Prince of Persia

So, imagine you're Ubisoft. Tucked away in your portfolio, you've got Prince of Persia: Sands of Time – one of the most enchanting, critically lauded games ever made. What's the best way to drive fans away from a beloved franchise? Simple: follow it up with two horrendously misjudged sequels, eschewing the charms of the original in favour of boardroom-decreed, focus-tested drivel. So, as Ubisoft, what's the best way to win those fans back? Easy – you make this game.

It's not often you splurge out the positives at the top of a review but, quite simply, this newest Prince of Persia gets so much absolutely right and so little even remotely wrong, it would be doing a disservice not to start reeling them off now. If we're lucky, we might even have gotten all the good stuff out the way by the end of the review. Where to start though? Well, probably in the series' most obvious upgrade.

Put simply, Prince of Persia is a visual tour de force and just the very tip of what makes the game such a gloriously refreshing experience. From its fluid animation to diverse, sprawling environments, Prince of Persia absolutely revels in attention to detail – and its hand-drawn, watercolour art style ties it all into a single, beautifully cohesive package. Admittedly, that's not immediately obvious and, initially, you're enveloped in a relentlessly bleak, barren world. Of course, your ultimate task is to banish Ahriman, god of all that is evil, and restore peace by locating the game's 25-odd Fertile Grounds, staunchly protected by his four most loyal followers.

As you gradually reclaim the land, Ubisoft's artists go haywire with the colour palette and the result is one of the most radiant, sumptuous and satisfying game world's we've seen. From bright blue skies, rolling green fields, waterfalls, rainbows and windmills to shimmering moonlit temples, floating in an endless sea of mist – it's consistently arresting, lying somewhere between the relentless imagination of Studio Ghibli and the sturdy design ethic of Disney. It's perfectly complemented by the game's orchestral score too, effortlessly segueing from oppressive to whimsical, downbeat to triumphant.

It's an incredibly enchanting package - and that's true of the underlying game too. Welcoming from the off, with a carefully judged introductory tutorial, it remains accommodating throughout. Prince of Persia is a game that wants to be played and it goes out of its way to make sure you want to play it back. It's evident in the user-configured compass system, ensuring you always know where you're going, and in tiny visual cues that warn of oncoming danger. Most significantly though, there's the simple fact that it's impossible to die - fall off a ledge and magical sidekick Elika plonks you back on the nearest flat surface; get struck down in battle and you're instantly resurrected.

Undoubtedly, the focus in this franchise reboot is on delivering a relentless adrenaline rush of a title. It's still unashamedly a platform game though – and the series' trademark physics-defying acrobatics are back with aplomb, albeit in their most giddyingly fluid, dynamic form yet. The biggest change from its predecessors, and the one that might irk traditionalists most, however is a reduced focus on path-finding and puzzle-solving – with routes around the game world entirely linear in isolation and clearly telegraphed. Instead, Prince of Persia features a design that facilitates quick thinking and lightning responses – to the point where the whole observation, assessment and reaction pattern is more akin to a rhythm action title than a platform game. It's literally possible to dash from one side of each vast area to the other in one seamless combo run - and it's a thoroughly exhilarating experience.

A similar ethos is tied to the fighting system and – finally – the series has combat to match the quality of its platform mechanics. Rather than trite button-mashing, battles focus on observation and reaction, proving to be both considered and rewarding. With four basic moves at your disposal – magic, attack, acrobatic and gauntlet – it's possible to string vast combos together, provided you get your timing right. It's a deep system, with countless possible permutations of attack, and encourages experimentation. It's immensely satisfying piecing together your own combos - for instance, thrashing a third off your opponent's health with a debilitating magic attack, followed by an acrobatic leap, quick slash, air jump and a final one-two blow. It's quite a crowd-pleaser too, with well-integrated quick-time sequences used to add a visually arresting cinematic edge to battles, plus environmental hazards enable you to vary your attack strategy. What's more, boss battles aside, combat is an optional affair – quickly reach a spawning opponent and a swift sword slash nullifies the entire battle. It's yet another glorious nod to user choice in the way you approach the game and is utterly laudable.

It's in the integration of these two core game mechanics that Prince of Persia really succeeds. It's carefully balanced, ensuring the pace never flags, with just enough combat to break up those platform elements. What's more, there's always the promise of something new around the corner - whether that be the handful of more cerebral puzzles, show-stopping set-pieces or constantly engaging environmental design. Even orb-collecting, required to unlock advanced abilities and open up new routes for exploration, skillfully avoids descending into obnoxious padding - instead, offering incentive to experiment with your acrobatic arsenal and explore the game's meticulously-designed worlds once you've cleansed an area, all at a far more relaxed pace.

Undoubtedly, the series has moved on and it's all the better for it. However, there's one area where this new entry borrows wholesale from its most illustrious predecessor and it's a welcome bit of pilfering too. Before the anger and angst of Warrior Within and Two Thrones, Sands of Time offered up one of gaming's most charming double acts in the form of the Prince and feisty sidekick Farah. It's a template that this latest Prince of Persia holds dear and new Prince and Elika are really what give the game heart. From the excellent writing and voice acting to genuinely touching animation as the duo graciously shuffle around each other during more elaborate acrobatic moments, they're both infused with genuine, likeable personalities, doing the mating dance with dry wit and irresistible sardonic charm. It's a relationship that really moves the game forward - far overshadowing the otherwise generic apocalyptic threat – and escalates an already excellent title to new heights.

Of course, it's not all perfect and Prince of Persia does come complete with a few niggles. Some people are bound to hate the incredibly forgiving nature of the game – and it's true that there's no tangible sense of challenge and, arguably, achievement as a result. Undoubtedly, the fun is inherent in the game's relentlessly joyous moment-by-moment experience rather any notion of ultimate victory. To be honest though, when you consider that

Ubisoft

has delivered a game that's consistently exhilarating and entertaining for its entire 12-hour run, it's a fairly moot criticism.

At a more fundamental level, there are minor quirks which occasionally annoy. For instance, the way the game stacks input commands then reacts once an initial animation is complete occasionally leads to your unintended demise – the only taint in an otherwise robust, fluid control system. Then there are Elika's magical upgrades – required to access new areas of the game world. Two, in particular, suffer from a thoroughly impractical viewpoint – absolutely the only time the camera system is ever less-than-perfect. Simply, you're not afforded a wide enough view to see up ahead and too often you'll charge headlong into an unseen object, being teleported right back to the beginning of a sequence. That wouldn't be so bad except for the fact that the game has a nasty habit of presenting these in lengthy segments, generally with no mid-point save. It's frustrating, being forced to redo the same long sections again and again while you doggedly memorise the route ahead. Thankfully though, it's an issue that raises its head in only a handful of areas throughout the game.

Closing Comments
Ultimately, the only thing holding Prince of Persia back from absolute greatness is its very traditional core. Unlike this season’s heaviest hitters, it doesn’t seek to redefine anyone's notion of gaming, it simply wants to be fun - and there's something reassuringly familiar about the overall experience. However, that doesn’t detract from the simple fact that Ubisoft has delivered an incredibly polished, tremendously enjoyable and utterly lovable experience here. It takes all the best elements of previous franchise entries then expands and refines them to create an absolutely unforgettable adventure. It’s magical in every sense of the word and, after all those years in the wilderness, it’s good to have the old Prince back.

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