Tech Olive

After playing Assassin’s Creed, I was excited for the upcoming Prince of Persia game, hoping that it would be more of what Assassin’s Creed was like; very fun with simple combat coupled with beautiful animations and smooth movements. However, it seems I was too optimistic.

Having not played a Prince of Persia game since the original many years ago, I had no clue what to expect as far as storyline and gameplay. Unfortunately, the beginning of the game doesn’t explain itself very well for those who are just joining the series. This isn’t all bad since it doesn’t have the kind of story that one can really get into and take seriously by any measure. Since I really can’t compare this game to any of the previous ones in the series, I’ll be comparing it closely to Assassin’s Creed, Ubisoft’s previous game that seems to have grown from the Prince of Persia roots.

Because of how well the animations and combat was done in Assassin’s Creed, I was expecting Ubisoft to follow in the same style with Prince of Persia; with the animations being smooth and polished, and the combat being hard to get used to, but fairly easy to use once you did. I was wrong. The combat in Prince of Persia is hardly intuitive at all, and the movements and actions are not much different. The combat system is well thought out, but you usually just end up button-mashing, which works out just as well as if you actually knew how to work the combat system.

I know I’m making the game sound like a massive steaming pile of poo, but it does have its good points. It’s fun at times, and the main character can be pretty funny with his sarcasm and wit. It is nice to see a game that doesn’t take itself too seriously. The graphics are quite good and it’s actually a really good port. Very few developers manage to port any games to the PC with much quality, but I think Ubisoft has gotten the hang of it. Unfortunately, the good is not enough to make up for the bad.

Really, there isn’t a lot about the game that excites me enough to make me a fan of the series. Sure, its entertaining, but not good enough to make me want to play the previous games in the series to see what I have been missing. With all the other games available right now, it doesn’t make a very strong case for itself as being the game you should be spending your money on.

Score: 6 Olives