Prince of Persia
Review
It's all about the donkey...
by Chris Davis
reviewed on X360
Company (cntd.)
Elika brings magic to the combat table. Using her offensive move, she lunges off the Prince’s back and quickly assaults the enemy, albeit not as strong as the Prince’s sword. What makes Elika unique among co-op partners is that she makes it entirely impossible to fail or die. Fall in battle? She uses her powers to get you back on your feet. Miscalculate a jump? Elika pulls you to safety. While this is a smart feature to help encourage playthrough it doesn’t alleviate the adrenaline levels as well as it should. While Elika's rescues can be quite spectacular to watch, this feature does take some of the challenge out of the fights. Overall though, Elika is a smart addition to a game filled with hundreds of potential pitfalls.
Another day at the beach
Prince of Persia is, for all intents and purposes, a graphical powerhouse. Built on the same engine as Assassin’s Creed and the recent Shaun White Snowboarding game, Prince of Persia trades in large, realistic towns and good looking white powder (no, not -that- white powder) for an interesting cel-shaded environment with little to no denizens throughout the game.
As if taking design hints from other games, the game looks very much like a cross between Ubisoft’s recent Naruto games and Capcom’s Okami. Every level is designed twice, once for the corrupt and once for the pure look after it has been healed. Each state looks great and the transition between the two is smooth and fun to watch. The character design is well done and compliments the vibrant colors of the cel-shading very well. Lip syncing is spot on and matches the charismatic nature of the characters. Stability is never really an issue as the game runs at a very smooth framerate with no crashes and almost no slowdowns. The audio design is marvelously done. While the voices for the Prince and Elika don’t exactly reflect the character design, the voices do fit the script quite well. Sound effects are well timed and the developers have made a successful attempt to not recycle them too often. The music suits the ambiance excellently and does a great job of motivating you towards your objective. It is also pretty dynamic and reflects the action on screen quite well.
Dashing through the sand
The past three months have been devastating to gamers’ wallets, One must-have title after another arrived on store shelves with absolutely no pity being bestowed upon us. Thankfully the onslaught has finally come to an end and Prince of Persia serves as a great title to round out the entire lot. With an interesting storyline, a bright and colorful world to explore and hours upon hours of platforming action, this latest addition in the near-legendary Prince of Persia franchise is well worth emptying your wallet for.
8.0
fun score
No Pros and Cons at this time
