Prince of Persia is one of the better known gaming franchises in recent memory, spawning off numerous titles over a various array of consoles, even receiving a blockbuster movie from Jerry Bruckheimer. Over the course of its lifetime it’s had its fair share of ups and downs, but gamers have mostly forgotten the small amount of bad and focused on the much bigger greatness of the series. Is Prince of Persia going to be lumped in with the good? Or cast into the bargain bin of bad? More importantly, does it hold up with the rest of the classic Prince of Persia games? Read on after the jump.
I was first apprehensive when I heard that the Prince of Persia series was getting the silver screen treatment. Video games to movies, yeah we have been here before. The first trailer piqued my interest, the latest made me want watch this. Walt Disney is a the parents of the cartoon mouse, but they also have huge pockets and can give the high budget treatment a story like this really needs. If you would have told me 5 years ago that the two gay cowboys were going to be an Oscar winning Joker and the Prince of Persia, I would have kicked you in the balls.
I’ve been a fan of the Prince of Persia series since the very early days on the NES. The first reboot on the Xbox was one of my favorite games last generation. The Xbox 360 semi-reboot was a solid game, although some of the design decisions weren’t my favorite. The upcoming Forgotten Sands Wii edition looks to tone down the violence and emphasize the puzzle solving and platforming. I’m interested only if I don’t have to wave my arms around to make all the Prince’s crazy jumps. Some games just work better with a proper controller.
In a rather vague press release, Ubisoft has announced a new Prince of Persia title, called “The Forgotten Sands”. They really don’t say much more than that. Really. Don’t believe me? It’s a short ass press release:
New Adventure in the Prince of Persia® Sands of Time Series Debuts May 2010
LONDON, UK – November 30, 2009 – Today Ubisoft announced that Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands™ video game is in development and is scheduled to be released May 2010 for consoles and handhelds. This new instalment in the critically-acclaimed franchise marks the return to the Prince of Persia® Sands of Time storyline. Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands™ will feature many of the fan-favorite elements from the original series as well as new gameplay innovations that gamers have come to expect from the Prince of Persia brand.
The idea of Sands and “fan-favorite elements” makes me slightly happy in the nether-regions, considering that Prince of Persia: Sands of Time is one of my absolute most favorite games of all time. I’m a fan, and it’s my favorite, so hopefully Ubisoft is putting two and two together and releasing a true sequel to the game.
I know, I know. A movie based on a video game. How can this possibly not turn into another Uwe Boll disaster? Well, a few reasons. First, it’s a Disney film. That doesn’t mean it is juvenile because Disney did all of the Pirates of the Caribbean films. They were really, really good. (except the third one). Second, the visuals look tremendous. Low budget, this is not. Third, it is a story 98% of the people in the world know nothing about, so they have to tell it from square one. This could be a great film. It could also be Max Payne 2.0. Watch and ponder.
Ubisoft has announced that it will be adding two more Mac titles to its line-up this year, Prince of Persia and Shaun White Snowboarding. Both games will be available through Ubisoft’s digital store, GameTree Online and at traditional retail locations in March 2009.
“The Mac community has responded very positively to our previous game offerings and we’re excited to provide Mac users with a new selection of games through our relationship with TransGaming,” said Andy Swanson, senior director of strategic sales and partnerships at Ubisoft.
TransGaming Inc. will be the developer porting the titles.
Mac versions of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation: Hard Evidence, Rayman Raving Rabbids and Petz Sports will also be released at select retail establishments for the first time in March 2009.
Mac gaming is still alive folks, get it while it’s hot.
Prince of Persia is one part fighting, two parts talking, and three parts running and jumping. After a while, with monotonous swordplay and a flat story line, the game becomes quite boring. The story isn’t too interesting (plus I’m someone who doesn’t usually enjoy video game stories; but this one is particularly dull). In short your “counterpart” Elika’s father releases an Evil God, Ahriman, who plagues the Persian landscape with Corruption. Your task, with help from Elika’s knowledge and magic, is to heal the Corruption and trap Ahriman once again. Elika’s magic is derived from the God Ormazd, and it is Elika who actually heals the fertile grounds after you defeat the guards of the Corruption in a one on one (or two since you have Elika) fight sequence. The story is told through conversations with Elika, which take a lot of time to actually complete in order to learn, which is annoying. The overall story seems lazy although beautiful. It’s a fairly easy game, where the majority of the game involves running, jumping, climbing, and sometimes flying.
My good friend Sean sent over a link which I thought was very interesting and relevant. I’ve been trying to get my girlfriend to admit she is a gamer, as she frequently steals my DS away from me, but she only plays certain titles because complexity and difficulty, and lack of rewards. I’m wondering if Prince of Persia would get her hooked.
I agree with the concept of making games playable by everyone where possible. In my eyes there should be tutorials for non-gamers and tutorials for gamers. Designing a game so the difficulty ratings cater to non-gamer, gamer, and hardcore instead of easy, normal, and hard would open up titles to a wider market. If there was a non-gamer setting for COD4 I’m pretty sure my Dad would give it a go and enjoy it.
Here are some ways to get some PoP skin cheats. The best one here is clearly the Altair skin. I have not figured out how to sync my Ubisoft account to XBL, but I’ll work on that. Here are some codes or prompts to play dress up.
The Prince of Persia Skin and Farrah Skin for Elika, both from The Sands of Time — Unlocked by entering the code “525858542″ in “Skins Manager” under “Extras”.
Jade’s Skin from Beyond Good And Evil — Unlocked by finishing the game once. Then activate it in “Skins Manager” under “Extras”.
Altair’s Costume from Assassin’s Creed — Unlocked by syncing your Ubisoft.com account (link goes to signup page) to your PlayStation Network or Xbox Live account. Then activate it in “Skins Manager” under “Extras”.
Classic Prince of Persia Skin — Received when pre-ordering the game from GameStop.
Prototype Prince and Elika Skins — Unlocked by collecting all 1,001 Light Seeds (the last one is in the Temple’s tree at the end of the game). Then activating them in “Skins Manager” under “Extras”. Note: Shadowmask mentions this is only unlockable in the PC
The Prince is back and gets reinvented for the next gen. Sands of Time was an amazing game, but the series went downhill after the debacle of PoP2. Now the game looks to be a must have and a possible platformer that we could see sequels too for years to come. One of the coolest trailers I have seen in a long time.
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