If you are at all interested in the new Prince of Persia, you really need to hit the jump immediately and watch Part 1 and Part 2 of the developer's walkthrough that was shown off at yesterday's Ubisoft press conference. I was completely blown away by what I saw.
In the level shown, the developer talked about wanting to show off three specific things: the acrobatics, the use of your partner Elika, and the fighting mechanic. The acrobatics are very similar to the old Sands of Time trilogy, but this time they look a lot tougher. Since the game is completely non-linear, finding ledges to grab onto and walls to run across is pretty tough. The fighting looked similar as well, but is deepened by some amazing combo moves that you and your partner can do. (In a cool statement, the developer mentioned he wanted every battle in the game to feel like a well-designed boss fight.) What left me impressed the most, though, was the creative uses of your partner, Elika.
In the game, the Prince cannot die. I know that sounds lame, but here me out for a second. Instead of dying, every time you fall of a ledge or miss a jump, Elika grabs your hand and pulls you into a ball of light, warping you back to the latest "checkpoint." It is obviously only used as an aesthetic thing, but it feels smooth and is a nice replacement for the time mechanic from the older games in the series. In addition to saving you from death, Elika is a great partner in that she will always assist you throughout the game -- be it with puzzles or fighting giant beasts. Even little touches like the way she grabs your hand and flings you in the air during a double jump make you feel like she is always there to help. As an added bonus, the developer mentioned Elika will never fall behind of get in the way. Sounds like the perfect partner in what really amounts to a glorified escort mission to me!
Prince of Persia is scheduled to be released this holiday season. Please click on the jump RIGHT NOW to view the lengthy gameplay demos. They are truly incredible and you won't be disappointed.
Chad Concelmo is Destructoid's features editor. He loves hanging out with awesome people. That's why Destructoid makes him so happy, since it is full of THE MOST AWESOME PEOPLE OF ALL TIME! Also, dolphins.
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Chad enjoys punching old ladies in the face, Super Metroid, Zelda: A Link to the Past on the SNES (best system ever!), Final Fantasy VI, Day of the Tentacle, Shadow of the Colossus, Mother 3, Beyond Good & Evil, Contra III, Valkyria Chronicles, Punch-Out!!, Half-Life 2, and Super Mario Galaxy 2.
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Coming for PC too I hope? I love that this seems to be heavily focused on acrobatics and exploration, which was my favourite part of the PoP games by far.
This game looks absolutely gorgeous. What I liked most about the gameplay trailer was how much focus was in the acrobatics and jumping instead of the fighting, it's good to see PoP coming back to it's roots.
I do like the art direction, the combat seems stylish, and the aerobatics are definitely looking good. I like this non-linear approach as well.
The only thing I see wrong here is the whole "you can't die" thing. Sure, it's great that Elika saves you and whatnot, it's definitely cool-looking. But it feels like I can go anywhere without fear. So I dunno, we'll see as time goes on.
"But it feels like I can go anywhere without fear."
For me, that makes me even more excited. I don't like getting frustrated in games, the challenge isn't what I'm interested in anymore. While I don't like a game with zero challenge at all, I'm more interested in the story, setting, and characters.
Finally a good platformer for the 360! I've been drowning in shooters for the past year and I'm tired of them. The 360 definitely needs some more variety in their mature games.
You can compare it to checkpoints ala Gears of War or Resistance. Instead of having a screen pop up asking you if you want to reload at the nearest checkpoint, the game simply does it for you, and seamlessly I might add.
In the Gamespot stage show, they elaborated a bit on how the 'save me' system applies to the combat. When you fuck up and 'die' you just get saved and get right back into the fight, but your enemy regains health. He compared it to BioShock's Vita-Chambers, but neglected to mention that BioShock had absolutely zero penalty for dying. It looks like 'dying' in Prince of Persia will penalize you enough that it's impossible to just power through the game.
