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An Absolute Blast!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 16 / 16
Date: March 04, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Let me start off by saying this is one of the best games I've played in a LONG time! I thoroughly enjoyed it and I beat it within a few days because I couldn't stop playing it. And I barely ever take the time to finish games. ;) I never played any other Prince of Persia games, so I don't know how true it is to the previous versions.

I played the PC version, which took a little getting used to. The controls are a little awkward, but once you figure them out it's easy enough. The only time I had real control issues was during battles. I tend to use the "W" key the most to move, but when the camera angles suddenly change, "W" doesn't go the same direction it did before causing some frustration during tough battles!

There is a battle early on in the game which is EXTREMELY difficult. I had a horrible time beating it, I probably replayed it 60 or 70 times before I got it. The bad guys in this game are especially tough because first you have to kill them with your sword, then you have to stab them with your dagger (if you don't, they come back to life). They also teleport, so if you try to run away, they just teleport to where you are. My strategy during a lot of battles was to run away until one teleported to me, kill that one, then run the opposite direction and repeat. After beating that tough battle though, the rest of the battles in the game seemed almost easy. I guess that battle is like a learning experience. ;)

Most of the game is made up of puzzles and boobytraps you have to figure out and get around. Intermixed are a few battles here and there. The storyline is really cute, I loved it. Normally the storylines in these types of games are pretty cheesy, but I really got in to this one. :) The graphics are pretty good, though I did crack up a little when one of the characters would be talking and whenever they opened their mouth, you could see the wall behind them through their head. ;)

The one disappointment I had is that the end is very anticlimactic. The big bad guy is someone you fight all alone and he's incredibly easy to beat. I beat him the first try in only a few minutes. Other than that, I really enjoyed the game. It's been a long time since I've enjoyed a game this much! And this is only the second or third game I've ever played through to completion. I'd LOVE a sequel or expansion, because while the game was great, it's not as fun to play again when you already can answer all the puzzles. ;) 5 stars though, despite a few minor faults it's by far one of the best games on the market right now.

Beautiful game, with a few small flaws

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 17 / 18
Date: November 30, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This game is definitely a worthy sequel to the original. The graphics are gorgeous, the controls are very easy and efficient, and the gameplay is solid. As you progress through the levels pulling off tricks to avoid traps, oftentimes you'll find yourself amazed that you were able to do such a trick.

The combat system is very fluid and amazing. The prince can flip over his enemies and attack from behind, can vault off of walls and objects to slam into them, and can even use his magical dagger to freeze time itself for his enemies.

The poor parts of the game mainly focus on tedium and the camera. While the game is gorgeous and fun to play, the combat can wear thin. Very rarely can you fight against just a few enemies, they tend to come at you four at a time, and there are frequently waves of around sixteen (Four, then four more, then four more, etc). This is fun at first, but gets very tedious later on when defeating enemies relies very much on precise timing.

The other downfall of the game is the camera itself is very difficult to control. Frequently you may end up fighting where the whole screen is obscured by a tapestry or drape, or fighting where the camera is stuck behind a column, making it combat much more difficult. The same goes for doing puzzles. Frequently you may have troubles seeing the wall you have to run up, or the bar you'll need to jump to, making many puzzles harder than they'll need to be.

All in all it's a very interesting and fun game that's hampered by a couple issues, but still an absolute blast to play!

Stick to one of the console versions

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 10 / 11
Date: June 11, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Prince of Persia must have been a fantastic game on a Gamecube, PS2, or X-Box. On the PC, it shows signs of greatness, but the awful controls and camera movements make it too frustrating to play for an extended period of time.

Maybe console gamers are used to this, or maybe it just worked better on consoles, but as a PC player, I want simple functions, like being able to look up and down with the mouse. In PoP, you can't even freelook with the mouse unless you press a special key to enter first person mode. The mouse and keyboard provides so many efficient camera control methods that there is no excuse for not getting this right. The camera angle in Prince of Persia shifts every five seconds or so. Seriously. I never got used to it while playing the whole game. This caused me to die numerous times while fighting or trying to make a precise jump, as the "left" key would suddenly become "up". Perhaps console gamers are more used to this, but it drove me beserk.

Then there's the controls. This game was just not made for a mouse and keyboard. I hated the battles in this game because of the controls. Between the controls and the camera angles, I found that combat basically becomes a crude mouse-clicking affair, where you occasionally hit the "E" key to finish off prone enemies or freeze them. I could never quite get the Prince to do what I wanted him to do. There's an enemy to my right. Press "D" to move right and Left Click to attack. So the Prince wheels around and attacks a guy behind him instead. These types of moments will repeatedly pop up during combat and force you to get killed. Until you discover the overpowered Wall Spring move, which kills everyone in one hit. Even if you have done that, sometimes the Princess that you are escorting around gets stuck annoyingly in a group of enemies and gets killed.

What a shame, because I wanted to love this otherwise outstanding game. In this game you get to play the ultimate acrobatic hero. The Prince has a lot of cool moves, and they never get old to pull off or watch. His animations are so smooth, that they are incredible to watch. Every room is filled with traps, levers, or deep chasms and ultimately presents a puzzle to be solved. There is a very satisfying challenge in figuring out how to use all of the Prince's special abilities to navigate across each area. Solving the puzzles in the game is immensely satisfying.

The story doesn't sound like much on paper, but like many games, it's the way that you are immersed in the story that makes it great. The chivalrous, brave young man gets the beautiful girl and saves the day. It's not entirely original, but it's just so well done here. The Prince and The Princess exchange a lot of dialog, and that is what makes the romance between them so enjoyable, and also believable. It's hard to not like both characters.

