Prince Of Persia

[PkmnTrainerJ]

Ubisoft today announced that its Montreal studio is currently developing an all-new entry in the Prince of Persia series for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, PC and Nintendo DS.

“Prince of Persia is opening a new chapter in the Prince of Persia universe, featuring a new breed of gameplay. The game is poised to rejuvenate the action-adventure genre in addition to introducing a brand-new illustrative art style,” reads today's press release.

In comparison to the home console and PC iterations, the Nintendo DS installment will reportedly feature a “an entirely new storyline and new characters.” Further details will be released next month.

Source: http://pcgames.gwn.com/news/story.php/id/1..._Announced.html

I'm quite glad. Something I actually want to play on the PS3

Official Site: http://www.princeofpersiagame.com/

Edited June 8, 2008 by PkmnTrainerJ

[MalaCloudy Black]

Ehhh.. I don't know how I feel about this. I played and liked both Sands of Time & Warrior Within, but I suppose I should pick up the third one (fuck me if i remember what the subtitle was) and play it someitme.

[Cactus Drags]

Sands of Time > Two Thrones > Warrior Within.

[Summers]

My girlfriend is pleased, she likes Prince of Persia games.

[alldaws1]

Olof Mellberg looks pretty happy about it, too.

[Summers]

He loved the gameplay.

[PkmnTrainerJ]

Warrior Within > Sands Of Time > Two Thrones

Fixed.

[Protoman Version 2.5]

Wow, there's actually a few games for the PS3 that I might want to play that I can't play for cheaper on a 360 or Wii...

Damn it...

Looks like it's time to start saving up insane amounts of money again to buy one in the near future.

Or....just buy a used one for a moderately insane price.

Edited April 30, 2008 by Protoman Version 2.5

[abundant]

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/876/876358p1.html

If you had a fondness for The Sands of Time, don't worry. Ubisoft isn't soiling the franchise in any way. In fact, the Montreal team is setting the Prince free of the shackles of the previous three titles. Though the Prince loses his time powers, he is gaining more acrobatic skills, a completely new combat system, and an open world free of the linear constraints of the previous game. Though Prince of Persia has an open world and is using the Assassin's Creed engine, don't think of it as a clone. This is POP for the new generation and it looks and feels like the perfect transition.

There are no saw blades, no spiked floors this time around. There is only the corruption, a black ooze which dynamically changes as you play through Prince of Persia. It may form a puddle of ooze below you so that if you fall it consumes and kills the Prince. Or it may try to grab you as you pass by. Or it might infect you. Or explode out of a wall.

The oasis acts as your hub world. From there you can head to the various locations in Prince of Persia at your discretion. You choose which areas to save first. This choice makes a big difference. At first, the corruption is only just barely spreading. So the first area you go to heal will have some traps forcing you to pull off a few acrobatic moves, but nothing too sinister. As you heal locations, the holes in the garden wall grow bigger and the corruption pushes further into the remaining lands. Clearing an area basically pushes the corruption closer and closer together, making the final areas far more densely covered.

For example, one of the bosses you face releases a corruption trap across the unhealed areas of the world when he dies. This trap remains for the rest of the game, only disappearing when an area is healed. So if you fight this boss first, it means you will ratchet up the acrobatic difficulty for the remainder of gameplay. Take him out last and the trap becomes somewhat negligible.

Because the corruption dynamically changes, you can pass through the same area multiple times and encounter completely different challenges. One of the negatives about creating an open world is that it inevitably leads to some backtracking. But in POP, there is a promise that passing through a town in hour one of gameplay will be quite different than doing so four hours later.

The Prince wears a gauntlet on his left hand with clawed fingers. Not only is this a combat weapon, but it's also a tool used in conjunction with his acrobatics. With the gauntlet you can perform a gripfall. The Prince digs his claws into a wall and slides down slowly. You have full lateral movement during a gripfall. You can dodge corruption traps as you gripfall, then leap off the wall at any time. This is also your only real save against missing a jump, since you can no longer rewind time.

Instead of using the quantity of enemies to test the Prince, it's now a matter of quality. You will never face more than one enemy at a time. Never. It is always a one-on-one battle. But this time around your enemies are smarter. Often they are equally skilled in combat as the Prince -- and sometimes more so.

We watched the Prince take on hunter, a horrific-looking creature of corruption with a nasty scissor hand. The two clashed blades, the hunter often blocking the Prince's direct attacks. At one point, the hunter got the best of the Prince and slammed his face against a wall. The Prince managed to push off and gain some spacing.

Each face button acts as a type of attack and each can link into a combo. Rather than having any sort of ultimate combo like God of War's "light, light, heavy" attack, Prince promises a more fluid system. You can mix and match as you like.

As is the hot trend, the HUD in Prince is almost non-existent. You have no mini-map and no health bar. In fact, you don't really have health. As it was explained to us, the new POP takes a lot from the original Jordan Mechner creation. In the original, you couldn't absorb many hits before dying. In the new POP, you can take one or two hits before being at death's door. We're not sure exactly how this will play out over the course of a long game, but we were assured that there will be a few counter-measures to save players from that final killing blow.

[MalaCloudy Black]

I just have to say, I had doubts about going the cel-shading route but that looks absolutely beautiful.

