Prince of Persia – Fortuitous Platforming

I don’t like sand. It’s coarse and rough and irritating, and it gets everywhere. That’s how Prince of Persia starts, with the Prince wandering through the hot skin melting desert, stumbling upon trouble by chance (or is it?), seeing a beautiful woman needing aid. Good enough for me, very fitting for an adventure, but what I didn’t expect going in was how guided Prince of Persia would be. It’s really strange. The game allows you to jump off whatever platform you want, plummeting to your death. But to succeed in it, you just have to let go, and let the game guide you to victory. The platforming, enemy demon mooks and bosses, are nothing to the struggle versus the camera and your own patience.

Arabian fun
I found the plot of Prince of Persia pretty simple, with a minimum of surprises. In concept, I have nothing against this, but for a ten-hour game, you have to make it good, either by extraordinary gameplay, or focusing on something else, like character building. The story begins with you (the prince), getting lost in the desert, and eventually falls into a situation where a cute woman needs saving. You do so, but as it turns out, she is a princess, who from her father’s action has corrupted the world. Together with the princess, you embark on an adventure with the mission of restoring it, by purifying nodes where this black corruption spews from.

The story is simple, and this is basically it. You do get the occasional deep dive into the lore of the world, and why the land looks like an apocalyptic Tomb Raiding hellhole. I didn’t find this aspect particular interesting, since it all felt too abstract and confusing to me. I understand that it’s supposed to be a magical Arabian nights kind of deal, but it’s so out there. My puzzlement comes from the princess talking about her people, and of the areas of the world you explore. How it is supposed to contain people, going about and living their own life, when almost nothing looks like a place that could sustain any humans. It just feels and looks so gamey, extremely so even, and it took me out of it.

What got me through the game, beyond the gameplay (in some instances) and the visuals, was the relationship between the two protagonists: the prince and princess. They come off as likable, and their banter has this cute casual nature to it, a bit like Disney cartoons of the 90s. There is also a strong romantic side to their newly founded friendship, that I, at least, hoped would blossom out to something in the end. Yeah, I’m a softy like that.

Ending spoilers
I’m going to talk about the ending spoilers, so if you don’t want to get spoiled, skip to the gameplay segment. The reason I wrote “hoped” is that Prince of Persia ends without the hero getting the lady. I would be fine with this bittersweet ending, if the game actually let me pick it. You see, the princess at the end sacrifices herself to purity the lands, taking her life energy and spreading it all over the corrupted world. The prince gets crushed over this, and decides to cut down the new “living trees” in his emotional state. These trees keep the corruption away, but they are also filled with energy. He destroys the trees and collects its energy to use it to bring the princess to life again. She wakes up, but what the prince didn’t realize in his state, that this was the will of the evil demon boss. As of now, he is free once again, making the whole ordeal you went through with the princess meaningless.

The thing with this, is that it’s not a cutscene, you actually have to do these things, making it seem like it’s a choice. I was ready to forgo the princess, return to my brave dune donkey, and make my way from the desert, making her sacrifice mean something. However, you are not allowed to. You can turn off the game before this, and in that way get the “fake ending”, but that seems dumb to me. So, the only way to get a real ending is to go through this stuff, even when you know it will be bad for everyone. It’s very disappointing, and ended the story on a bad note for me.

That is not all. On consoles, there is an exclusive epilogue DLC, that tells the story about what happens after. I have not played it myself, since I got the game on Gog for two bucks, and well, that version doesn’t come with the DLC. In that DLC, you once again have to defeat the evil god, after hiding out in an underground temple for a while. But here is the real kicker, the princess despises you for saving her, not too surprising, perhaps. And for something that is called an epilogue, it still ends on a cliffhanger, with the princess at the end deciding to go at it alone to rectify the mistakes made. Leaving the story hanging like this, a very unsatisfying story too regarding the ending, is poor showing. Even when you are a buff and smooth talking good-looking prince, you are still forever alone. Feels bad, man.

Let the camera guide you
One of the weird things about Prince of Persia is how much the game plays itself. It does not press the buttons for you, but it has a tendency to constantly guide you in the correct, and usually linear path to victory. It feels odd, because compared to modern titles that also have you climbing things, it does feel “free” and not overly sticky, like having platforms sucking you in like a magnet jumping from fridge to fridge. This is of course good, but at the same time, to have any kind of success, you have to let go of the direction stick while running the gauntlets. For the most part, you just have to focus on what button to press, having the obstacles matching the button. It makes it feel more like a QTE (quick time event) than like an actual game.

