Bullet Point Ramblings: Prince of Persia

Posted on March 25, 2009 by ManicApollo
Welcome to the first ever Bullet Point Ramblings!

Throughout my videogame "career" (a career you have to pay to enjoy, who knew!), I've come to realize that I talk to my TV a lot... sort of like a running narrative a la Mystery Science Theater (of the one-man variety).  Occasionally these thoughts and comments will be written down in and attempt to provide some twisted form of infotainment.  
 
Prince of Persia's gorgeous watercolors come through even in the title screen.  
  • Right off the bat the watercolor-esque artwork that makes up the Prince's world is gorgeous and insanely easy on the eyes.  The quality is pretty consistent for the entirety of the game.
  • I've gotten a half dozen achievements in the first 15 minutes of playing... I hate cheap achievements. I don't care about collecting achievements, but holy hell do I hate when they're given out for doing stupid things. I can't explain it. It's kinda similar to getting 200 points just for putting your name on the SAT exam in high school. "Achievement Unlocked: B Button Successfully Pressed!"
  • The banter between The Prince and Elika (your sexy and exotic, if a bit, errrr, stiff, counterpart) while at first annoying and forced, actually grows on you after awhile. Some of the dialogue is downright entertaining with sarcasm and irony getting batted around like an oldschool game of Pong. The chatter is also used as an effective vehicle to introduce the backstory without intruding on the action too much with prolonged cutscenes.
  • Speaking of cutscenes, except for a few minute-long dream sequences, they're basically non-existant in this game. I'm torn if this is a good thing or not, as the artwork would probably have been pretty awesome utilized in some cutscenes.
  • The claustrophobic feel of the corrupted areas - created by the game camera's edges becoming increasingly darkened - is a nice touch and contrasts well with the lands after you've freed them.  They do a good job of making you feel as though you're suffocating in the darkness...
  • Has anyone else noticed that Prince of Persia has become akin to a newage Dragon's Lair/Space Ace? D-pad left, press button, D-pad down, press button, D-pad up... whoops, wrong move! Dirk, errrr, rather, The Prince has died!
  • There's something anatomically wrong about The Prince's body. It looks like he's got some type of fake styrofoam abs thing going on.
  • There's a few times where the camera reminded me of that Louis Black skit about Dick Cheney quail-hunting. (While the whole skit is hilarious, my specific reference regarding the camera accuracy starts at around the 4:20 mark)
  • Someone along the design path decided to incorporate 4 different types of "plates" whose primary (gimmicky) purpose seems to be to break up the potential monotony of the Dragon's Lair gameplay. The green plates are the absolute worst, providing a goofy left-right dodge-the-upcoming-obstacle-you-can't-see mechanic to the game. Observe for yourself. 

  • The dream sequences where you unlock the various plates were probably my favorite parts of the game. Even though they were short lived, the atmosphere was very... dreamy. And the music top-notch.
  • Just unlocked the yellow plates... and I take back what I said about the green plates. Holy cow, these yellow plates are a cross between Peter Pan meets Panzer Dragoon who made sweet love to Space Harrier after one long drunken, unfortunate evening. It's really an odd (and vomit-inducing) mix. 

  • As many reviews have pointed out, you're basically immortal during the fight sequences. This doesn't take away from them by any means, they're still a fun part of the overall experience - but let it be known that just because your character can't die, doesn't mean that your real-life thumbs won't.  Some of the boss battles last quite awhile - prolonged by the fact that boss health can regenerate if you're not quick on the trigger with the button-mashing quick-action sequences through the course of a fight.
  • Why do so many games incorporate a chintzy collection system that drives the main character's progress? Mario's coins/stars, Jak and Daxter's Power Cells, etc etc... Prince of Persia follows this model, utilizing light seeds that feel like an add-on whose main purpose is to prolong the game. You essentially have to go through each world twice - once in the dark corruption, and the 2nd time after you free the world and have to collect the light seeds. It's a monotonous and tiring endeavor that wears out its welcome after the first few worlds. And whoever actually goes after and accomplishes the 1001 Light Seeds achievement is either bonkers and/or has the patience of a saint. I stopped caring at 600.
  • The ending is a mixed bag... the action sequence is actually fairly intense, if not frustrating due to its urgent nature bringing out the worst in the controls and camera. The entire last chapter took about an hour - or roughly 15% of the total time it took me to beat the entire game.
  • Also, without giving away too much, there really wasn't an ending. Not in the traditional sense, at least. Which of course leads us to Epilogue, which I'm still undecided about plunking down the cashola for.

All told, Prince of Persia is a very enjoyable experience. It's the first I've played since Sands of Time on the original Xbox - a classic game in its own right. Controls are OK, and the camera is only mildly annoying at its absolute worst. The addition of the light seeds feels rather forced to prolong the game artifically, but luckily there's more than enough to collect so you won't have to go out of your way in order to advance through the game. 

A definite rental due to its length (I beat it in less than 10 hours), Prince of Persia is definitely a worthy entry from 2008's great catalogue of gaming goodness.

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Comments

Just read the bulletpoint

by Orion Red - Wed, Jul 08 - 9:00pm
Just read the bulletpoint ramblings and I have to agree, it definitely has its merits.  Those merits in no particular order are:

Art style - the game is beautiful.  Between the vivid colors and colorbook story land environments, it's eye candy at its finest...errr..sweetest.  

Characters - Prince has been around awhile (hell, I think it was my first real PC game I was able to get my hands on for an extended amount of time at summer camp).  But his character and sarcastic banter between him and Elika never got old.  Very well done.   

And the effect of healing the land I think was a first, which was really neat to see done in real-time. 

Ok, the negative stuff.  I have to agree, the light seeds drove me nuts.  And as nuts as it sounds, I'm almost tempted to go back and get the rest of them now that I've beaten it.  I said almost.  Unlike ManicApollo, I'm an achievement nutcase.  (Let's see how many more times I can use the word "nut" in this paragraph.)  But I said almost, I don't think I'm going to do it (simply because it's not worth points versus the time it's going to take.)  Nuts.

Repetitiveness - the team tried to mix it up as much as possible, you can definitely tell.  But unfortunately, the formula of going to corrupted land, fight bad guy, heal land, and then repeat again and again.  Sadly, it was just the way it was.  Don't get me wrong though, the game can throw you a little curveball here and there which is nice.  

Ok, good game.  Short and sweet.  Probably not going to get the DLC, but this game's ending was a little different, which I appreciated to.  

Now, do I play Ninja Gaiden 2 or Quantum of Solace?  Hmm... I think I want to shoot things.  See ya!