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Prince of Persia was the only game that wasn't actually playbale at Ubidays 08 this year. Instead, Prince of Persia was only talked about. Unfortunately, it looks like we won't be seeing the game until E3 rolls around. So for now, this is the best new details we're going to get.  

Hit the jump to hear about the new story, the new fighting system, the ability to explore the game however you want to, and your new magical female partner that is with you throughout the entire game. And check out the gallery filled with new screenshots and plenty of concept art.

The new Prince of Persia has been in development for over two and a half years now. When development on the next game started, they decided to ditch everything from the previous games and go into a entirely new direction. Prince of Persia has always had this fantasy nature to it, so now they're fully embracing this. They're taking the environmental and level design to a very mythical level. Think "castle in the sky" type fantasy (not that there will actually be a castle in the sky ... well, maybe). The art style, which we've been given a little preview of already, is being called Illustrative art style, something that has never been done before.

The story takes place with you arriving to a Garden of Eden like place where an ancient evil God called Ahriman has just been freed. As soon as he breaks from his prison, his evil spreads across the lands turning everything in darkness. This evil corruption consumes everything taking away all life and light from the world. It's your task to go through the world, visit different regions and purify them from the corruption. 

This is where another big change to the series is introduced. You have the choice at how you want to play the game. The world you'll be exploring was being compared to the United States. Say you're in "California" and you want to go to "New York". Half way to "New York" you decide you'd rather go to "Texas" instead. You have that freedom of choice to play the game like that. Depending on where you go and what region you save will affect how the story progresses. There will be a system in place, though, for gamers that just want to do what the game tells them to do and sets them on a straight path.

The fighting system is a lot like a boss fight now. Every enemy you encounter will be like a boss where they're just as strong, if not stronger, than you. The camera will shift into this movie like mode giving you very dramatic angels of the battle. You need to use your environment in a battle to try and get the upper hand. Force enemies toward a wall, toward a ledge or any other thing to try and turn the battle to your advantage. At the same time, the enemies will try and do the same thing to you. In fact, the enemy you're pushing towards a wall might be letting you do this on purpose. He might be tricking you into thinking you're about to have an advantage only for him to make his move at the last second and throw you up against the wall instead. The fighting system was heavily influenced by the Final Fantasy: Advent Children movie (The Tifa fight scene is so awesome) to give you a better idea of what they're shooting for. 

Finally, the newest addition to the Prince of Persia series is a character named Elika. Elika is a support character and she will always be at your side to help you whenever you need it. The developers have made it so Elika will never get in the way of what you're doing. She'll always be in the right place at the right time to assist you with whatever you need. She can hold her own in a fight and she'll do some tag team moves with you to take on enemies. She has strong magical attacks so if a enemy puts up a shield around himself, Elika will jump in, shatter the shield and step off to the side ready to assist you if you call upon her again. 

She'll be able to assist you with puzzles too. If a jump is to far, you two will do some sort of a super jump that will let you cross over to the other side. She can also give you her opinion on how to do a puzzle if you're getting stuck and she'll even start working on a puzzle on her own sometimes. Elika also has the power to  show you where you should go next with her magical abilities should you get yourself lost.

After the fifteen-minute speech, we were shown a 45 second long CG teaser of some of what was said in action, which you can check out at above.

In theory, all this sounds great. Hopefully all this works out in the actual game. We'll just have to wait until E3 to find out how this turns out. How's it sounding to you? The new Prince of Persia should be hitting this holiday season for the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC. 


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23 comments | showing # 1 to 23

Novakaine's Avatar
Novakaine at 05/28/2008 15:27
So Ubisoft's plans:

PS3/360: Prince of Persia, Far Cry 2, Beyond Good & Evil 2.

Wii/DS: Rayman Raving Rabbids.

The hell?
Elandarex's Avatar
Elandarex at 05/28/2008 15:29
I'm a little unsure as to every fight being like a boss battle as that speaks of QTE to me. Still, if they manage to make it like a Jackie Chan fight scene, making clever use of your environment on the fly, then I can't wait.
Primo's Avatar
Primo at 05/28/2008 15:32
This really makes my weiner happy.
Gemsi's Avatar
Gemsi at 05/28/2008 15:36
So far this is shaping up to be awesome, i just hope there is enough platformming
cchance's Avatar
cchance at 05/28/2008 15:39
OH MY GOD Ubi's getting all my money this year, FC2, PoP, BGE2... OH LORD IM SOOO GONNA BE BROKE!

how come farcry gameplay hasnt slipped out yet... e3 cant come fast enough for some more PoP info
KyleGamgee's Avatar
KyleGamgee at 05/28/2008 15:44
If it's anything like the fight against The Ax and The Sword in the 3rd PoP, then I'm in for a lot of hurting. Those guys were TOUGH!