There are sections that require a bit more, but usually, it’s very easy, too, like climbing either up, down or to the sides on some rotting vines. Or when you have to run races upside down after activating a green node. I assume this was made to keep a fast flow, and it works at times. But large swaths of the gameplay will be a passive endeavor. This, in combination with the four bosses you are forced to fight four or five times each, gets repetitive and boring, fast! Luckily, Prince of Persia comes with a few puzzles, to spice up the mundane, but they are relatively rare compared to the amount of traversing and fighting you will have to do.

My main issue with the passive nature of the gameplay: if you are even slightly frustrated with either the gameplay, or camera, it will throw you off and send you to your “death”. Prince of Persia keys up commands, which means you have to have the patience of a saint to play. Every “hurry up” press will send your prince jumping when you really don’t want to. Usually of a cliff. When I realized this, I stopped fighting the game. I let the camera spin and the level design do its thing, I just leaned back and pressed the right buttons when asked. Embracing the pacification, like a good little boy.

Sword battles
When you are not running, you will be fighting, and the battles are always one on one, regardless of it being a lowly mook, or a boss. It’s all fairly standard, except when you fail your combos, you don’t die, but the opponent gets his life back. So, just like free-running, you have to exercise patience, and let the game determine your opportunities. However, since the fighting involves your control-stick, you have to keep some focus on it. My style of fighting was just to block with a timed block, which staggers the enemy, and then starts a combo from that. And if possible, I positioned myself, so I could push the enemy off the platform. Luckily, even most of the bosses come with these kinds of arenas, which can make a fight that is supposed to take ten minutes, be over in one instead. Except for the Concubine, screw her.

The worst part with the fighting, even if fast at times, is as mentioned the amount of times you will have to fight the same old bosses. It feels like extreme padding. Just like how you need to complete every world area, and then when it’s purified, you need to collect the life energy it releases. I recommend picking up as much as possible already from the beginning, because you need this energy to unlock new paths, so you can finish the game. This aspect forces you to go back and forth to locations you have already traversed before. If you are allergic to backtracking, stay far away.

On this note, I should mention how little actual exploring there is beyond the required path. There are no secrets (I didn’t find any), or anything else to be found. There are no new weapons to collect, no special lore, or clothes. You will essentially look and behave the same from the beginning to the end, excluding the four color nodes you have to unlock. That’s a lot of faith to put into your story, and basic mechanics!

Cell shading for the masses
Prince of Persia is cell shaded, which makes the game have a cartoony look to its graphic style. I’m not too fond of it in general, but in the case of Prince of Persia, it works well, and it gives it a timeless look fitting for an Arabian nights adventure. The game is old by now, but the visuals are still superb, and could easily come off as a modern game, thanks to this art technique. The animations are also excellent, but exaggerated thanks to the comic book nature of the game. One of the parts I enjoyed the most with the graphics, is how the game often displays vast spaces in front of you. Places where you just barely can make out another world in the distance. It looks stunning, which in turns makes the world feel mysterious, inviting you in to explore its secrets.

On the music and sound. There is nothing to complain about there. The music is very pleasing, with its soft sounds and Arabian nights theme tunes. Very suitable, and it’s so good that I’m listening to it right now to get inspired. A particularly nice official soundtrack. When it comes to voice acting, it’s serviceable, even if I have heard Nolan North (the prince) in too many roles over the years. He always sounds exactly the same. Nothing too outstanding, but also nothing that brings down the experience.

Conclusion
I wouldn’t say Prince of Persia is a bad game, but after finishing it, I can’t say it’s a game for me. The story felt a little too grand and abstract to me, which is usually the case when gods are involved directly in the plot. I completed it, which is a thing I don’t usually do when disliking something, so it had some staying power with me. However, it’s not a game I will play again. One reason for this is the ending mentioned in the spoiler section. For being an adventure of the old brand, it feels very downbeat in its ending, especially if you consider the DLC epilogue. Too unhappy for me.

Do I recommend it? Not really, since you will not be missing something world-shattering if you pass it by. I found it too easy, with the game basically playing itself. The visuals, and sound are very nice, but nothing that has to be experienced in-game. Unless, you are truly sold on the Arabian nights theme, and can find Prince of Persia for two bucks on a sale, I say, save your money for something else instead.

Thanks for reading.

/Thomas