Prince of Persia

It's not quite on the par with the Sands of Time trilogy, but this is a great platformer, and a welcome addition to the Prince of Persia franchise! The platforming is fun, the world is pretty open, and the combat has a really good, rhythmic feel to it. As a few little bonuses, there are also unlocked costumes for the Sands of Time Prince, and Altair from Assassin's Creed. Still, for $10 this is a steal of a game, and an action based platformer well worth your time.!

Just finished this few hours ago and I have felt that something is missing. It seemed, that i did not completed the game fully. So went on youtube, and had to learn that, the end content was cut off on the PC version. Its a basic ubisoft treatment... very sad. I just wish that GOG would have finished it, but I am not getting my hopes up after all these years. Watching it as someone else plays, it like using someones used socks.

I love The Prince of Persia series. It took me a while to play this entry due to the slightly negative critics reviews, but I finally got into it. The game looks nice, and the music is soothing. Even though it's an old game, the cell-shading graphics are still good. Apart from some jagged textures, it still holds up well to the test of time. Gameplay is responsive, and traversing the various scenarios is fluid. The decision to not add lives and game over screens make the exploration interesting and frustration-free. But it renders fights useless. By the way, I don't even know why the creators added combat to this game. It is the worst I have ever seen. You can kill an enemy with one shot if you pin it against the edges of the arena. Otherwise, it's just a repetition of the same sequence of attacks. Not only you cannot die, nothing happens if you're "critically" injured. The enemy doesn't regenerate health (thank goodness, cause it would be even worst to repeat the sequence of attacks again), you don't lose orbs, nothing. I bet you could walk away and go to the bathroom during a fight. No consequences. I found combat not only frustrating, but a complete waste of time. By the way, even exploration can be boring. There are no puzzles. Each of the 4 different scenarios are divided in 4 sub-areas interconnected in a circle. In these, you jump your way to the middle, unlock some orbs, and then proceed to collect them. That's it. Not only it doesn't offer any challenge, you have to repeat it a couple of times in order to collect the orbs to open the next area. The story is weak, dialogues range from OK to slightly bad, and characters are kinda likeable, but don't offer any interesting development. I think it's on the same level of the original PoP (from 1989). TLDL: The game is an easy and relaxing distraction, but is boring and repetitive. Gameplay is responsive, but there are no challenges, no great story and no surprises. It's just meh.

Every couple of years I just get the need to replay this Prince of Persia. The gameplay is not demanding, but it is a very beautiful journey, has excellent character banter and a simple story with a bit of heartwrench to it. It's a perfect game for sitting in a warm and cozy room after having had too much food during the holidays. It's not my favorite PoP game, but I have replayed it more often than any part of the Sands of Time trilogy.

Speaking as someone whose sole experience with the franchise had been on the Apple 2 back in 1989, I came into this with no expectations whatsoever and enjoyed it very much. It is a *very* easy game, but the difficulty (or lack thereof) is not its selling point. That would be the award-winning artistic design, gorgeous environments, likeable characters, beautiful soundtrack, visually spectacular acrobatics and the gameplay's seamless flow. Superficial considerations, one might say, but that's pretty much what I expected when I got this game. The story is fine, the banter between the two main characters makes up for the otherwise empty world, and I found myself caring enough to want to know what happens after the cliffhanger ending (still waiting for that sequel, Ubisoft). Recommended, if you don't mind your endings a little on the open side.