977

J-blk wrote: »

Ah ok, didn't notice it was right there on the product page:

"Pre-Order Pack contents:
Scratch card with unique code to unlock exclusive in-game skins for the Prince (Prince "Classic" skin) and Elika ("Farah" skin)
High quality collector box set featuring varnish and metallic blue arabesque finish
Exclusive 24-page Comic book unveiling the backstory of the Hunter, one of the key bosses of the game
Bonus DVD including soundtrack, videos, e-goodies, widget and more!"

Might go for it...

And if you tie your gamertag to Ubisoft.com you'll get yer man from Assassin Creed Altar or what ever his name is SKIN.

Moiph

Been following this game online for months, cant wait to get it

J-blk

ROC1977 wrote: »

And if you tie your gamertag to Ubisoft.com you'll get yer man from Assassin Creed Altar or what ever his name is SKIN.

Yep - I heard about the Altair skin - might be nice to play as him. Assasin's Creed had a cool character, but the game did not live up to the hype IMO. How do you tie your gamertag to the Ubisoft account? Just register an Ubisoft.com account with whatever your gamertag happens to be?

TheWitch06

J-blk wrote: »

Yep - I heard about the Altair skin - might be nice to play as him. Assasin's Creed had a cool character, but the game did not live up to the hype IMO. How do you tie your gamertag to the Ubisoft account? Just register an Ubisoft.com account with whatever your gamertag happens to be?

Assassin's Creed sucked. Repetitive.

Might have to get PoP. I haven't played one since Warrior Within so I might be missing some of the story. Oh well.

Kiith

This is a day 1 purchase for me too. Absolutly love the look of it.

TheWitch06 wrote: »

Might have to get PoP. I haven't played one since Warrior Within so I might be missing some of the story. Oh well.

Nope. Its a another reboot, so none of the last trilogy matters at all.

TheWitch06

Kiith wrote: »

Nope. Its a another reboot, so none of the last trilogy matters at all.

Oh cool! Hopefully it delivers then! Looking forward to playing PoP. Loved Sands of Time.

ROC1977

J-blk wrote: »

Yep - I heard about the Altair skin - might be nice to play as him. Assasin's Creed had a cool character, but the game did not live up to the hype IMO. How do you tie your gamertag to the Ubisoft account? Just register an Ubisoft.com account with whatever your gamertag happens to be?

Ya I think you just give the same details on the Ubisoft website as you gamertag account. And when you get the game reg that as well. Not sure though.

J-blk

Fair enough. Went ahead and did that - pre-ordered from Play.com as well. It's going to be hard not getting to play it until Christmas, but really looking forward to it. I hope it lives up to my expectations...

A-Trak

J-blk wrote: »

Ah yes, I think I repressed that . Though for the ultimate example of horrible voice acting, you should try the "Conan" demo - I don't even want to think what the full game may sound like...

Retr0gamer wrote: »

It was still a massive improvement on Arnies acting

Brilliantly the voice acting in the conan game was by Ron Perlman of Hellboy.
Sounded like Hellboys posher more effeminate cousin.

ROC1977

I got PoP today. Managed to get a couple of hours gameplay before work. Visually amazing, sound it also top. Voice acting isn't bad at all really. Just the Prince is a bit of a smart arse. The game moves great to, and even though you can't die, its still challenging enough trying to reach all the orbs. (bit like Crackdown in a way).
For all the old prince of persia fans it is different but very similar at the same time. Unlike Assassin creed where you can climb up everything like spiderman, you need to look for ledges etc to grap and you need to use the girl to help you jump long gaps and to fight enemies.
As for the combat, its timing based, not for the button mashers out there. A like the way you fight in Assassins creed but more spectacular, and plenty of variation. X button is sword attack, B button is claw attack which launches the enemy into the air for juggling combos, Y button brings the girls magic into play (can't remember her name, she doesn't tell you who she is for a bit), and the A button is acrobatic attack, where you can flip over the enemies head to start a combo. All the moves can be put together to make some breathtaking string attacks. Oh and then you have right trigger to block and can time it to counter. Then then there are the quick time events as well.

Some of the animations are just excellent, the way you help each other is straight out cool.
From what I've played of the game so far, its great and if it continues like that for how ever long the game lasts I'll be happy. I love all the PoP games and this ones no different.
Roll on 3am and I go home from work and play a bit more!

bada_bing

where did you buy the game?? i thought it wasn't out until 5th this week.

ROC1977

Region free game. Came out in the US today. Got NTSC version.

J-blk

Thanks for the impressions ROC1977, I'm looking forward to it even more now . Read a couple of reviews online and they have been very positive but I always find it a lot more useful to hear from other people here.

