Prince of Persia

As a proof of concept this game is very well done, however it lacks polish, patches (from console version) and DLC (also from console version). The traversal is quite relaxing, never challenging, but quite frustrating on few occasions. The most of these frustrations are because of the delay of your actions being performed by the Prince, it takes a while for him to start running and other actions too. The worst of these is probably pole climbing as you cannot ascend or descend while changing direction, which you could in the previous games. The second worst are probably the vines, after you get on them you have to wait for Elika to reach you, at which point she jumps on your back, this gets less annoying over time as it's one of the ways Prince and Elika connect. Actions which were not performed are usually stored in a queue, which is good and bad. The combat could've flown together really well, if it wasn't for the QTEs during bossfights, which sometimes just don't stop, stopping you from getting to the actual combat of flowing through combos and parrying. The arena's end corners function as activation points for enviromental attacks, which for bosses means, that they'll either teleport back, when it's corruption or you get to throw them back in the middle, when it's not corruption. These do trigger even if you're in air doing combos, this frequently interrupts the combos, because the arenas are relatively small. QTEs, enviromental attacks and attack range are probably my only and biggest complains about combat. The story isn't the best, but the storytelling is well done and interacting with Elika is well executed. As character Elika can be interesting, it's just that she is also used as a wiki for exposition, which always kills her personality. Overall gameplay is too restrictive with its mechanics leading to some frustration, but it's permissive enough for it to be fun. I recommend that you get hotkeys for rapidly pressing keys for the fullest enjoyment.

While this game contains some beautiful environments and music it's gameplay is quite restrictive and repetitive, sometimes it can even feel like the game is playing itself. the combat in this game is really simple and even though you can use different types of attacks it seems like the only difference between using your sword and using magic is the animation that plays, platforming in this game is also simple and doesn't require many inputs from the player. The game also forces you to replay the previous levels to collect light orbs that are necessary to progress the story. But in the end this game is still enjoyable and you will probably still like it for its world, music and a fun dynamic between the main characters.

It's a fun and pretty game, but to get it running right requires a 'fix'. The Launcher that tries to run the game REQUIRES the Visual C 2005 SP1 library installed, and doesn't include it as part of the install. The launcher is required to set any of the game settings, otherwise it runs at 1280x768 at low detail.

I picked this PoP episode 'cuz I thought it will be the same hack-and-slash platformer as the former episodes ( Warrior Within for eg. ) and because I loved the graphics. Colorful, vast and brings that eastern-stlye. Well I was right but only partially. If you expect the same fast-paced fight and finger numbing jumps you will be very disappointed. The jumps and fights become too easy when you get use to it. It's like pressing the button which lights up on Simon-says. On the contrary the game looks nice the puzzles are okay and the characters are lovable. It has its own flaws and nice things. If you have time and you like an easy-going somewhat artistic game you can pick this.

The negatives stand out though the theme, graphics, sound FX and orchestral music are top notch; it falls flat on basically everything else. The story is a classic - the god of decay has corrupted the land and is about to escape from prison leaving you to restore the land one zone at a time. Your companion is key to the plot but little changes throughout the adventure and the twists come as no surprise. Its also unfinished, this being the 13,372,805th game which ends on a cliffhanger. Thoughtfully, the real ending was ripped from the game and packaged as the world's 525,858,542nd DLC and features no tangible changes and another subtly different cliffhanger. NPC Characterisation fairs a little better insofar as there is some - you find out about the world and your companion through conversations, then grow to hate her as she flirts with settling on one of the personalities she'd read genuine people had. The prince also flipflops between personas and while scenes are congruous in isolation, I challenge you to drink every time you fail to predict the tone of a cutscene before it plays out and see if you can render the game challenging through insobriety. Gameplay is mostly traversal - it's ok, but its slow and stiff with constant interruptions to pace due to the prince 'catching' Elika when she catches up. Your glove slows descent and can't be released so you grind down every wall. There are some nice touches like the vertical poles which flip you 180 and the rings to extend wall runs, but the supermove pads are nonsense and bounce you around the levels arbitrarily. Combat is frustratingly basic and riddled with quicktime events and randomness, and finally, there are 3 very simple linear algebra puzzles in the game. Overall, PoP is weak. It's not terrible despite the above whinge-fest - it just suffers from a low skill ceiling that doesn't allow for faster or more risky play - it's like a safe, on-rails ride without the candyfloss and queues.