[abundant]

Trailer: http://xbox360.ign.com/dor/objects/890664/...ler_052708.html

As we revealed in our first look at Prince of Persia, the Prince gets lost in a sandstorm and finds himself in a beautiful oasis. That beauty is short-lived as an evil spirit, Ahriman, breaks free from his prison and begins infecting the outside world with his "corruption." It is in this garden oasis where the Prince meets Elika, one of the last remaining Ahuras -- the guardians of Ahriman's prison. It is Elika's duty to return Ahriman to his prison inside the Tree of Life. She's not about to let the Prince fight this evil alone.

Elika is by your side for the majority of the new Prince of Persia. She is primarily controlled by the AI, but is meant to be an assistant, never an annoyance. Elika isn't going to get in your way like so many other AI partners in other games. You just need to watch her in action for five minutes to see how gracefully she avoids hindering the Prince in any way.

A perfect example of this is when the Prince is shimmying along a ledge. Typically, Elika is pulling up the rear. She's a support character after all and isn't going to be leading the charge -- that's your job as a gamer. But if the Prince suddenly changes direction and begins backtracking on the ledge, well, he's going to run right into Elika right? Not at all. The moment the Prince changes directions, Elika lets go of the ledge. The Prince reaches down to grab hold of her with one arm and casually slings her behind him. His momentum never stops and she never gets in the way.

In the short demo we received, we witnessed such acts numerous times. The Prince would climb up a wall and Elika would leap on his back and then hop off as soon as they were clear. Or the Prince would make some acrobatic leap that perhaps Elika could not match, but she'd find her own way to return to his side. Though we didn't witness any tandem acrobatics, you will team with Elika from time-to-time to perform some amazing feats.

Elika is a smart AI character -- smart enough to know that the Prince is the leader. She won't take any direct actions unless you tell her to. Though controlled by the AI, there is a specific "Elika button" that when pressed calls her into action. This is most noticeable in combat.

During a battle, Elika roams the perimeter. She has some minor combat skills, but her specialty is magic. She won't take a negative initiative. She will never sully the Prince's combo or turn a fight into an episode of the Three Stooges. As we told you previously, the four face buttons act as attacks and that any one button can be used in combination with another. Elika is one of these buttons. So you can triple-tap the Elika button and she will jump in and hit the enemy quickly three times, then jump back to her support position. Or you can mix in the Elika button as you are creating combos on the fly. Some of the collaborative moves that come from this are truly inspiring.

Today, Ubisoft released a CG trailer showing Elika and the Prince teaming up in combat. Though the video is a cinematic creation, the moves are in the game -- we've seen the aerial somersault throw in action! On top of being a tool in physical combat, Elika's magic can also has a role, but Ubisoft isn't giving any hints on how that might play out. However, we do know that Elika may come in to block a killing blow and spare the Prince.

Just to reiterate, Elika's not going to cramp your style. She will never die and (assuming Ubisoft can pull it off) won't bog down the fast-paced combat. From what we've seen, we have little reason for doubt.

Aside from acrobatics and combat, Elika also assists with puzzles. How this works remains to be seen, though we assume there will be some puzzles that require carefully timed activations from two different people. Elika is also your compass. If you were wondering how you would find your objectives in the new open world of Prince of Persia, look no further than your AI sidekick. If you want to see where the next objective is located, Elika can use her magic to shine a beacon on where you need to go, keeping you from getting lost.

While there's still a lot to see with Elika, she shows tremendous promise. It seems Ubisoft has learned from the AI mistakes many other developers have made in the past. If they pull this off, Prince of Persia should be one of the most talked about games of the holiday season.

[PkmnTrainerJ]

Oh good, "trailer chills". I'm wanting the game already.

[Cactus Drags]

I'm in two minds about this. Those screenshots look horrible, but the trailer looks ace (I'm guessing not in-game footage). I don't like the idea of losing the time powers either. I like the solitary aspect to the older games, so not sure about this new partner. If she's basically like Tails in Sonic 2, then fair enough, but if she's more involved...meh.

And whoever 'fixed' my post to put Warrior Within as the best game is a fucking idiot. Seriously.

[MalaCloudy Black]

Yeah.. Warrior Within wasn't bad and I still ocassionally go back and replay it, but I think I liked Sands of Time a lot more than Warrior Within. Sands was sort of like a 3D platformer whereas Warrior Within focused more on combat and DARK EMO PRINCE and the like. The combat in WW was fun as hell, but the puzzles and the platforming parts were ridiculously easy.

[Cactus Drags]

Spot on.

[PkmnTrainerJ]

The mirror bit of Sands Of Time can go right ahead and kill itself.

[Benji]

**Hijack**

Can anyone remember which Spineshank song was used in adverts for Warrior Within before its release? I really want to see that advert again

[Benji]

I fucking love Warrior Within, the fear of a Dahaka chase really gets you going. Video game enemies that are a constant threat = Awesome.

[DMN in the House]

I only ever played one of the PoP games. I think it might have been the first PS2 one. All I remember is running through, like, a zoo or something. It was really cool. I should go pick them up used or something.

New one looks awesome, to stay on topic.

[Benji]

The trilogy is less than £20 on PS2, the box looks awesome standing out from my collection.