PoP is stunning to look atFranchise reboots are most definitely the 'in' thing at the moment. After three successful entries on the PlayStation 2 and games on a variety of other platforms, Prince of Persia is coming to this generation with a fresh look and a very different gameplay experience. Cel-shading has been used for years, but Ubisoft's implementation in Prince of Persia might well be the best use of the technique to date. The prince appeared to go through some kind of adolescent crisis after the rather stunning Sands of Time, so can this year's series reboot rekindle those fond memories?
It's impossible to talk about PoP without first commenting on the game's stunning visuals. Ubisoft calls it illustrative. Some may claim that it doesn't look all that different to the techniques used in other cel-shaded games, but it's absolutely gorgeous. We saw the PlayStation 3 version running the game and even the most jaded gamer would find it hard to grumble at the beautiful use of colour and incredible animation work. Some cel-shaded games are described as interactive cartoons, but PoP is really more like an animated painting. Visuals clearly aren't everything, but the effect here is so striking that you're expecting the game to be brilliant even before you've twiddled a thumbstick.
AdvertisementKey to this latest PoP is Elika, the Prince's AI companion throughout the game. Ubisoft is billing her as an AI character unlike what you've seen before. Big words, but after seeing her interact with the prince during a 20-minute demonstration it's easy to believe. She has been integrated into almost everything the prince does, from his acrobatic leaps from platform to platform, to combat against the many enemies he'll face on his adventure.
The world you inhabit is being terrorised by an evil god. This god wants to corrupt the entirety of the land, but the Prince has other ideas. This corruption is represented by deadly dark matter that springs out of surfaces in the world. Being so dark and deadly, this drains the world of life, giving corrupted areas a dank, rather sterile appearance. Although deadly to the Prince, Elika can combat the corruption by drawing it into her body. Fear not though; if you happen to fall foul of the deadly black stuff, Elika will save you before you meet an unpleasant end. This is another of her primary roles in the game. If the Prince gets into a near-death situation she'll rescue him and take you to the last place you were safe. It's essentially a smart checkpoint system, but one that appears to work extremely well and gives Elika a stronger presence in the game.
Fans of previous PoPs will no doubt be expecting some high quality acrobatics and it seems as though they won't be disappointed. The platforming has been taken even further than before, with the prince able to do pretty much all he could before, as well as new moves like the ceiling run (self explanatory) and grip slide (sliding down vertical cliff faces). Ubisoft wanted the player to be able to use every surface in the game during exploration of the massive environment, and with the help of Elika, as well as some well positioned magic plates that act like springs, it seems that you really can. Unlike previous PoPs the game world is open, allowing you to move about as you like. This wasn't fully explored during our demo, but the route our Ubisoft rep took differed to the route taken in the same area at E3.
To tie in with the new open world and the thrilling acrobatics Ubisoft has placed numerous light seeds around the world. These will give players something to hunt for and provide a reason to fully explore. While some are placed in easy to access areas, many require the use of the most advanced techniques and combinations of techniques that aren't obvious. Something Ubisoft's mega hit Assassin's Creed failed to do was offer a real reason to explore, so hopefully these light seeds will do the trick - if we can get the same feeling that orb hunting in Crackdown provided then we'll be happy.
The Prince and Elika team upAs well as the changes being made to the platforming and the inclusion of Elika as an advanced AI partner, the way enemies are encountered also differs quite drastically to previous entries in the series. Instead of facing groups of enemies you now have more significant fights against more memorable boss-like characters - sometimes stretching across numerous battles. During our demo we saw the Prince and Elika face off against a Hunter. This beast had been corrupted by the dark matter, giving it the ability to evolve over the course of the multi-stage fight. Ubisoft has also tried to make combat more exciting, primarily through the use of a new cinematic camera. This always gives you the ideal view of the action - in this case a great view of the incredibly aggressive hunter.
At the end of the demo our rep demonstrated how Elika interacts with areas known as healing grounds. After defeating the Hunter Elika used her powers to free the area of corruption. This not only makes the area free to explore without fear of dark matter or enemies, but also brings life back to the land. What was a fairly dull, barren landscape became an area full of colour, flowing water and flowers. PoP looks stunning even when the world is corrupted, but it looks even better when you've managed to rid an area of evil.
There are still some concerns over Ubisoft's new PoP. The open-world aspect to the gameplay is still rather untested and the enemy encounters could become dull unless there's the variety to match the exciting battles. The biggest potential problem is how Elika interacts with the Prince. From our demo it seems like a perfect partnership, but we're interested to see how this works over the course of an entire game. We want more than just an AI partner; we want to have a connection and a reason to care. Judging this is impossible after 20 mins, but with the game due for release before the end of the year we don't have too long to wait.
Machetazo wrote at 17:34 on 01 September 2008
I've a couple of questions and concerns about this game:
* If the player returns to a "purified" area, do new gameplay opportunities present themselves?
* Is a demo planned, so we can see for ourselves, the effect that Elika has on gameplay? I've seen her used largely as a crutch, which, when matched with the game's position in Ubi's latest publisher-wide trailer reel; does NOT inspire confidence, as much as alarm bells. As if this is, in fact, pitched at a completely different audience to SoT, but with Ubisoft cynically leveraging support that it views as assured from existing fans of the franchise to push sales numbers.
A lot of this game comes across as absolutely fantastic. The sidekick "that if we're doing our job properly, you won't notice"; is far too prominent an element to fulfill that remit, and could turn out to be a fly in the ointment.