The New Prince of Persia - Page 2

Whoops, forgot about this thread after my flippant comment!

Anyway, Justin answered for me. None of the PoP games were pushed as blockbusters, and they all sold fairly well. (Sands of Time got off to a slow start from what I recall, as well.)

I mean, it could get buried of course, but I don't see anything to suggest this is getting less attention than any of the previous games. If anything, this is turning more heads than the last two. They don't get pushed hard, but people buy them.

You can't die in this game. I hope the publisher has the decency to warn people about that on the box.

OK see, there's no "death" but the penalty is the same, you get sent back to the beginning of the sequence, just like in Sands of Time.

You guys are too much. Do you wander around museums yelling at people who do not like particular artistic styles?

Also: Saints Row 2 and Fable 2's graphic design, while lighter and brighter than the Unreal Engine 3 palette of mud, concrete, and grime, don't look particularly "cel-shaded" to me.

To be fair guys, there does seem to be a bit of an overreaction to Overlord's opinion here?

I'm not defending him (sorry dude, you're wrong) - but there's some really harsh reactions to his opinion that we can do without.

What the hell's with the name calling?

Overlord just tends to get away his inane over the top ramblings, people are just pulling him up on it for once.

You don't get to be an Overlord without enduring some name calling.

True 'nuff.

Overlord or not, this isn't grade school, kids. Name calling's for Gamespot's forums.

You cunts.

Oh, that's fair enough, then. I was led to believe that it's literally impossible to miss a jump in the platforming bits.

Cel-shading, like any other aspect of any game, should be judged on a case-by-case basis. Myself, I think this PoP game looks gorgeous. It has a more "illustrated" look, if you will, then titles like Zelda or that skateboard-grinding game. And I'm surprised no one has mentioned Okami, a beautiful cel-shaded PS2 game.


And the name calling does seem a little over the top, baby-rapers.

Oh, and I kinda dug that XIII game too.

Yeah, it's odd. XIII is one of those games that was oddly gripping now I think about it. I can't quite figure out what it was though, wasn't the plot just an OTT Bourne Identity?

I never did get around to playing XIII. And its on the BC list for the 360. Hmm.....

But back on topic: surely, somebody bought this today. Details, damn you.

Cel-shading fan or not, you gotta admit that this game is a weird bit of brand-handling. There's a big-budget movie trilogy in production right now (one that probably won't match this game's stylistic tone) and yet this game is getting no marketing nor is there any buzz surrounding it. If I was a producer on the movie, I'd be pretty worried because the movie is probably on a fast track to becoming 2010's KING ARTHUR.

I gotta admit, not to derail again, but I have NO idea of what to expect from that movie.

I can't get into this one at all. I keep trying to push forward, then I get bored, eventually pause the game, flip back over to the PC, then realize four hours later that I've got PoP paused.

I haven't played enough to say that any part of it is bad, but there is nothing in it -- art style included -- that makes me want to keep playing. I haven't read IGN's review (and won't for a while, until I've played a lot more and decided if I'm going to write about it) but I don't get the Shadow of the Colossus vibe at all.

How's the sidekick?

Be prepared to be called a lot of nasty names, Russ.

Fine from what I've played. There's the implication that you'll be able to do some combos using her magic, etc, but so far there's nothing that makes me care about having her around, either.

From what I've read on IGN, it seems it will get boring fast. Short length, not challenging, one weapon with no upgrades and no upgraded moves makes this seem like a rental for me. Let us know Russ!!

Anyone who rates this in the 9s is out of their fucking mind. The only reason to play for more than an hour or two is to know how the storyline plays out. There is almost zero variation in the gameplay past the ten minute mark. (You get four new 'powers' which amount to ways to traverse to certain parts of the game, but they don't change your navigation or abilities.)

It's pretty cel shading + a more frustrating version of the Colossus boss system - rewards + Crackdown's orb collecting - minus the 'go anywhere' potential.

This plays like a million-dollar design document.

Got it from Gamefly last week and I'm a little less than halfway through it, going by the number of "fertile grounds".

