Prince of Persia Preview

[DoctorFinger]

http://colonyofgamers.com/images/newsimages/PoP-1.jpg
Eurogamer (http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=262164) got some hands-on time with the upcoming Prince of Persia game. The trailer for this reboot of the franchise made a big splash at E3, with some fans worrying that Ubisoft was changing too much. Were those fears justified? From the tone of this preview, yes. From the first moment you pick up the controller, it's clear that's what's happened. Walking around is different; the prince moves more slowly, with a heavier gait. He can pull off huge jumps and impressive acrobatic moves, but the pace is slower here too.You control the prince using a new system that we're told was designed to be simpler and more intuitive. If you want to do a wall-run, for example, you no longer need to worry about pressing a second button. Just jump at the wall and the prince will run along it automatically - either vertically or horizontally, depending on which angle you made the jump from. Then just press the jump button again to eject from the run.
Other troubling bits from the preview: the combat is as slow as the running, you never fight more than one enemy at a time, and the voice work sounds like it was done by an SCTV cover band, complete with a Prince who says 'aboot'.

This preview has me worried. Real worried. The Sands trilogy was pure, sublime fun in the puzzle/acrobatic sections. The fighting mechanics improved as the series progressed, but neither it nor the story was the real draw of the series: the crazy acrobatics were. Now it seems like they've done their best to remove everything fun. The sense of speed? Gone. The feeling of accomplishment you get after passing a particularly tough acrobatic puzzle? Between the 'magic rescue princess' and the streamlined controls that's gone. The fun of taking down groups of enemies at a time? Nope. And for what? To make the game more accessible? The myth that a casual gamer automatically being a stupid gamer seems to be alive and well at Ubisoft Montreal.

Source - Eurogamer (http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=262164).

[Gorvi]

The game has an absolutely amazing look, but this really gives me pause. I don't like the sounds of the changes one bit. I should just go back and pick up the 2nd and 3rd PS2 PoP games as I never got around to it.

[Savok]

It's obvious no one there has any idea why Sands of Time was so good.

[pheriannath]

I can't get to Eurogamer to read the original article thanks to my work's firewall, but this sure sounds like they're trying to take the simplicity of Assassin's Creed to an unnecessary degree.

Regarding the "magic rescue princess", how is this essentially different than being able to rewind time in the old trilogy?

[Ancalagon]

Whats wrong with button mashing?

[Young Al Capone]

This is exactly what I was afraid of hearing after playing Assassin's Creed, that they streamlined everything to the point of it basically playing itself and not being very good at it. I was severly dissapointed with Assassin's Creed, hopefully this doesn't do the same thing.

[Goronmon]

I enjoyed Assassin's Creed, but thought the combat got a bit too easy once you learned to counter well. Now, taking that and adding button pop-ups? How can that not just be easy to the point of being boring?

[Telefrog]

Prediction: This game will sell extremely well regardless.

[biosc1]

If you want to do a wall-run, for example, you no longer need to worry about pressing a second button. Just jump at the wall and the prince will run along it automatically - either vertically or horizontally, depending on which angle you made the jump from. Then just press the jump button again to eject from the run.

Am I wrong, or isn't that how it was done in the earlier games as well?

[Young Al Capone]

Am I wrong, or isn't that how it was done in the earlier games as well?

You held a trigger or shoulder button, depending on what you played it on.

[agentgray]

Prediction: This game will sell extremely well regardless.
QFT. I wonder why some people think that a game has to be hard all the time. I liked Assassin's Creed. I thought it was a great visual experience.

Yes, it got easy the more you played it, but it didn't deter from the fun I had playing it. I don't want to be punished. Yes, I want to be challenged, but not frustrated either.

[Young Al Capone]

It doesn't have to be hard, it has to be fun. Assassin's Creed was an exercise in frustration.

You see, this is the wonderful thing about opinions though, I can hate Assassin's Creed and you can like it and everything remains alright.

[DoctorFinger]

Regarding the "magic rescue princess", how is this essentially different than being able to rewind time in the old trilogy?You always had a limited number of 'tanks' in the old trilogy. If you couldn't clear the puzzle by then, you were sent back to the last save/safe point. Now, with the MRP there's no limit on the retries.

[TrackZero]

You see, this is the wonderful thing about opinions though, I can hate Assassin's Creed and you can like it and everything remains alright.

Agreed, except agentgray is right. ;) AC was a great fun game, we need more like it.

[Morangie]

Can anyone in Canada send Ubisoft Montreal a copy of The Sands of Time with a big note attached saying "JUST IMPROVE THE FUCKING COMBAT"?

The full preview just makes the game sound even worse: terrible dialogue, slow movement, slow, simple combat with QTEs mixed in against one enemy at a time and worse of all putting jump/wallrun on one button and letting the game judge what you want to do. I hope the game has generous checkpointing because that won't cause irritating deaths at all.

The game has an absolutely amazing look, but this really gives me pause. I don't like the sounds of the changes one bit. I should just go back and pick up the 2nd and 3rd PS2 PoP games as I never got around to it.

Do yourself a favour and just replay Sands of Time. At the very least don't subject yourself to PoP2.

QFT. I wonder why some people think that a game has to be hard all the time. I liked Assassin's Creed. I thought it was a great visual experience.

If all you want is a great visual experience why not watch a movie? Or play MGS4. :)

[n00bian]

It's obvious no one there has any idea why Sands of Time was so good.

its the star wars/indianer jones effect all over again - some really talented people build something that becomes an instant classic and never can figure out why exactly it became one

[crazyD]

You always had a limited number of 'tanks' in the old trilogy. If you couldn't clear the puzzle by then, you were sent back to the last save/safe point. Now, with the MRP there's no limit on the retries.