I was utterly blown away. I was a big fan of Sands of Time, but found it had more than its fair share of trial-and-error gameplay that resulted in serious frustration and controller abuse. This new direction for the Prince of Persia series that maintains the spirit of the game and tones down the controller-killing rage has got me very excited. This may be one of the few games I've considered purchasing for my PC since Age of Conan.
I think it looks like a xbox game. I didn't like
the art direction nor the sporadic movements of the characters. Like how the jumped from here to there, there seemed to be no rules for how you could jump.
I like the philosophy behind the combat. The fights in The Sands Within got a bit formulaic after a while. It's also neat that the hunter stopped the player in the middle of an action. Even if that is completely scripted, it's cool to see platformers where the enemies don't appear to simply be waiting for the player to engage them. The developers clearly have some direct influences on their art direction (Okami and ICO spring to mind pretty instantly), but it looks like they're putting some life into a series I think a lot of people tuned out.
It's either going anywhere without fear and doing cool things, or trying to do cool things and dying more often (and not progressing fluidly).
Trauma Center is a good example where I could only do one or two successful operations first time without failing. I felt damn sure it would be better if I could have the confidence to do something first time, without being hesistant about getting slapped by approaching a section incorrectly.
- it's got the teammate jump help ripped straight from TMNT (an Ubisoft game)
- combat that is ripped straight from Assassin's Creed (not surprising since it's using the same engine, but thank god it looks way more polished and cinematic)
- "bring color back to the world" theme from Okami
- Prince voiced by Altair/Nathan Drake
with all the copying and rehashing going on, i should hate this game... but i absolutely LOVE it so far. the only minor detail i haven't liked - the prince sounds like a smart-ass and i don't think they needed that (but i guess that's par for the course when you're the PoP).
i'm also not a fan of the new voice of this prince, doesn't seem to fit well, however i'm really fucking excited that they decided to go back to the non-linear style that warrior withing had.
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Contest:
12:49 PM on 07.16.2008
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is the sands of time team doing this?
It's definitely on my watch list of games to buy!
The game looks pretty rad.
Oh, I still need the Game Over, you suck screen.
The only thing I see wrong here is the whole "you can't die" thing. Sure, it's great that Elika saves you and whatnot, it's definitely cool-looking. But it feels like I can go anywhere without fear. So I dunno, we'll see as time goes on.
The voice actor is either the same or very similar, and same for the jumping and stuff. Also, female companion that isn't super annoying.
For me, that makes me even more excited. I don't like getting frustrated in games, the challenge isn't what I'm interested in anymore. While I don't like a game with zero challenge at all, I'm more interested in the story, setting, and characters.
Purely subjective of course, but there you go.
I loved the PoP games. Looking forward to this one too.
EEEeeee!
You can compare it to checkpoints ala Gears of War or Resistance. Instead of having a screen pop up asking you if you want to reload at the nearest checkpoint, the game simply does it for you, and seamlessly I might add.
It's no different than clicking "Continue."
the art direction nor the sporadic movements of the characters. Like how the jumped from here to there, there seemed to be no rules for how you could jump.
That purification scene was very Okami.
It's either going anywhere without fear and doing cool things, or trying to do cool things and dying more often (and not progressing fluidly).
Trauma Center is a good example where I could only do one or two successful operations first time without failing. I felt damn sure it would be better if I could have the confidence to do something first time, without being hesistant about getting slapped by approaching a section incorrectly.
- it's got the teammate jump help ripped straight from TMNT (an Ubisoft game)
- combat that is ripped straight from Assassin's Creed (not surprising since it's using the same engine, but thank god it looks way more polished and cinematic)
- "bring color back to the world" theme from Okami
- Prince voiced by Altair/Nathan Drake
with all the copying and rehashing going on, i should hate this game... but i absolutely LOVE it so far. the only minor detail i haven't liked - the prince sounds like a smart-ass and i don't think they needed that (but i guess that's par for the course when you're the PoP).
most anticipated game of Fall/Winter 2008 for me.