I've been playing the new Prince of Persia, and even after a solid few hours, and visits to more than a few 'Fertile Grounds', I can't decide if I love it, or hate it...

Maybe hate is a bit strong, but I can't help but feel belittled by Ubisoft Montreal with how they've Assassins Creed'ed the PoP control scheme and at times I feel like the term 'platforming' isn't actually applicable...And then there are those moments when everything comes together and I look like a fucking genius, and it's beautiful as the Prince pounces from pole-to-wall-to-swing-to-hook...And then there are moments where there are jumps that just go awry and I end up falling until Elikas hand grabs mine and brings me back to ground...The no dying ins't a biggie since it only alleviates a reload screen from popping up...Although if you suck then the hand grab scene may rival the Too Human Valkyrie scene (but not nearly as long).

I'm a big believer in precision platforming, and having to time jumps to the milisecond to get by...And I look forward to dying 1,000 times to get through a section and feel like I was forced to get it right. Is that my masochistic side? Probably...But the fact that there is so much forgivness is a big negative...And then I get sloppy because I feel like the moves that tie together are simple where I don't hit (B) to grab a hook late enough and die...And then I'm pleased...

I love the look of the game. It is beautiful, and the colors scream and pop off the screen...Seeing my colorful (almost gay pride parade colorfull Prince) contrast with the bleak colorless levels is nice, then seeing the world regain its beauty, and having the color saved for Elika and The Prince originally leaked all over the world really makes the simple control worthwhile...But, and there is always a but, the story starts to annoy me just as the simple control set up does...For any real exposition I'm forced to repeatedly hit the LT or LB to talk to her and find out more about the lands I'm saving. It wouldn't be so bad, but I have to hit the button at the minimum 5 times, usually more like 9-10 to get the low down. And the cut-scene this evokes is always from the same 2 angles (having both characters on screen, and swapping The Prince and Elika in the foreground). It would have been nice if they had some cut-scenes that gave me more exposition so I didn't have to stop-hit the button-watch the scene-hit the button-watch another and repeat until I get a corny one-liner that lets me know I have gone as far as I can for the moment. I can't understand the choice to force the player to hit more buttons to get a little hunk of story than the button presses I had to use to get through the area....

Which leads to the combat...Oh the combat...I miss the multi enemy combo-fest (or at least button mash) that was the PoP:SoT...The combat has "combos", but only in the sense that you can hit one button, then another, and another...But as long as you can deflect a strike by the enemy (one at a time) and tell what 'shield' they are using (which cuts down on the notion of a combo by being forced into a opening strike) then combat will cause no issues...The word combo, in gaming terms, implies that timing is an essential element. Timing matters not with the cmbat here...I miss the sweetness of the combo system in Conan...

I get that they want it cinematic, but instead of the combat feeling more focused with solid fights it seems like the combat was an afterthought....a way late afterthought...And I'm upset by that. But OK, playing a PoP game isn't mainly about combat for any fan...It's about the platforming (which has been simplified to almost a fault) but about the puzzles...BUT (again), the puzzles are pretty much MIA. A couple of crank puzzles thus far, which took no time in completing, and unless you have no clue how to approach a puzzle in a videogame shouldn't have much trouble completing quickly, is a travesty. How are puzzles, large and small scale so removed from the series?!? Now to be fair, I've yet to complete the game, but I have visited each area at least once, and completed one of the 4 completely...So I doubt they stuffed a ton of puzzles in the places I have yet to see...

So I'm torn. There is so much promise, and so much that has been underdelivered, and I still can't decide if I reallhy like, or am 'meh' about the game...I can't see how some of the design choices were made. The levels are beautiful, and are well laid out, which is all the more infuriating in one respect because I want to rule over the land....And instead I'm only allowed to be a hall monitor...It just seems unfair....