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E3 2008: Prince of Persia
July 16, 2008 | 6:52 PM PST
E3 Disclaimer: Kombo's E3 previews are designed to inform you of what each game at E3 plays like, and what we think of what's shown. These previews are not reviews, and we reserve final judgment of each game until it is finished and released. These previews offer an honest opinion of what a publisher chose to demo at E3. So, without further ado, read on.
What the Game's About
Ubisoft is at it again. It's only been five years since they reimagined the Prince of Persia for a new generation of gamers with The Sands of Time, but apparently the boys and girls at Ubisoft Montreal felt that the new badass of Babylon was due for another make-over. The awesome platforming puzzles that defined the last Prince of Persia games is back, but everything else you know about the series has been tossed out the window. New combat. New Look. This is a whole new Prince.
What's Hot
This game is absolutely gorgeous. The screenshots you've seen don't do justice to the game in motion. This is cell-shading for the next generation, incredibly stylish and insanely detailed, right down to facial expressions that are every bit as convincing and powerful, if not more so, than their bump-mapped counter-parts. Instead of pixilation and clipping, close-ups reveal even greater detail, patterns and texture on the Prince's clothing, etchings in his weaponry, scruff on his chin. Pull the camera back and the details naturally fade out, bringing greater attention and appreciation for the color and form of the characters and the environment on-screen. Particle and lighting effects complete the picture, with rolling clouds of dust, explosions of sparks from colliding weapons and grinding rock, and soft glowing hues from magic. It's when the game starts to move that the magic really starts though, the environment dynamically lit and shadowed in real-time, clothing flying in the wind, the Prince's female compatriot Elka bounding behind him, even grabbing onto him in context-sensitive animations. You have never seen a game that looks like this.
Combat was a weak point for Ubisoft's Prince of Persia series. The best they could do was let skilled players skip battles altogether by performing timing-based stealth or acrobatic kills. The developers took a long hard look at the combat from those games and ended up rethinking the role of combat in the game as a whole. They decided that there was no point in offering players hordes of meat to grind through just for the sake of breaking up the platforming and exploration. Like the climactic scene of an action movie, combat is really only meaningful when the audience cares about the context and the players involved. All of the combat in Prince of Persia is one-on-one, all of the enemies are significant, so combat is less common but more satisfying. The enemy we saw in the demo was called The Hunter, a hulking, angry-looking monstrosity armed with a three-pronged blade mounted on his hand, who lived up to his name and hunted the Prince through the level. Combat is insanely cinematic, with a shifting camera that zoomed in and panned around to frame the action, but never once (and believe me, I was keeping track) losing sight of the prince or obstructing the view of his opponent. This new prince has a host of abilities at his disposal, including parries, counter-attacks, and huge aerial combat. This game boasts some of the coolest-looking attacks I've ever seen, and Ubisoft was only showing off the baseline stuff. Plus, if he's ever having trouble, he can call his new buddy in for a helping hand.
Elka is shaping up to be the best supporting character in a videogame ever. Not because of how hot she is, though her resemblance to Natalie Portman can't be denied, and not because she has a cool story. No, Elka was impressive because she knew when to stay the hell out of the way, and when to get involved. As the Prince is bounding through the environment, Elka follows behind. If the Prince stops dead and Elka is right behind him, or if the Prince needs to go back the other way and Elka is hogging the ledge, then the two of them will interact in a quick-but-awesome context-sensitive animation where the Prince and Elka grab each other's arm and he tosses her behind him. Elka even functions as a double jump; hit the jump button a second time in mid-air and she'll jump and swing the Prince for some extra momentum. In combat, Elka stays behind the Prince unless the player decides to attack with her, performed as simply as using any of the Prince's other moves (she has a face-button dedicated to her). Most importantly though, Elka is the Prince's life-line, there to pull him back from the brink whenever he's had more than he can handle. Miss a jump and fall to your death, she'll grab you and pull you back. Go down in a fight, she's there to heal you with her magic.
What's Not
Yes, you interpreted that last paragraph correctly. You can't die in this new Prince of Persia. Ubisoft has completely rethought the nature of death in videogames. Checkpoints and Game Over screens are completely arbitrary Ubisoft argues, the only difference between what they're doing and the old-fashioned way is that a small cinematic of Elka helping you replaces a static menu screen. Personally, I love the idea of developers attacking some of the dogmatic thinking in the gaming industry, but there are plenty of gamers out there, especially gamers that grew up with the likes of the original Prince of Persia, that will look at the inability to die as blasphemy. Ubisoft's system does bring up questions as to the game's overall challenge and longevity however. If you can't die, then where does the satisfaction of success come from? Furthermore, how long will it take most players to plow through the game if they can just keep continuing from the same spot whenever they die? The developers argued that the challenge will be more mental than reflexive, lining up jumps won't be as important as using your brain to figure out where to jump in order to get from point A to point B. The areas are also open enough that advanced players will be able to go through more challenging routes to find secrets and earn achievements. Finally, Ubisoft is confident that the will to look as badass as possible, whether running along walls or slicing and dicing in combat, will keep players coming back to hone their skills.
Also, while the combats looks amazing, sticking exclusively to one-on-one battles opens up the potential for some repetition. God of War, Ninja Gaiden, Devil May Cry, all the games known for great combat keep things interesting by putting players in different and increasingly challenging situations against different combinations of enemy types. Ubisoft's new combat system doesn't give them that option, so in order to ensure the battles are consistently engaging, they'll have to make sure all of the enemies are significantly different and have great AI.
