Half Good, Half Bad

User Rating: 7 | Prince of Persia PC
The Good: Nice Graphics and artwork. The characters are likable and well developed without using cut-scenes. Jumping and climbing through the levels is a lot of fun. Collecting light orbs can get tedious, but isn't painful or overly annoying. Moving through areas is fun enough that backtracking is not a pain and going through the same areas again is still enjoyable. No long load screens when you miss a jump. Elika pulls you back up and you try again. No offensive or gamer rights-denying DRM.

The Bad: Boss fights are a major pain. They are not fun. They are too hard in many cases and in no way enjoyable. Simply put, there is no fun combat. Some battles can last for way too long because the boss heals or your objective is very difficult to complete. Some of the jump sequences are too long. It's annoying having to repeat a long sequence over and over until you nail it just right. There isn't so much that it's too terrible, but shorter sequences would be better. Nobody likes doing the same jump sequence for 10 minutes because they can't get that last step. The game has other annoyances as well, even just little things like being unable to exit the game when the credits are playing for who knows how long at the end of the game. Eventually you'll want control of your computer after 10 minutes or so and just control+alt+delete. There is no excuse for that. I know the developers think they are important and want to force you to watch their name scroll by, but nobody cares. They got a paycheck and that should be enough. Never block the user from exiting the game! That is unacceptable.

Overall, it's not a bad game, but it could have been better. Next time, it would be nice if they would add an "Easy" mode that makes boss battles more reasonable for people who aren't so quick and skilled with the Xbox controller. It does get slightly easier after you memorize the buttons. Fans of this genre will be able to enjoy this game if they can get past the boss fights without giving up in frustration. There is no real reply value after you know the story because it wouldn't be worth the frustration of beating the bosses again. It's a good game, but it should have been (and almost was) a great game.