ROC1977 wrote: »

brings the girls magic into play (can't remember her name, she doesn't tell you who she is for a bit)

Her name is Elika...

johnny_ultimate

Will wait til Christmas to play this since I should probably get the most out of Fallout, Left 4 Dead etc.. before adding another game to the increasingly large pile. Plus, y'know, should probably be doing some college stuff. But the reviews are all positive. If it is close enough to the SoT standard I will be extremely happy (I couldn't play much of Warrior Within because they hurt the game so very, very badly - damn rock music). Roll on Christmas holidays.

Placebo

how long wud play take to deliver

J-blk

Placebo wrote: »

how long wud play take to deliver

Play.com can be a bit slow with delivery, usually 4-5 working days. The fastest I've ever received anything from them was 3 working days. I pre-ordered Prince of Persia and it still hasn't shipped, so no chance of getting it until next week...

Retr0gamer

Play.com will probbaly be even slower with the christmas rush. My advice is to use videogamesplus.ca It will be cheaper and they usually deliver much faster than play.com despite being based in canada.

wayne040576

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Play.com will probbaly be even slower with the christmas rush. My advice is to use videogamesplus.ca It will be cheaper and they usually deliver much faster than play.com despite being based in canada.

I think the last posting date from the north America to here is 11th.

Placebo

will have to buy it in shops.
just ****in bought left 4 dead.

EXPENSIVE.

Mr E

Only 6/10 on Eurogamer. Its repetitive and runs out of ideas very early on, plus its impossible to die.

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=324101

ShaneU

Mr E wrote: »

Only 6/10 on Eurogamer. Its repetitive and runs out of ideas very early on, plus its impossible to die.

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=324101

That review is certainly bucking the trend.

http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/ps3/princeofpersia

87 on metacritic right now.

Mr E

I know. I still want it !!
Damn game flood... at least this is the last big one this year.

thebman

ShaneU wrote: »

That review is certainly bucking the trend.

http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/ps3/princeofpersia

87 on metacritic right now.

Yeah its amazing what a publisher fooking money at something can do these days isn't it

The game just has no challenges in it whatsoever.

It might as well be a Disney title and it seems to be designed for that audience. Probably to attract that audience before the Sands of Time movie comes out which I think will probably be very Disney like and make most POP fans want to kill themselves or at least the director.

Most reviews state that being saved each time by your partner is no different to rewinding time but they are wrong.

By introducing the rewinding time element to sands of time, it allowed them to expand the game later on to keep it fresh by introducing new time moves to mix up the puzzles. Pretty soon, you were wondering, should I slow down time to make this part etc...

From the actual proper reviews of this game, it appears there is not much difficulty to the puzzles at all and you can't die. Where is the challenge? Is the game purely for people on the dole with nothing better to do during the day?

Try fooking harder POP team!

See:
http://penny-arcade.com/2008/12/3/

McDermotX

ShaneU wrote: »

That review is certainly bucking the trend.

http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/ps3/princeofpersia

87 on metacritic right now.

To be honest,
I lost interest in this title as soon as I discovered that the control dynamic had been dumbed down, and it was my biggest fear that the game would be significantly altered from its predecessors as a result..
One of the biggest things from the POP games for me was the satisfaction you get from making a successful jump/swing etc.......it was a very intuitive feeling of connection with the game to along with the story for me..

Taken from maxconsole.net of a review of the latest one from Wired (although they do state they're of a similar opinion)...............now normally I wouldn't base an opinion on many reviews out there from anybody, from the joke that is Eurogamer to the paid-for opinions of IGN and Gamespot..
But, this opinion does seem to reflect a lot of the concerns I'd have going into the game...........

Prince of Persia Review: Don’t get lost in nostalgia

It seems fairly common these days for a highly hyped title to deliver a big review score from a number of publications. And the new Prince of Persia seems no exception as it is currently averaging a metacritic score of 90. Based on such scores, anyone would think that this game is near enough flawless and excessively entertaining but it certainly is none of those. Read on for a refreshing review which seeks to bring back some order to these negligent review practices of scoring games too high despite a variety of issues.


Image courtesy of Ubisoft.


Don’t believe it, Prince of Persia is not outstanding, it’s not even very good

Two publications were privileged enough to be able to post reviews of Prince of Persia before any other. These were IGN online and GamePro magazine. IGN set the high scoring trend, by awarding Prince of Persia a 9.3 despite none of their individual scores reaching above a 9. They admitted the game has its flaws and it certainly is not the best game released this year but it was still ranked as outstanding. More puzzling is the fact that the game itself will take anyone around 12 hours to complete, yet IGN feel they will carry this game with them “for the next decade”. Why? How many times can you play a scripted platform game which is easily completed in less than half a day? More admirably, GameSpot awarded the game an 80, but this still far too high, especially when one considers the game is “really, really easy”, since when did a non-challenging game in this generation deserve such a high score? It seems Wired is the only publication that agrees with us, Prince of Persia is not an outstanding game, it’s rather average, repetitive and lacks any real challenge.

