Developer: Ubisoft | Publisher: Ubisoft | Format: Xbox 360
When deciding to reinvent a franchise, especially one as critically and commercially successful as the Prince of Persia series it's important not to forget what made the franchise so popular to begin with. The Sands of Time series are some of the finest games ever released om any platform and now we have a whole new series for a new console.
The simply named Prince of Persia is Ubisoft’s attempt at a whole new franchise starring the most famous prince in the gaming world. Removing the old time manipulation aspect of the earlier games and introducing an open world which can be explored at will show makes this title a departure from all that's come before. The most welcome change for many will be the simplicities of the platforming elements, all you have to do now is simply jump at a wall in order to dun along it or bounce up it to a ledge.
The story follows the Prince and his meeting with Elika a princess attempting to save her kingdom from some evil God after her father lets him loose. Your job is to traverse the kingdom undoing all the corruption and killing various minions of the dark lord. This is done in quite a simplistic manner. You enter an area, jump from ledge to ledge and then fight a variation on one of the game's 4 big bosses. Once done you use Elika to clean up before searching for enough light seeds to open up the next area. It's all rather simply structured and works all the better for it.
Combat has been seriously improved. Rather than the old one versus many, this time combat is a one on one affair and is greatly improved as a result. You can now string together attacks allowing for a much more fluid feel to it. The only real complaint is that you find yourself performing the same moves over and over again. One thing that should be addressed in subsequent games is enemies tendency to resort to guard position during combat which males all attacks bar gauntlet attacks useless. To do this you have to get rather close leaving yourself open to attack.
Prince of Persia is a fantastic game which sets the standard for action games on the PS3. Bar the few small niggles involving the combat system it's nigh on perfect and given that it's now available for around 30 euro you rally have no excuse not to own it.
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