So anyone pick it up yet? It was waiting for me when I got home last night and I have to say I really enjoy it. I’ve healed the first few staging areas and haven’t gone back to the temple to get a power for Elika, but from what I’ve seen it’s going to be an amazing game.
Things I like so far are the freedom of movement. I loved Assassin’s Creed and this seems to take that in a new direction while still making it feel completely new. The art style is absolutely amazing, and areas change completely from their corrupted state to the healed state, not only opening up new pathways, but making the area itself simply look completely different. Elika herself is amazing, but it’s early on yet. I liked my dog in Fable 2 at first, but then the little shit got annoying as hell, always needing to be healed (even at highest combat) and would only bark at treasure chests I knew were there or distracting me with a dig site so I could collect yet another Civil Ring or something stupid and useless. So far Elika seems much better, and I like her personality and everything, but we’ll see how that goes. The Combat is fluid and fun, and I like how battles seem more epic when you fight fewer of them and against only one enemy at a time.
Things I don’t like so far. The combat, it’s too easy. In fact the game overall is very easy. I feel more like I’m just moving things along to see more stuff, which is cool cause I like exploring and it’s fun, but I like being challenged and I don’t think this game will ever do that. I also don’t like that I have to wait for Elika when I jump onto a cluster of vines. Every other area in the game she handles herself fine and I can run around smoothly not worrying about her, but when it comes to vines I have to wait a second or two so the Prince can grab her and let her piggyback on him. It’s kinda cute, sure, but why it interupts my flow, and this game has a lot of flow, so it’s annoying.
Overall though I think it’s going to be an amazing experience and I can’t wait to get home from work today. Anyone else have any thoughts or opinions?
Hardly. All of my coworkers are playing it, except for the one who’s bugging everyone else to finish it so he can discuss the ending.
I’ve only gotten the second travel power, but I’m already totally enamoured by it. The art style works extremely well both in the corrupted and the healed portions of the stages, and I find myself wanting to backtrack, not just to collect light seeds and unlock more areas, but to see and feel how the level changed with my help. The core of the game is still semi-linear platforming and freerunning, but just a little bit of exploration and path-choosing make it a totally new experience from the last-gen PoP.
The story itself seems pretty standard ‘sacred vs. profane’ stuff, but the banter between the Prince and Elika give the game a great deal of charm. The two are well acted, and coming to find out that they’re both fairly sarcastic while still playing off each each other teasingly makes the optional conversation that much more enticing.
There is a lot else coming out these days, but the innovation and production values presented in Prince of Persia make it a must-play. Between rounds of Fallout 3, of course…
I just picked this up today and am about to play it for the first time. I love what I’ve seen of the art. It reminds me of David Palladini, an artist who has done some very nice tarot and astrology decks/paintings. I grew up with his stuff on the walls of my room. I/we don’t follow tarot or astrology, but the pieces have won the admiration of my family nonetheless.
Here is a link to some exampls of Palladini’s work.
I’m playing it right now and loving it…the platforming at least. I like that they made combat one on one this time around, as well, but, well, I hate the combat still. I’m just not good at it. The blocking seems awkward to me.
But the platforming. The puzzle of trying to figure out how to find all of the light seeds. I love it.
@Jay: Really? I like the combat, it’s a bit simple and can sometimes get monotonous, but it looks very stylized and cool, which is one of the things I really liked about the combat in Assassin’s Creed. I haven’t found it to be too difficult, personally, and I’ve gotten decent at stringing together some combos and such.
@Robin: My thoughts exactly. The banter between the Prince and Elika really add to the game. It’s one of the first times in a long time I’ve actually been interested in stopping play just to listen to side-story banter, and Elika’s dialogue is done VERY well. The levels are semi-linear but in a good way, there’s a decent amount of exploration and choice of paths but not enough to get lost or overwhelmed, and the platforming is so smooth it’s quite enjoyable just to run around. The fact that they were able to completely change an area to the point where you want to go back and explore it again after you’ve cleansed it is quite an accomplishment in and of itself. All in all I’m very stoked for this game
And yea, it goes without saying yet also warrents enough merrit to point out that the art is freakin fantastic. The game is, simply put, absolutely beautiful
My BIL has suggested that I pick this game up too. I have been so busy with Fallout 3 and Rockband 2 and I have LittleBigPlanet coming soon that I don’t have time for yet another game right now. It is on my list of games to get soon though.
I loved the original Sands of Time (annoying combat and all), but I have to admit that the reviews of this game which I’ve seen are really bothering me. I don’t mind games that aren’t terribly challenging (e.g. Bioshock), but many of the reviews I’ve seen say that the new PoP game is so easy as to verge on cotton candy type fluff. Is there any real game to this game, or was the OP’s statement about how it was “like I’m just moving things along to see more stuff,” accurate rather than a bit of hyperbole?
I’ve been looking into games to get Lunarnoodle for Christmas, but grabbing a used copy of Deadspace on Ebay is currently looking like the way to go…
Dead Space is a great game That said, there is indeed a game in PoP, it’s just not focused on difficult platforming or annoying combat (it’s easy, yes, but Elika saving you constantly can basically be considered loading from a last checkpoint just without going through any loading screens or hitting any buttons). Combat is fun in that you get to do a bunch of combos and such and they’re very cinematic and cool, plus with the boss fights you need to figure out how to actually defeat them as some moves simply don’t work as combo starters on them (e.g. you might be forced to start a combo with your gauntlet or an acrobatics move). Also the game is all about exploration of the world. First you just go to the Fertile Ground and cleanse the area, but then you get to experience the whole area again and explore all over it in a completely different setting.
Thanks very much. It sounds like a fun game, but one I’ll wait for it to come down to 20, 25 bucks on Ebay. I think Lunar would like it a lot as she’s not exactly a hardcore gamer (her favorite games have the word “lego” or “pinata” in the titles).
I will probably pick up Deadspace as it’s come down in price a good bit. And both Lunar and I love scary games. It may be a bit selfish of me, but it’s a great added bonus if the game I get for her is one I can enjoy myself.
