Prince of Persia

Prince of Persia is sort of a "re-imagining" of the series for modern consoles. As far as I know, it doesn't have any/much relation to last generation's series of games, but I never got around to playing those. This new game in the franchise doesn't give me any motivation to change that fact.

You star as an acrobatic dude with a claw, who is followed around by some girl with magic powers whose father has just released Ahriman (the god of darkness and bad stuff) from his eternal prison under a tree. While that seems like a basic overview of the story... that is the only story that is revealed in the first 2 hours or so of the game. Oh, there is some random flashback/dream thing. I don't even know why the acrobatic hero guy is helping the random girl. She isn't even good looking. It was like she fell on him, then magically he had some unbreakable bond compelling him to do her dirty work. She is trying to banish the god Ahriman back to his tree prison before he destroys the world. Her father released Ahriman, for whatever reason that has yet to be explained other than we wouldn't have a game to play without trying to save the world.

The world you are trying to save is also... empty. So far the only inhabitants in the world are you, the girl, her dad, and like 4 random goons you beat up. That is it. It is basically a giant empty playground for your acrobatics stunts. Does Ubisoft really think gamers are that slave-minded where they will just do anything to save the world even if it would only result in like 2 deaths? (the dad doesn't count, he released it ffs).

The gameplay is every coma-inducing adventure game cliche you can think of rolled into one package. We have jumping, double/long jumping, ledge hanging, vine grappling, wall running, pole swinging, pole sliding, wall sliding, roof running... you get the idea. And these things aren't even broken up by fighting. Fights are so far and few between they end up feeling like mini games. The focus of this game is obviously on the "acrobatic" adventure moves, which have already gotten tedious after 2 hours. I can't imagine I would be sane after finishing this game...

This is a shame because the fightsjavascript:void(0) are actually fun, and incredibly cinematic. This is what fights in these types of games should be like, acrobatic and fancy with lots of flair. You really have to see these fights in action to fully appreciate how good they look. And after searching around for a bit, I didn't really find any nice videos... so you'll just have to take my word for it.

Either way, fights are not the main focus of this game. The exploration is. So, either you like to explore a nice looking world just for the sake of exploration (and "saving" it), or you don't. If you do, this game is for you. But I found it incredibly boring. Maybe if there was more motivation to do anything, it would be a bit more compelling. As is, however, I just don't care, and definitely don't want to put up with annoying cliche adventure elements to get through it.