Outlook
This game can't get here soon enough.
What the Game's About
Ubisoft is at it again. It's only been five years since they reimagined the Prince of Persia for a new generation of gamers with The Sands of Time, but apparently the boys and girls at Ubisoft Montreal felt that the new badass of Babylon was due for another make-over. The awesome platforming puzzles that defined the last Prince of Persia games is back, but everything else you know about the series has been tossed out the window. New combat. New Look. This is a whole new Prince.
What's Hot
This game is absolutely gorgeous. The screenshots you've seen don't do justice to the game in motion. This is cell-shading for the next generation, incredibly stylish and insanely detailed, right down to facial expressions that are every bit as convincing and powerful, if not more so, than their bump-mapped counter-parts. Instead of pixilation and clipping, close-ups reveal even greater detail, patterns and texture on the Prince's clothing, etchings in his weaponry, scruff on his chin. Pull the camera back and the details naturally fade out, bringing greater attention and appreciation for the color and form of the characters and the environment on-screen. Particle and lighting effects complete the picture, with rolling clouds of dust, explosions of sparks from colliding weapons and grinding rock, and soft glowing hues from magic. It's when the game starts to move that the magic really starts though, the environment dynamically lit and shadowed in real-time, clothing flying in the wind, the Prince's female compatriot Elka bounding behind him, even grabbing onto him in context-sensitive animations. You have never seen a game that looks like this.
Combat was a weak point for Ubisoft's Prince of Persia series. The best they could do was let skilled players skip battles altogether by performing timing-based stealth or acrobatic kills. The developers took a long hard look at the combat from those games and ended up rethinking the role of combat in the game as a whole. They decided that there was no point in offering players hordes of meat to grind through just for the sake of breaking up the platforming and exploration. Like the climactic scene of an action movie, combat is really only meaningful when the audience cares about the context and the players involved. All of the combat in Prince of Persia is one-on-one, all of the enemies are significant, so combat is less common but more satisfying. The enemy we saw in the demo was called The Hunter, a hulking, angry-looking monstrosity armed with a three-pronged blade mounted on his hand, who lived up to his name and hunted the Prince through the level. Combat is insanely cinematic, with a shifting camera that zoomed in and panned around to frame the action, but never once (and believe me, I was keeping track) losing sight of the prince or obstructing the view of his opponent. This new prince has a host of abilities at his disposal, including parries, counter-attacks, and huge aerial combat. This game boasts some of the coolest-looking attacks I've ever seen, and Ubisoft was only showing off the baseline stuff. Plus, if he's ever having trouble, he can call his new buddy in for a helping hand.
Elka is shaping up to be the best supporting character in a videogame ever. Not because of how hot she is, though her resemblance to Natalie Portman can't be denied, and not because she has a cool story. No, Elka was impressive because she knew when to stay the hell out of the way, and when to get involved. As the Prince is bounding through the environment, Elka follows behind. If the Prince stops dead and Elka is right behind him, or if the Prince needs to go back the other way and Elka is hogging the ledge, then the two of them will interact in a quick-but-awesome context-sensitive animation where the Prince and Elka grab each other's arm and he tosses her behind him. Elka even functions as a double jump; hit the jump button a second time in mid-air and she'll jump and swing the Prince for some extra momentum. In combat, Elka stays behind the Prince unless the player decides to attack with her, performed as simply as using any of the Prince's other moves (she has a face-button dedicated to her). Most importantly though, Elka is the Prince's life-line, there to pull him back from the brink whenever he's had more than he can handle. Miss a jump and fall to your death, she'll grab you and pull you back. Go down in a fight, she's there to heal you with her magic.
What's Not
Yes, you interpreted that last paragraph correctly. You can't die in this new Prince of Persia. Ubisoft has completely rethought the nature of death in videogames. Checkpoints and Game Over screens are completely arbitrary Ubisoft argues, the only difference between what they're doing and the old-fashioned way is that a small cinematic of Elka helping you replaces a static menu screen. Personally, I love the idea of developers attacking some of the dogmatic thinking in the gaming industry, but there are plenty of gamers out there, especially gamers that grew up with the likes of the original Prince of Persia, that will look at the inability to die as blasphemy. Ubisoft's system does bring up questions as to the game's overall challenge and longevity however. If you can't die, then where does the satisfaction of success come from? Furthermore, how long will it take most players to plow through the game if they can just keep continuing from the same spot whenever they die? The developers argued that the challenge will be more mental than reflexive, lining up jumps won't be as important as using your brain to figure out where to jump in order to get from point A to point B. The areas are also open enough that advanced players will be able to go through more challenging routes to find secrets and earn achievements. Finally, Ubisoft is confident that the will to look as badass as possible, whether running along walls or slicing and dicing in combat, will keep players coming back to hone their skills.
Also, while the combats looks amazing, sticking exclusively to one-on-one battles opens up the potential for some repetition. God of War, Ninja Gaiden, Devil May Cry, all the games known for great combat keep things interesting by putting players in different and increasingly challenging situations against different combinations of enemy types. Ubisoft's new combat system doesn't give them that option, so in order to ensure the battles are consistently engaging, they'll have to make sure all of the enemies are significantly different and have great AI.
Outlook
This game can't get here soon enough.
February 8, 2010