Review of the main elements of the game

Graphics: Arguably, the graphics are the best element of Prince of Persia. There are some stunning environments to look at and the game makes full use of cel-shading techniques, although the use of this technique may not be to everyone’s tastes. Combat scenes also look fantastically dynamic, although they are let down by their simplicity and at times it feels you are just watching a pre-produced movie. Odd animation hiccup and frame rate problem but nothing serious at all. - 8

Gameplay: The most disappointing aspect of Prince of Persia. All the gloss and pretty presentation can’t make up for the fact the game play is terrible and frustratingly easy. Virtually no control over the Prince’s actions, you just have to push the button and essentially the game queues up your presses to perform the actions as and when it pleases to fit in with its cinematic style proceedings, there is no way to cancel. Control issues lead to the feeling that you are not really playing as the Prince, rather he is selectively listening to you based on what the CPU tells him.

After playing the first level, you may expect things to get a little tougher or progressively more difficult but there is no chance of this. As each level goes by, you are presented with a new one which just a re-collection with acts you’ve already performed but with one of two tiny differences. Unlike other Prince of Persia games, there is no thinking or puzzle solving to do here.

A testament to just how foolishly easy game this is that you can’t die! Each of the bosses that you fight in combat are incredibly easy to defeat due to this fact and that the difficultly of them barely increases. And after you pick up around half a thousand worth of light seeds, there is no need to do any more scavenging in order to reach the end of the game, but collecting the seeds themselves is hardly fun and is just laborious at best. 4

Longevity: The game itself takes around 12 hours to complete perhaps even less for most. It’s kind of like a pretty toy with one or two functions, after one play you will just get bored of it and leave it to one side. One of the only main incentives to re-play the game is to collect all the light seeds and gain some unlock able skins. But whether going through the same old scripted levels is worth it again to just some skins is certainly debatable. 5

Audio and other considerations: The in-game music is certainly embracing and some of the voices are produced in a sound manner. Although, the Prince himself is pretty much irritating, it is hard to truly get a feel and believe his character as some of the lines he comes out with are just WTF moments and do not seem genuine. 7

Bottom Line

Prince of Persia is great to look at, particular attention has been paid to level designs which do provide some initial ‘wow’ movements; However, this is about as good as it gets, there is no challenge within the game, every level is basically the same and you are just playing your part in a repetitive movie which just requires you to push buttons on command. It certainly is a forgettable experience, for us there is absolutely no longevity in the game and the only reason we played it in its entirety was for the purpose of this review. The graphics may be suitable for this generation, but the gameplay which any gamer will tell you is far more important fails on so many levels. Thus, at best, this game is worth a rent at BEST just for the nostalgic attachment that any Prince of Persia may have to the series.

The Good: Fantastic graphics, some very intricately designed levels, enjoyable music, great presentation

The Bad: Combat and levels are very repetitive, there is no challenge, severe lack of longevity, lack of control and connection with the Prince, good looks is no substitute for gameplay, did we already mention the game is ridiculously easy?

Overall score: 5.5 (55/100)

Mr E

Going to try and rent it today and see what its like for myself.

Retr0gamer

Balls, wish I'd seen the eurogamer review before I bought it this morning.

J-blk

If Ubisoft manages to f**k this up as badly as they did with Assassin's Creed (huge potential, horrible execution), I'll have to think very hard about buying any of their games in the future...

Placebo

maybe its suppose to be like ico. Not just inspired by it.
Still gonna buy it tbh, farcry was paraded with 9/10 and it was utter bull

Retr0gamer

I actually quite like it. It really isn;t apatch on Sands of Time. I remember in sands of time being presented with an obstacle and thinking 'how the **** am I going to get up there'. Well it just isn't here in this game. All the routes are sign posted and the platforming is just too easy to pull off to be any kind of challenge. Still great game in it's own right. 6/10 was far too harsh considering they gave Halo 3 10/10. This game is a solid 8/10.

monkeyfudge

Enjoying it a lot as well. The script is very entertaining.

I picked up the new Tombraider game this week as well... and control wise I think Prince of Persia is light years ahead of the frustrating experience that Tombraider is.

If I'm going to be playing a game with multiple deadly drops then I'd rather restart at the last platform I was standing on than some arbitrary checkpoint about 5 or so minutes back.

Oh and just €45 in Game.

Retr0gamer

I got it for 45 with the loyalty card in Smyths.

One massive complaint is the Dialogue. I really think the Prince has some terrible one liners that aren't fitting to the setting. It's annoying because the game would have had much better atmosphere with a more endearing protagonist.