Prince of Persia is a magical masterpiece that's as much fun to watch as it is to play.
The Bad: Platforming issues; very easy, considering you can't actually die.
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time really made a name for itself in last gen. After releasing two sequels, the Prince of Persia series really stood out compared to other platformers on the market. However, the series was made to be a trilogy, and after the end of Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones (The last entry in the series), the series faded away into the sands of time.
The studio began making a new series, Assassin's Creed, which bought in a lot of cash and good reviews...however, fans could only dream of another Prince of Persia after seeing the acrobatics of Altair, the nimble assassin in Assassin's Creed. Their dreams have finally come true...and this is one dream that you won't want to wake up from.
While searching for his donkey, Farah (who happens to be carrying a king's ransom in gold), the Prince falls down a cliff where he runs into Elika, a runaway princess with mystical powers. After saving Elika from her father's henchmen, the Prince is taken to a beautiful hidden kingdom which supposedly houses an ancient evil known as Ahriman. Ahriman is the god of darkness who is sealed within an ancient tree. Elika's father finds her and the Prince and cuts the ancient tree in half, releasing Ahriman (you'll gradually find out why Elika's father did this and what his motives were as you play through the game).
Ahriman is still trapped in the temple that housed the ancient tree. However, he's able to spread a strange darkness, called corruption, over the entire kingdom. After escaping the temple with the help of the Prince, Elika comes to the conclusion that she must use her mystical powers to purge every part of the land of corruption. The Prince, who constantly complains throughout the journey, has no choice but to help Elika restore her abandoned kingdom to its natural beauty.
The story is passable, and provides enough incentive to keep pushing forward. It's especially interesting towards the end where everything comes together in an unexpected way. What really makes the story so interesting is the characters. Though there are only around ten or so major characters, each one is given attitude and emotion that make them feel wholly realistic.
The Prince is an especially interesting character. His attitude is reminiscent of a modern day New Yorker. Some may think that this is a bad thing, but he does provide the comic relief that is needed for the serious story. Elika helps balance out the Prince perfectly. Where as the Prince is sarcastic and seldom serious, Elika is all about stopping Ahriman no matter what the cost. However, as she spends time with the Prince she begins to lighten up...a little.
What makes the characters so amazing has to be the excellent voice acting coupled with a well written script. Each line is delivered with emotion and attitude, resulting in some of the best voice acting that you'll hear this year.
One of the main focuses of Prince of Persia is platforming (jumping from thing to thing). Ubisoft nailed platforming with Assassin's Creed, but here, things have been dumbed down a bit. If you see horizontal scratches on a wall, then you do a wall run. If you see vertical scratches, then you climb the wall. If there's a chasm you can't jump across by yourself, then you use Elika's powers to give you more distance. It's all very straightforward, but each stunt that the Prince can perform is visually satisfying and they're all strung together in such a way that make the Prince a quick and nimble hero...as long as you press the right buttons! However, one strange thing about platforming is, if you mess up, you don't die. Elika is there to save you every time. Of course, this is just a clever way to disguise the transfer from death to your previous checkpoint, but it makes things seem incredibly easy...which is good if your new to video games...I guess.
After purging a land, these things called light seeds appear. Light seeds give Elika power, and when you collect enough of them, Elika gets a new power that opens up new areas. There are only four powers to obtain, and you have to collect a large number of light seeds to get them. It's your choice on which powers you want first. These powers range from running vertically up to the top of buildings and towers and flying through the air while dodging various obstacles. These different powers blend in with your platforming abilities quite nicely, and provide some unique moments that you won't see in your average platformer.
Combat is the other focus of Prince of Persia, and, unlike platforming, it's lets you experiment a bit more. You'll only face one enemy at a time in combat, and each one is basically the same besides the bosses.. The Prince is able to use his sword to attack and block, his gauntlet (for grab attacks), acrobatic attacks and Elika for some magical combos. These different attacks can be mixed to create some spectacular looking, though relatively simple combos.
Combat is satisfying, and there's also some quick-time events that demand a lot of button mashing or pressing of a single button very quickly. Every quick-time event is visually impressive and provides interesting combat situations. However, as in platforming, you can't die. If you make a mistake Elika is always there to save the Prince from death. Again, it's easy...maybe a bit too easy.
The gameplay altogether is great. There's a lot of unique moments in both platforming and combat, and a lot of fun to be had while playing as the Prince. It's really easy, but the extreme ease doesn't detract too much from the main adventure.
Few games are able to reach the visual flair that the Prince of Persia has achieved. This is cell-shaded graphics at their best, and you'll be hard pressed to find a game that looks this amazing. When you heal a land from corruption for the first time...it's simply breathtaking.
The music in this game is amazing. It provides a majestic and adventurous orchestral score when traveling through the healed lands, and when you enter into corrupted territory, the music becomes ominous and foreboding. It's a very interesting blend of music that will make you recognize the beauty that is Prince of Persia.
The sound effects are also impressive, but they mostly range from hearing the Prince and Elika landing on the ground from a long fall and using handles to extend their run across large gaps. Still, they sound good and don't detract from the beautiful music.
You're looking at a little less than twelve hours of gameplay. Considering Prince of Persia has no online functionality, twelve hours is quite long. However, with the only unlockable content being new skins for the Prince and Elika ( There's an Altair costume that's unlockable, and a couple of other costumes) you can't expect a lot of extras or bonus content. This means that Prince of Persia is the perfect rental
Altogether, Prince of Persia is one amazing package. Sure, it's easy and straightforward, but the massive scale, the beautiful art design and orchestral score are reason enough to take part in the Prince's newest adventure.