Prince of Persia 2 (working title) Updated Impressions - E3 2004

Ubisoft has brought the tentatively titled Prince of Persia 2 to E3 2004 this year. The new game features the same prince from last year's game, The Sands of Time, though this prince is more mature and has a "darker" and more menacing look to him. He's also a more-skilled fighter and prefers to fight with two swords at once. He'll need all his fighting and acrobatic abilities to defeat Dahaka, an essentially invincible opponent said to be tied to the fabric of fate itself. Dahaka is apparently stalking the prince purposefully and relentlessly for mysterious reasons that may pertain to his previous manipulation of time using the magical sands and his enchanted dagger. As a result, the prince must use his powers to travel back in time to destroy the sand itself, before the unbeatable Dahaka, who appears in the "present" as a hulking humanoid creature clad in cruel-looking steel armor, destroys him first.

The updated version of the game brought to E3 looked considerably better than the version we saw recently. The game's textures look far cleaner, and its frame rate was more consistent. We were also able to see several of the prince's new abilities revealed at the show, including his ability to leap behind an armed enemy, steal away the enemy's sword, then swing the two blades outward to brutally decapitate the enemy. We also saw several new acrobatic skills that the prince has acquired--though he still possesses nearly superhuman agility that lets him run up and along walls. Additionally, he can now perform a lunging slash attack as he runs along a wall. Furthermore, we saw that the prince still had the ability to shimmy up and down pillars and could swing across ropes. However, he can now clasp to long tapestries so that he can slide down them from great heights.

We were also able to see some of the prince's powerful new time-based attacks. Like in the original game, the prince can use his stores of the magical sands to slow the passage of time. But as we saw, the prince was also able to slow only his enemies while retaining the ability to move at his normal, nimble pace. In addition, we saw that the prince can also use up all his stores of sands to briefly accelerate himself to incredible speeds. In one instance, for example, he was surrounded by a few enemies. Then he literally became a blur that would come into focus just long enough to cut down a foe. Then he'd become a blur again and would briefly reappear when he would cut down another opponent.

Prince of Persia 2 seems to be coming along extremely well. The game is scheduled for release on the PC, PS2, Xbox, and GameCube later this year.