You thought that was a good thing? I was always annoyed when I got stuck on a puzzle, died a few times, then had to start again from the last save. I would have preferred if I had unlimited rewind.

[Gorvi]

Do yourself a favour and just replay Sands of Time. At the very least don't
Eh, they're cheap now, and EB has that buy 2 used games get one free thing going on. I can get those two and LoK: Defiance (I've been meaning to play that for a while) for ~$25. I'm very tempted to do that.

[Savok]

As much as I fucking adore Legacy of Kain, play it first or you'll be craving Sands of Time's controls :p

Still buy it of course, and be sure to go through the extras when you're done, if only for the amazing voice session for a semi-obscure character you meet who sounds kinda shitty and deadpan (for a LoK game) during the game itself. God knows why they didn't use that, you can hear the madness in his voice.

[pomeroy]

I was sort of worried about this.

I really liked two out of the three PoP games last gen (Warrior Within can suck my left nut), and when they started changing everything I liked, it gave me pause.

Now...unless reviews state it's better than eating cake while having sex, I'll probably pass.

[Urizen]

The fun of taking down groups of enemies at a time? Nope.

The fun? The fun of taking down groups of enemies in the POP trilogy from last gen? The fun? What the hell game did you play? It was always a war of mindless attrition that punctuated great puzzle and platform sequences.

The third game was the best, because it tried to fix a lot of the problems with the one-hit kills and such.

I will also add I never got a 'sense of speed' at any point in the trilogy, apart from the near uncontrollable chariot races. Perhaps, Eurogamer should revisit the other games.

At any rate, previews are useless and commentary on previews moreso. It's like this game will have a demo, and everyone would benefit from a discussion of that instead.

[Food Nipple]

This preview has me worried. Real worried. The Sands trilogy was pure, sublime fun in the puzzle/acrobatic sections. The fighting mechanics improved as the series progressed, but neither it nor the story was the real draw of the series: the crazy acrobatics were. Now it seems like they've done their best to remove everything fun. The sense of speed? Gone. The feeling of accomplishment you get after passing a particularly tough acrobatic puzzle? Between the 'magic rescue princess' and the streamlined controls that's gone. The fun of taking down groups of enemies at a time? Nope. And for what? To make the game more accessible? The myth that a casual gamer automatically being a stupid gamer seems to be alive and well at Ubisoft Montreal.


Personally, I'm not too worried about most of these changes. I think the one-on-one combat sounds a lot more interesting than the generic combat of the previous games, and Ninja Gaiden showed that you don't need a separate button for wall running. That frees up another button on the controller for other functions. I don't see how these are supposed to be negatives.

[agentgray]

If all you want is a great visual experience why not watch a movie? Or play MGS4. :)
MGS4 is a movie with occasional button pauses.

[Young Al Capone]

All I am reading is that the game is streamlined, now based on this developers last game and what they did with streamlining there I am very worried that the game will mostly play itself, and suck at it.

[VerseD]

This is an early build, and only part of it. They could make gameplay faster before release, and there are probably spots later where you fight more than one enemy.

The preview has me a little worried, though. I like the look of the new game, but I hope Ubisoft doesn't blow their load on concept art and forget to make gameplay fun. It doesn't have to be simple to be intuitive or to be fun.

[Raen]

"You have quite a lot to unlearn in the combat system of this game. This is not a game that rewards button-mashing anywhere - not in acrobatics nor in combat. Button-mashers don't have fun until they unlearn to not mash the button," he says. "What we want, as a player experience, is sitting back, pressing the buttons more methodically and strategically, and therefore getting sucked into the flow of the game - rather than the aggressive, spastic button-mashing that other combat games sometimes feature."

If I'm fighting and I'm pulling off a combo, it should feel like there's some difficulty. Being able to pause for almost a second isn't flowing combat, that's as close as you can get to turning combat into quick time events. Well quick time events with choices! Oh the fun.

And only one enemy at a time. Sure AC was easy to control and repetitive, but at least the combat was challenging when you were trying to fight a dozen guards at once. And are we honestly supposed to believe that no two enemies in the game thought that working together might be a somewhat good idea. I kinda like the idea where the princess saves you from death before, I thought it would be cool to see her fending off a group of attackers. If she only ever has to fend off one enemy then that's nowhere near as entertaining.

EDIT: So I guess I missed a bit towards the end of the preview. There are quick-time events, even if the developer denies it.

The action slows right down, the Hunter moves in for the kill and a big B button symbol appears on the screen. Being a veteran of quick-time events as well as button-mashing, we press B instinctively, and sure enough the prince rolls out of the path of the enemy's attack. Yes, Mattes confirms, the prince has survived. But there's a penalty to pay - the enemy has regained health. According to Mattes, the idea behind this is to stop players whittling the health of enemies down bit by bit.

Apparently they added the on screen hint because otherwise it wasn't obvious what button you were supposed to be pressing, although it seems from what they say that ducking an attack is one button, rolling another etc... So basically the testers can't remember the control scheme of the game?

[menage]

QTE's, no thank you, I know it's supposed to be cinematic, but it actually isn't cause I'm watching the goddamn buttons all the time.

This seems to be all looks no content yet again Ubi.

[Savok]

QTE's, no thank you, I know it's supposed to be cinematic, but it actually isn't cause I'm watching the goddamn buttons all the time.
YES, EXACTLY!

Thank you.