In 2003 Ubisoft set out to re-create one of the best old side-scrolling platformers, originally created by Jordan Mechner, it was called Prince Of Persia.
Prince of Persia: Sands of Time was a huge difference from the previous games for MS-DOS and Macintosh (history kind of ignores Red Orb Entertainment’s Prince of Persia 3D that came out in 1999). Ubisoft Montreal had a vision – to create a new game franchise which would ultimately take the world by storm. This 3D version gave birth to new squeals, new ideas, and new characters. Combined with all the hand held versions of the game, there were countless games released. Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones ended the main trilogy. For 3 years there was no sign of the prince, until the announcement of the newest game titled Prince of Persia that would reboot the series with a new characters,  storyline, and most importantly – a new engine called Scimitar.

Prince of Persia has almost no story. At the beginning of the game we are introduced to the prince – who is actually a traveler that lost his donkey – Farah (the name of the princess in previous games). Then we meet Elika – a princess being chased by her father’s guards. From this point on we learn how to control the prince and how to interact with Elika. The main story behind the game is basic. There are two gods – Ormazd, the God of light and Ahriman – the God of Darkness. Elika’s father has released Ahriman from his prison, releasing dark corruption in four parts of the land. Unless the prince and Elika will stop it, the corruption will continue to spread to the rest of the world. This starts your adventure.

Without Elika the Prince is useless – she will guide you, save you from painful deaths, reveal the story, and most important – heal the fertile grounds. The Fertile grounds are like fountains of light – once it has been conquered, the area around it is healed of the corruption. There are four main areas you can visit. Each area has a protector that was changed by corruption; each protector also has its own back story and history with the Ahriman. These protectors are: The Hunter, The Alchemist, The Concubine and The Warrior – which make up the bosses in the game, each protecting one area. You have to defeat each protector four times before the door to their lair opens and a fifth victory will finally allow you to heal the entire area.

Prince of Persia has a very in-depth combat system. The prince has his sword, gauntlet and his most powerful weapon – Elika. Enemies will change their state during battles, making a certain weapon effective. Use the wrong one and it will result in a counter attack. Enemies will usually have some kind of weakness in battle – they can be pushed off a ledge, rammed into objects, etc… Although Prince of Persia has a good battle system, the battles are not many and tend to get repetitive. Every now and then you come across a corrupt soldier but as soon as you start battling he is either dead or pushed off the ledge very quickly.

Like all Prince of Persia titles the movement is something else, and in this one it’s even more so. Not only does the prince wall-run, vine-climb and beam-jump, he can also take advantage of Elika’s abilities and use her for extended jumping, save his life and use her powers of Ormazd – these let you reach power plates making it possible to reach areas which were previously impossible to reach.

The world is covered in corruption which has an effect on the area – it changes the lighting, makes platforms unusable and adds traps and enemies. When a corrupted area has been cured light seeds appear. These light seeds will give Elika more power and will allow the player to obtain new god powers.
Altogether Prince of Persia introduces a new take on the series. The Prince is not the center of attention anymore – the story is about Elika and the prince is just there to support her.

Strengths:
Being a Prince of Persia fan it was the new look that caught me. Prince of Persia is one of the best looking games to date. It has jaw dropping visuals which make you stop running and pan the camera to see the fantastic landscape. The music is amazing and the sound effects are clear and sound so real – especially climbing and wall runs. The game has a nice feel and is easy to get used to.

Weaknesses:
Prince of Persia basically has one weakness – it gets very bland after a while. Repetition is the name of the game here. Travel to one place, kill the boss, collect the seeds and the cycle starts again.

Overall:
Prince of Persia lives up to its reputation. It’s very artistic and a good change to the series. Ubisoft put a lot of work into this new title and it really shows. The game lasts about 10 hours with some cool costumes to be unlocked. The birth of the new Prince really looks good.

Score – 90