Daily Archives: November 21, 2003

Wow.

Those of you that enjoy console games, go out and buy the new Prince of Persia right now.

. . .

What are you still doing here?

It’s that good. I just finished the game last night, and my jaw was hitting the floor because the ending was perfect.

Perfect.

This game does everything right. Control scheme, voice acting, animation, graphics, music, storyline, writing, and the ever elusive, impossible to define aspect of “gameplay.”

The puzzles and combat were the right level of difficulty, scaling appropriately as the game progressed. The game makes a point of teaching you the rules of its universe, and then even shows you a quick sepia-toned vision of what is possible using those rules. At no point did I ever feel hampered by an inappropriately difficult obstacle or enemy. Some may say that this makes the game too easy, but I say that it’s better than the frustration brought on by bewilderment.

The storyline traces a graceful circular arc, across the entirety of the game, which ends and begins at the same point–but to tell you any more would spoil it.

Even the user interface is in character. Since the game is told as a narrative flashback, when you save your progress, the Prince says, any one of a number of different phrases that say, “I’ll start the story from here next time.” When the Prince comes to an untimely end, he states, “No, wait–that’s not how it happened.”

I cannot recommend this game enough. Put it on your wishlist, put aside some time (not too much, about 10 hours), and play it through to completion. The experience is completely worth it.