Prince of ???
Upon first playing the game, one will notice a truly unique and spectacular visual style. The graphics are top notch and the beautifully rendered world may be the best feature of the new game. That in and of itself, is worth recommending the game to others. For me, it did take a little getting used to the cel-shading (I believe it's called that) style since it was new for me, but I came to accept and admire the visuals quite a bit. I always felt that the older POP games were very nicely produced and rendered. They may or may not have been the most graphic intensive, but the world and visuals in those game sucked you in and immersed you in a classic eastern fantasy world. The new POP game definitely achieves this as well. I'd compare it more closely with Warrior Within as these world were full fantasy, as 1 and 3 had a little more basis in reality - that is, something we could recognize - certainly no harm either way in my book. The new POP truly is a gorgeous game.
I've talked quite a lot about presentation, but there are other merits to this game. However, some of the positive features have there downside when considering the full POP universe. I will describe both sides of the coin. POP includes a new major character in Elika, a lovely princess of a fictional state. When I say major I mean it. Elika is very integral to the story, gameplay and plot and accompanies your "Prince" throughout the entire game with maybe a couple very minor exceptions. I would go so far as classifying Elika as a main character on equal footing with the Prince. This is really her story and the world essentially revolves around her. While you don't directly control her, she provides major assistance in the gameplay by channeling powers from one of the games two major gods. I liked Elika. She's a beautiful character, well voice acted, and I believe she will appear in the sequel(s). She also has a interesting personality and injects a certain amount of wit in the game via the dialogue. I believe any warm-blooded male would take of fancy to her. The one major issue with the character for POP purists is the extreme amount of reliance the Prince has on her with respect to gameplay, acrobatics and combat. The point here is that the Prince does not die - ever. If you are hurt (no health bars here) or miss a jump Elika is there to save you. This takes a lot of challenge out of the game and really makes it quite easy. The older trilogy was extremely challenging in many respects which IMO added to the enjoyment of the game.
The "Prince", well, is not a prince. This is not the same character as the trilogy despite some resemblance and certainly some of the same combat and acrobatic talents. This chap joins up with Elika by chance in a sandstorm and assists her with the saving her world. He's an alright bloke, but there's not much else to him. I guess basically he's some type of fortune/treasure hunter. I recall some brief mention of his not knowing his family, which left some mystery to his past, but this was not touched on again. The depth of the story, as mentioned, flows almost entirely through Elika. While this is not entirely negative since Elika is a great character, I never really felt connected with the Prince like I did in the old game. Another side note, I did not think the voice acting was appropriate - sounded too modern and almost like some surfer dude. Regardless, the banter between Prince and Elika is enjoyable and witty, although not reaching the desired fruition at the end. On a more positive note, the Prince does just about everything else our old hero did - like the wall running, jumping, swordplay, etc.
Now to the gameplay. If you've played the old POP there's a lot familiar or inspired here. Overall, the world is more symmetrical and a bit open-ended than prior games. You have a map and the option to head to certain areas before others. Certain areas are controlled by one of four bosses and, well, your combat is pretty much limited to these bosses with a couple of minions here and there as well as Elika's possessed father. So this is another major difference in the new game. You fight one enemy at a time. The combat is not bad really, and at times proves somewhat challenging, but overall it's really not that inspired. Also, as noted Elika saves you at any point of imminent death. In a nutshell, combat consists of some slashing, blocking, beckoning some magical attacks from Elika, and plenty of carpal inducing button mashing. It's a long way down from the exceptional combat in Warrior Within, but it does keep things interesting. You will spend the bulk of your time with the acrobatics which are really the highlight of the game, as well as seeking out "light seeds" which are the source of Elika's powers and enable you to activate certain areas of the map. The acrobatic aspect of the game, an important feature of the earlier games, are quite nice if maybe not as challenging or varied as the earlier games. One significant feature missing is the challenging traps of the trilogy. There are a decent few puzzles scattered throughout the game. A nice new feature, which is a bit hard to describe, is a series of four types of "plates" that are activated after reaching certain levels of light seeds. These magical plates play into the overall acrobatics and allow unique maneuvers such as flying or expanded wall running to get to those harder to reach places.
The story is not bad in the new POP. I wouldn't say there's considerable depth, but then there wasn't a great deal in the old games either - just enough to give you an agenda and end game. Most of the story comes to you via the dialogue between Prince and Elika as well as some scattered cut-scenes. Again, the story mainly lies with Elika and I think she provides enough interest to keep you going.
One note on the "light seeds". Collecting the light seeds provides a nice little challenge as well as being integral to advancing the game. I guess one can compare it a bit to finding the sand in older POP or the collecting you do in other action-adventure games. Most light seeds right there in front of you, but usually there are several that take some work to find or access. My one issue is while they are integral to advancing early and mid-game they become irrelevant far to quickly. Of course, there's always the personal challenge of collecting 100% of the seeds, but really I lost interest in them once they became unimportant. I just thought the concept could be more fully realized.
Although I probably seem overly critical, I do recommend this game to most gamers. It's a very accessible game and I believe any gamer or adventure fan that did not play older POP games would appreciate the newness of the experience and beautiful fantasy word. I enjoyed the game too, but as more of a POP purist, this was somewhat of a letdown. This really became apparent in the later stages of the game where I found myself just pushing toward the end. The world itself and it's beauty is worth the recommendation alone, and there's enough here to keep new and old fans alike at least satisfied and get that POP fix. Here are a few things I'd like to see from the developer's in the sequel:
1) Learn from your mistakes like you did with Two Thrones - taking the best from SOT and WW - that is, the storybook nature of SOT and great combat of WW. WW is arguably the best game in the series if they didn't lose the feel and attitude of the first
2) Bring back the traps!
3) Up the challenge and vary the enemies
4) Add more depth to the character of the "Prince". He doesn't need to be a royal necessarily but I'd like to think of him more than a mere vagabond.
Well, I guess I've rambled on enough now, but the POP series is one of my favorites. Enjoy!