No mention of being able to rewind time... makes me regard this as almost a new IP or a Final Fantasy-type sequel (sequel in name only).

I loved the Sands trilogy. I will play it when it comes out. I hope I like it.
DJP3DRO's Avatar
DJP3DRO at 05/28/2008 15:47
HEY GUYS LET'S SEE HOW MANY CLICHES WE CAN FIT IN A VIDEO GAME TRAILER
king3vbo's Avatar
king3vbo at 05/28/2008 15:51
Mmm tasty
Cowzilla3's Avatar
Cowzilla3 at 05/28/2008 15:56
Looks very good. Can't wait.
Zaxo3636's Avatar
Zaxo3636 at 05/28/2008 15:57
I wonder if this new style (which I personally like) is the direction the recently announced movie will take. What do you guys and girls think?
Cacophony's Avatar
Cacophony at 05/28/2008 16:18
It looks cool. Really, really cool.

But does it have any relation to the earlier PoP games or are they going for a full reboot or perhaps just a spiritual sequel?
PappaDukes's Avatar
PappaDukes at 05/28/2008 16:34
hole.
lee.
shit.

Stop, you had me at "deadly new ally".
Narishma's Avatar
Narishma at 05/28/2008 16:40
It doesn't have any relation to the Sands of Time trilogy, just as the Sands of Time didn't have anything to do with the original PoP.
CookieMonster's Avatar
CookieMonster at 05/28/2008 16:47
Wow the game looks pretty damn good, just hope the combat oriented video isn't a sign of too much combat oriented gameplay. I miss the good old fashion platforms and jumping...
teknohed's Avatar
teknohed at 05/28/2008 17:14
I boldly stood up in defense of the cell shaded screen shots when they first hit a few weeks ago. I think the response to those was favorable on from Destructoid readers but a lot of other sites had comments like "so gay" or "so lame".

But now I'm sorry. This video looks like utter shit. I mean this is PoP filtered through the lens of Final Fantasy.

The horrible cartwheel spin coup de gras that the prince does with the Yuna rip off? God how terrible. Hopefully this is just an FMV and the game will live up to the Onimusha meets Okami that I imagined...but I'm not so sure...

Can a Ubisoft buyout of Sqaure Enix be far off?

Tom Clancy's Advanced Slime Fighter...Confirmed!!!
timtheterrible's Avatar
timtheterrible at 05/28/2008 17:34
Prince of Strider?
bVork's Avatar
bVork at 05/28/2008 17:36
teknohed: Yes, that trailer was entirely CG. In fact, I think it looked considerably worse than the screenshots already shown. Hopefully there will be some in-game footage soon.
ZeroTolo's Avatar
ZeroTolo at 05/28/2008 18:03
@CookieMonster

I've read a couple articles and the producer has said that combat will almost always be a one-on-one situation, making them more like duels than the fighting system from the other three games.
TrailerParkJesus's Avatar
TrailerParkJesus at 05/28/2008 19:12
eeep! Can't wait!
frozenbabylon's Avatar
frozenbabylon at 05/28/2008 19:32
Do want. Oh god yes.
deiga-the-semivaliant's Avatar
deiga-the-semivaliant at 05/29/2008 01:23
I'm liking what I'm seeing so far.

Of course, I said the same about Prince of Persia 2, and look at what utter shitte that game was.
stevephoenix's Avatar
stevephoenix at 05/29/2008 06:39
it isn't just me who thinks Elika looks like Natalie Portman in that first pic on the gallery is it?
Demtor's Avatar
Demtor at 05/29/2008 08:23
"The camera will shift into this movie like mode giving you very dramatic angels of the battle. You need to use your environment in a battle to try and get the upper hand."

That worries me. The last thing I want to worry about in an intense boss like fight is where the fucking camera will think it needs to be. Please, for the love of God, no QTE's just because the camera does some movie like bullshit.

And does this description mean that every enemy encounter is going to be a puzzle of sorts? Where you constantly get your arse handed to you until you figure out some random trick with the environment. That can be fun at times, but not every time. I prefer my fights to be challenging on a skill basis, not puzzle basis. But thats just me.

Hopefully they can balance this all out well enough where I won't be wrenching my controller in frustration in every fight, resisting the urge to pop in God of War...
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