What this game really needs is a Dirk the Daring bonus skin, because it owes a lot more to DRAGON'S LAIR than anything else. Except for those brief moments when the Prince is on flat ground, you're wall-climbing/jumping/swinging in a set path with input windows so huge you're practically queueing up commands.

Combat does have a developed combo system, but defense is almost entirely QTE button presses.

The "controversial" deathless saves are functionally no different than previous games, but it did make me realize that the hassle of enduring a "Game Over" screen in other games actually does add some tension while playing. On the other hand, given how touchy the Prince can be in hurling himself off into the void in this game, it was probably a good decision after all. I'm pretty sure I've already blown the "complete the game with less than 100 saves" achievement.

I say all this not necessarily in disappointment, but then I'm paying roughly $6 to play it. Its comically forgiving gameplay and gorgeous visuals (on this point, Overlord, still so, so wrong! ) ensures I'll play it to completion, and personally I find these kind of highly linear action games weirdly compelling. But it really has even less in common with the other games than you already suspected.

Put this to bed last night. I'd give it a B. I could see people giving it a lot less though, since the gameplay is sooo thin. If you're not enjoying the first half hour enough to rinse and repeat for another eight or nine hours, forget it. There are half a dozen moves to "master" to get through all the levels and that's it.

I just never got tired of how darn good you looked flinging yourself all over the place, so it was enjoyable enough to me. Pretty neat final shot, too.

Now $39.99 at Gamestop. That was quick.

Wonder if I can beg a last minute Xmas gift from anyone. This and MC:LA got drops today.

That is some good news! Much easier to spend $40 for a game then $60

I bought this today, but I haven't opened it yet. Now reading from this thread, I'm thinking I'm taking it back.

I love the Prince of Persia games, though the level of difficulty was unfortunately not carried on from the first installments to the latest...is it quite easy? I'd like to know...otherwise I'll just rent it in several more months...a great, yet easy game is like paying for a blowjob...it services your needs...but doesn't exceed them...because, as one CHUD poster pointed out, video games are ultimately, simply reward systems. And a degree of ease cheapens it. But makes for a good rental. Temporary...also like a prostitute.

This is a great bargain bin game, definitely not a GOTY contender. It tends to get repetitive, but I'm still enjoying it. I love the visual style, but I've always had a fondness for cel-shading.

I'm kind of embarrassed to admit this but the OCD side of me makes me love this game the more and more I played it. It hasn't been this bad since Crackdown.

I finished this over the weekend, and it was an above average game, but far from great. I loved the visual style of the game, I thought it looked stunning. The voice acting was rather odd at first, as it was a contemporary style. But there were only a couple instances where dialogue was cringe-inducing. The story was minimal, a little bit of a twist in there. It's really just a single quest throughout the whole game - heal the fertile grounds. But the relationship of the Prince and Elika is meant to keep you motivated, and you learn the back-story of the land and characters from those conversations.

There was a lot of variety in the different levels you visit. But a pity that the platforming aspect of the game was so automated and unappealing. Sure, you can easily pull off and link up a bunch of moves that are visually impressive, but it's too simple a task to time a few button presses. The environments can be expansive, but many times you just those magic plates to launch yourself across them. And two of those magic plate types result in annoying trial and error sequences as you either fly or run around, and have to dodge.

Combat was too simple. Based on the menus, there were numerous combos - but once you come upon one that works, there's really no incentive to learn anything else. That one combo will work on just about any enemy you face, unless it is one where it is determined you must use the environment to kill it. The boss battles are repetitive - I know they try and keep them fresh by having the enemies add attacks, or change states the more you fight them - but those changes were trivial as far as how you actually fight them. Any chance I got, I just set up the enemy at the edge of a platform so one attack would end the fight instantly.

Not a horrible game, but early on it just started feeling shallow. Luckily the game was short, it didn't take more than 30 minutes in any of the 24 nodes before you had it healed, then could move onto the next one. I'd still say it's a game worth trying, and experiencing - but not enough game there for me, that I'll ever want to revisit.

