#43 Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

Game Info

Publisher: Ubi Soft

Developer: Ubi Soft Montreal

Platform:  PS2

Genre(s): Action, Adventure

Players: 1

ESRB Rating: T (Teen)

Release Date: November 6, 2003

Intro:

My first thought was "what intro?".  It seemed to have a floating camera scene leading to an extreme close-up of a female then curtains and voila, there was a guy on the veranda.  I was waiting for the cut scene until I realized I was supposed to move already.  As I moved through the door, the play gave way to the first, brief, CG. 

Getting Going:

Directions are always on the screen, so I was never at a loss of what to do, but didn't quite know where to go at first.  This isn't a bad thing.  In real life, if there were a battle and things were falling down around you, you might feel a little disoriented, too.  All-in-all, Prince of Persia played well from the start.  Fighting was simple, the controls were easy to learn, at first.

Fun:

For a 2003 game, I thought this game had an amazing play mechanic.  This is the first time I've seen wall running in a game.  Games like Prototype, Assassin's Creed and inFAMOUS have all had some degree of climbing or running.  Prototype, especially, had a degree of running up the sides of buildings.  The mechanic looks and feels different in this, more fresh.  The prince/thief in this game is light on his feet and acrobatic.  It's a cool effect I thoroughly enjoyed when it worked.  And hated when it didn't.

Visuals: 

This game does an extremely good job with the visuals.  Colors are rich and vibrant.  Curtains flow and you can almost feel them as you grab one mid-air while jumping toward a platform.  The sands of time swirl and sparkle.  The animations are amazing as the prince swings from pole to pole, leaps up a wall and flips over, vaults over the top of a retriever only to turn and slice him as he comes down.  It is abundantly clear how much effort went into the play mechanic and the visuals to make that happen.  Every room seems to have a mini flyover so that you know where to go.  And the sands of time give you a rewind option that rewinds your actual play, which is incredible!

Sound:

The prince's voice really adds to the punch of the story.  He has barks when you die such as "No, no, no.  That didn't happen."  The story is told as if the prince were telling it to you and even save points are themed in this way.  The music blends perfectly with the game so that you don't so much notice it and yet it adds to the atmosphere.  The sound effects, while perhaps a bit under-done, are appropriate for the activities.  I've played some since that have more effort in the sound effects, but this was 2003, not 2009. 

Intelligence: 

So far, I haven't noticed a whole lot of AI in any of the NPC's.  And there are some parts where the physics don't match the action.  For instance, the prince needs to wall climb a wall less than a foot over his head, which he should be able to jump up to, but when he falls from it, he dies.  Why does he die on such small drops?  It seems like there was no search for appropriate punishment and death was simply used because it fits expected game design.

Immersion: 

Tricky.  The melee battles are completely immersive.  The physics and play mechanic flawless.  When the prince swings, wall runs, drinks, etc, all very immersive.  And the camera has an impressive first person view if chosen that gives you even more of the feel of being in-game.  However, the controls can be frustrating at times and the visuals a little buggy, which does destroy the feeling of immersion.  At one point, the prince was swinging on a pole behind a curtain.  And at one point, he walked through a wall and I lost sight of him seeing only the wall.

Cameras:

The best I've ever seen in a game, the camera angles offer zoom, a 360 degree view much of the time and three settings to choose from.  The camera switches angles as you perform a wall run or vault which felt intuitive and was very helpful.  I never once felt as if I couldn't really see something I needed or wanted to see.

Controls:

The controls of this game were frustrating at times.  Along with a new play mechanic comes new skills to learn.  It has a steep curve.  There were times I had to jump from wall to wall and it was all a matter of timing.  There is no rest, to strategy, just feel.  It takes a while to get a feel and rhythm.  There were times I wanted him to go in one direction and he'd go in the other or flip over or dodge or do something else I didn't want him to do.  That was annoying because there were some things that I had to do over and over again to build skill.

Ideas:

I really, really like the way this story is told, the first person narrative.  It's not often done, and it's a really nice touch.  And yet, it's not overdone so that you feel as if you're being told instead of shown.  I love the play mechanic in this.  It's unique, it's fresh and while some games seem to have successfully built on it, it's still doesn't feel as if it's been quite replicated, keeping it truly unique to this character.

One thing a lot of these games are teaching me, however is the concept of "for the sake of":  leveling for the sake of leveling; death for the sake of punishment; challenge for the sake of challenge.  I don't want to waste my player's valuable time in leveling.  I don't think death is always (ever?) the answer; there's got to be a better way to express failure.  Challenges need to fit the story and play.  In God of War, the almighty fighter dies frequently falling off a wet plank.  That's sad.  AND, he WANTS to be dead, as told in the opening CG, so, death in the game makes NO sense. Same here, the prince shouldn't die falling off a 10' wall.  It's utterly ridiculous.

Memory:

Even though this game annoyed the hell out of me at times, I wanted to keep playing for the story and because I felt that "if I can just get this" it would continue to satisfy.  So far, it hasn't disappointed.