The context of this new Prince of Persia is deliberately anchored in a brand new, devoid of any relationship with the Sands of Time trilogy. Roaming on a land rooted in Persian mythology, the one who appears as the new “prince” is witnessing an irreversible act that marks the rebirth of Ahriman, the lord of evil and destruction. Like our hero, the player helplessly witnessing the destruction of the Tree of Life and the release of Corruption, marked with a black substance that pours across the kingdom, contaminating both the land and people who inhabits there. Therefore, the prince has no choice but to purify one by one all the sites that have been affected by Corruption, and for that he must ally with Elik, the daughter of the man who is responsible of this chaos…
In Prince of Persia, your quest is to explore each of the territories affected by Corruption in order to achieve their kernel that Elika purifies with its mysterious powers. The kingdom is divided into four regions protected by loyal guards to the cause of Ahriman, the duo must also fighting the evil several times, until finally destroy their lair. To the west, the citadel in ruins is the territory of the hunter that you must track down into its lair, beyond the walls erected by Ahura once. Now a veritable war factory from the hands of the Alchemist, the valley is a marshy land dominated by technology. It adjoins the royal palace, once resplendent, but now the stronghold of the evil Concubine. Finally, east of the City of Light is guarded by the warrior, a giant insensitive to your attacks that can be terraced only by your craftiness. The darkness of these four recurring bosses almost makes us forget the almost complete absence of other enemies to face during this new era. It must be said that the action is no longer the number one priority of this episode, as we will see a little further.
The developers announced an open world and this is the case in the sense that all 25 areas of the game are connected to each other without there being any division or transition, constituting a vast world which has many branches. These areas could also be explored in any order, and to move easily from one point to another without having to trudge for hours in environments already known, the map allows you to instantly teleport between locations have already been purified by Elik. The levels themselves are not always very large, it progresses quickly enough, but life is extended by the need to fetch a maximum of spheres of light to unlock access to the following levels. This constraint forces the player to necessarily extend its exploration to avoid having to return thereafter seek orbs left behind. In addition, some riddles, very rare, occur when least expected and sometimes cut our momentum for us to think. These riddles, whose presence is still laudable, all have in common a fairly tedious resolution that does not necessarily appropriate for everyone. However, their disappearance would have anyway been a sacrilege in the eyes of purists of the series.
While some gameplay choices will divide opinion of the players, the amazing achievement of the contrast should make everyone agreeing on the high quality graphics of this episode. Without losing sight of the influence of the original Prince of Persia license, the software is more rooted in magic and fantasy that the Sands of Time trilogy, which is characterized by an atmosphere much more dark and tortured. The designers have adopted a truly unique graphic style that achieves the feat to remain incredibly faithful to the artworks which were the basis artistic project. The look, called “illustrative art” by developers, gives the impression of change in scenery painted by hand, and in which the characters fit so perfectly natural. The result is quite stunning efficiency, the movement of the characters are more aesthetic than ever, while the landscapes extend to the eye. Nothing wrong rather about the film scenes in fighting which relies on a large number of contextual actions to make the clashes really exciting to watch.
The prince also wins in charisma and more willing to speak to complain or to play the braggart, without ever departing from a small touch of irony that sticks well with her look a little brash. Its origins are, at first glance, not much of noble human being rather kind of wandering without attachment and always quick to pick fights. Beside him, Princess Elik has everything a lady of royal blood. Opposed to his father who is still responsible for the spill of Corruption throughout the kingdom, the girl takes his quest very seriously and does not hesitate to pay the person to give the prince what he is sorely missing: magical powers. The prince not being able to go back in time, Elik strives to reach him whenever his death seems inevitable. Specifically, as soon as you are about to succumb in one way or another, the screen goes blank and Elik’s helping hand brings you back to where you died. The “gameover” doesn’t really exist anymore in Prince of Persia, the death simply forcing us to restart a failed phase in order to succeed. A kind of pervasive checkpoint allows you to move more easily and is part of the avowed to make the series more accessible to the general public.
The designers have clearly shown their willingness to offer software that can be appreciated by all without necessarily require special video gaming skills. Most movements are relatively assisted, to the point where it is generally sufficient to guide its direction and simply interact at the right time for the Prince to make exactly what is expected of him without diverting of the course. In addition to the traditional jumps around bars and fixed races on the walls, the prince is now capable of clinging to the ceiling with his gauntlet metallic claws and then leaning over rings fixed height. Finally, magic slabs may, once activated, can make you fly in the air to other portions of the level. Flight Phases occur even at very specific times, the player would then look to one side or another to avoid obstacles. Again, actions are far assisted the game but nonetheless very pleasant to go, even if it is not possible to take shortcuts that sometimes seem to quite achievable. The game will always change abruptly not allow you in any way to leave the right path.
In the next and final part III will give some more infosPrince of Persia Review