I really like this game a lot, in that it is on the whole a rather enjoyable experience. The visuals are great, and nothing is ever really bland or stale. Thematically, the goals are things that I can really get behind, and I like how the goals of the game really feel like you're doing some actual constructive good (the change in environments helps to solidify this feeling).

However, the difficulty issue most people raise is incredibly valid, and what really sucks is that it has an easy fix: The gameplay should have been more room based like Sands of Time. The new PoP abandons this for a more expansive environment, which is a cool idea, but I think the way they approached level design really enhances the QTE feeling a lot of people are getting, and I think grounding the experience a little bit more in actual physics would have helped a lot (The acrobatics feel kind of floaty, more like effortless flight. If anything, Sands of Time, really had a great athletic feel that I wish they were more faithful to. Assassin's Creed had it to some degree, as well, that feeling of weight in your movements.) That said, this is a franchise that's still too good to abandon, and this entry has its heart in the right place, I hope any forthcoming sequels make the proper adjustments: keeping the tone while improving the level design.

Was anyone else distracted by the Prince having the exact same voice as Nathan Drake? I guess I just played through Uncharted too many times and have his voice imprinted completely with that character, but it felt really off.

I should know better than to try play games with a headache...but fuck whoever decided to throw in Corrupted Air into the levels.

Just beat it.

Yeah, it's okay. The characters and the combat actually kinda grew on me with time, the acrobatics were still fun as ever, and gosh it's just ever so pretty. But it's still a watery broth where Sands of Time, hell, even Warrior Within and Two Thrones were thick, satisfying stews.

Still...don't feel like I wasted my time with it.

Not sure how bad I want to shell out ten bucks for a real fucking ending, though. Anybody mind weighing in on Epilogue before this thing makes its journey to Gamestop?

I just got this in from gamefly. So after playing for a few hours, it seems impossible to die and I hope this game isn't all about collecting those light seeds. If so, I won't even bother looking up that epilogue you speak of. Game does look really pretty though.

If you decide to actually make your way to all your destinations on foot, collecting them as you go, the light seed problem people kept harping on is almost non-existent. Only time I had to do a bit of fetch questing for them was for the final power (I had 448 seeds, needed 540). But even then, the hard to find seeds usually involve some really fun acrobatics. It was never a chore.

The Epilogue is only a must buy if you really liked the characters and the story; gameplay wise, you get a new ability you use a couple of times, a new collecting challenge, some repeats of boss fight and a slightly less anticlimatic ending.

Well I just finished this last night and have to say I personally really enjoyed it. I freely admit my view may be skewed by this being the first PoP game I've played since the original 2 PC games back in '89 and '90, but I found it sumptuous to look at, the story was relatively engaging, I actually quite liked the banter between our hero and Elika and even quite dug the ending.

Yes it was easy, yes it was straightforward, but I liked that it was essentially a beautiful puzzle game rather than a hack and slash and I found myself enjoying it a hell of a lot more than Prototype, a game I put on hold to play this and one I doubt I'll even finish at this point. A very outside the mainstream opinion around here I concede, but one I'll happily cop to.

All in all, I'm pretty keen to see where they take this particular PoP storyline next.

Rain dog, I agree with everything you said (xcept the prototype thing). Found the experience to be extremely relaxing and enjoyable. Not sure we're going to see another POP game like this one as there was a quite a backlash from the fans of the previous POP trilogy. I've only played the last game in that trilogy, and quite frankly I loved that game a little more than this new one, but I'm glad they did something different with the game play, story line and the graphics. Speaking of graphics, the game is fucking beautiful.

I am a big fan of the Sands of Time trilogy. I've played each game more than once, especially the first one.

I also loved the new PoP game. It is beautiful to look at, especially after you cleanse an area. I also enjoyed the storyline, and I hit the "talk to Elika" button after just about every significant event multiple times, just to see what she'd say. I liked the new direction with the series, and I hope that we get to see more of it in the future.