Prince of Persia

I understand that this game might not be everyone's cup of tea, but overall I think it is very well made: the art direction is stellar, the acrobatic puzzles are not hard and look amazing throughout the whole game, but to me the best part is the interaction between Elika and the protagonist (can't really call him Prince). Yeah, at times the writing is not ideal, but most of the time their dialogues made me smile and want to see where their relationship is going. I did not run into any issues with Windows 10 or unresponsive controls as other reviewers, and I just installed the game via GOG Galaxy. It's a shame there is no PC version of the Prince of Persia Epilogue DLC, but there are plenty of walkthroughs on YouTube, so that's where I am heading next to find out how this story really ends.

Let me start by saying this: Objectively, I could never give this game 5 stars. It would get 4 at best for what there is. Like always however, I believe in looking at concepts of what a game tried to be at its time and how someone could actually love it for that. So, the subjective rating, basically. Let me continuing by saying: If I would be salty at how the game ticks me off every time I played it since its initial release, it would not gain 5 stars, either. There is just so much sticking to the game from the era of gaming, where no dev knew how to handle new technical and design gimmicks well, that it makes my head spin. The game suffers from that, as well as from not coming close to executing its ideas in a satisfying long-term fashion. To elaborate on that: Weird control scheme, no matter how you map it. Annoying, unflexible tutorials. Weird structured conversation system. Too systematic map and area design. Quick response windows that are always "that much" too short to feel good to execute in traversing and, especially, combat. Empty locations without that one single pickup you have to traverse mentioned map and areas multiple times, including backtracking. And if you have done it for one location, you already know the drill for the whole game. Despite all this: The art style and atmosphere is right out of an interactive tale. And the mechanics and features would make for such an amazing experience if executed better and further. It simply was too much for the era to handle and would have deserved a sequel or second try nowadays. Such a shame. Again, all of this can be regarded different based on taste, so I am sure what there is can be a great time on its own for some. So I will leave it at that. Technically, the game did what it was supposed to. So no complains there. Recommended - in theory. Try based on your own feeling. (And maybe look up some gameplay.)

This is easily one of my favorites in the franchise (and I've been there since the very beginning), but it's surprisingly misunderstood by a lot of gamers. From those gamers, you'll hear things like "it's too easy" or "the combat's lame." These people don't get the point. This game is all about giving you an amazing jungle gym of a world, and letting you jump and climb all over it. The level design is truly breathtaking, among the very best I've experienced. The thrill of running around and doing Prince of Persia-y things is so well captured in this one, and none of the typical frustrations (dying and restarting from checkpoints, excessive filler combat, craptacular attempts to be "edgy" (yes, I'm looking at you, Warrior Within)) get in the way of this. If you love to be placed in a fantasy world and be able to bound all around it, Prince of Persia is pure bliss.

I really wish I could rate this game lower than one star - one star gives it far too much credit for the effort - or better put - lack of effort - put into this. Game-play - is the worst thing this has to offer. There is nothing about this that is an actual "game", there is no chance of failure, there "boss" fights are an exercise of just waiting it out until you win - since you cannot die. It is physically impossible to die in this game, because you have a magical partner with the arms of Mike Tyson to simply "lift" you out of any crater you would fall to, or revive you if anything at all would dare "Challange" you. This whole game's story is also very, very poor. It's ending is shoddily done, and makes the entire game - a worthless endeavor already, become actually in it's own canon completely pointless. Really, you could just not play this game and you'll have the same result. I cannot describe how much this game is not worth your time, is not worth ten dollars, or even a dime. Don't buy this. If you want a pretty game, with a much better, full arched story, and far better game-play, pick up Ori and the Blind Forest.

pro: - beautiful graphics - beautiful worlds - nice music - comic look con: - Hated to search the light seeds. Those things have to be collected after finishing a boss in the same world you already have gone to get to the boss. It's just a time waster for me and adds no additional fun for me. - Quite easy. One has to press the jump button at a rightish moment and that is enough for the most part. - Don't like it when the girl has to be piggybacked when climbing on a vine. She can save me from any abyss and death but she is unable to climb it herself or just fly besides me? And it destroys the fluidity of the movement when she climbs my back. - the controls feel a bit squishy when trying to go in the correct direction I get it that people love this game. I guess they like the graphics/sounds and the easy processing without any obstacles. If you also like to collect things without having problems with immensive backtracking this game is for you.