But playing this game was like having a great dream -- and then getting woken up by the alarm clock. The control and camera issues get in the way of so many potentially great moments. Potentially easy challenges take two or three frustrating tries. If you own a console, I would recommend that you play this game there.

amazing, unique, excellent

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 8
Date: December 15, 2003
Author: Amazon User

The movement system is so far out.. with the incredible acrobatics and tricks you can do. The most innovative movement and combat system I have seen to date. Its great to have nice break from standard shooters. The graphics and dialogs are simply awesome.. you will find yourself grinning at the way the prince and princess interact.
The way the environment reacts is very realistic. You will learn totally new ways of getting around with the gymnastic/acrobatic skills of the prince.
Of course the way that the prince can control time adds a whole new dimension.. breaking from the standard ways of checkpoints/saving games.
In the beginning the learning curve may be a little steep with the way the camera acts and the new methods of movement. Make sure you learn the camera controls (Q, X, F) to give you a better view of what you're seeing and what you need to do. Also learn and master the special attacks.. ie: counters, wallrebounds and the combat will get much easier. Move around alot and use the powers of your dagger like delay and mega-freeze to do some major damage.

I am in a unique position to say this as I have played the older Prince of Persia games(early 90s).. this game is indeed worthy of bearing the name.

Be prepared for a fantastic and unique game experience with LOTS of satisfying and challenging playing time.

Thank you Jordan Mechner(creator of POP) and UBISoft.

An Amazing Adventure

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 10
Date: December 20, 2003
Author: Amazon User

The new Prince of Persia is everything that I hoped it would be. Normally, games made for consoles do not work as well on PC, but this is a perfect example of a GOOD transfer. The graphics do not suffer, the sound is excellent, and the framerate is superb.

Prince of Persia's story follows 'The Prince' through this adventure, beginning in his father's warcamp in an attempt to capture the maharaja's treasure vault. The greatest treasure of this vault is soon found by the prince; The Dagger of Time. The dagger becomes an extremely useful weapon for the Prince, allowing him to literally -rewind time- in case he falls to his doom or gets chopped in half by a trap.

After a trap laid by a treacherous vizier, the entire city and his fathers army is trapped by a large artifact known as the "Sands of Time". The Prince, with the help of the beautiful Princess Farah, must save the kingdom himself by confronting the vizier and rewinding the Sands of Time.

-The combat is fast, entertaining, and full of amazing moves and powers that the Prince gains as the game goes on.
-The puzzles in the game are always challenging but never annoying or unfair, unlike the jumping/switch puzzles that plague games like Tomb Raider.
-The story is told perfectly through a fantastic device that I wont give away; it comes together perfectly for one of the best endings I have ever had the pleasure of viewing.

All in all, from the sound, graphics, and story, this game is easily one of the most fun and pleasing adventures ever made in recent years. Some people may have gripes with the controls, but they never become a problem enough to take away from the game's integrity in the end. The problem is avoided entirely if you have a good gamepad.

Take my advice. BUY. THIS. GAME.

Best game I've played in a long time

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 10
Date: December 21, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This game is one of the most fun games I have ever played. It keeps true to the original Prince of Persia games and adds a lot of fun to it. The graphics are very good and the story line is excellent.

A lot of people complain about the controls, and I admit it's a little weird. But if you turn the mouse sensitivity way down and don't try to over control the camera, it works just fine. It is best to think of it this way: the game was designed to be a console game, and you can only use so many fingers. The camera control was designed to be changed only when you need to look around and figure out problems. The game is NOT designed to be like a first person shooter game. One way to get used to this type of control is to completely let go of the mouse, especially during the first part of the game (I call the learning period). Of course, one option is to get a gamepad and play the game (and then the controls would be completely logical). Move the player or move the camera, but avoid doing both at the same time and the game gets much easier.

The puzzles aren't too hard and are pretty obvious (at least to me) when you look at the room. The first part of the game is really easy and all of the answers are given in prompts. Like I said before, it's the learning period so you get used to the controls and know what you can do. When the camera position gets in the way of solving problems or viewing the "big" picture, there is the "landscape" view so you can see the whole room. Or for more precise viewing, there's the first person view which will help if you need to see something above you or if you're near a wall. This is one point everyone seems to miss and may be why so many complain.

I like the story line in this game more than most other games. Usually it seems that the designers make up the levels, then makes up a stupid story. Or they make a story (with bad acting), then throw in a little game play. This game has a flow, and that is incorporated into the story line.

I would say this game is for most "average" people. The die hards who want a hard puzzle that takes hours for one level, won't enjoy it. The demonic who just want to kill everyone won't like it. The puzzles aren't too hard for the people who enjoy fighting, and the fighting isn't too hard for people who enjoy thinking. It's good for younger people and older ones. Each person enjoys different games, but I love this game and recommend it to anyone.

Great PC game! ! !

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: February 21, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This game is great in every sense of the word! Graphics, gameplay, and storyline!! I see alot of people complaining about the controls, maybe they never heard of a great litle invention called the game pad or PC controller... I mean come on people, its 2005!!! Lots of great inexpensive PC accesories out there now a days... Get with the program!!!

Warning: Strange Grapphics Card Requirements

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 10 / 14
Date: December 10, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I had to take this game back because it wouldn't work with my graphics card, an NVIDIA GeForce 4 MX. Since this is a VERY common graphics card, I thought I'd save people a similar experience. Here's a direct copy/paste from the Readme.txt from the Prince of Persia game CD:

-Minimum Configuration:
Win 98 SE/ME/2000/XP Only
DirectX 9.0b
800 MHz Pentium III, AMD Athlon or equivalent
256 MB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 3 or higher (excluding NVIDIA GeForce 4 MX), ATI Radeon
8500 or higher, Matrox Parhelia
DirectX 8.0 compatible sound device
1.4 GB hard drive space
Windows-compatible mouse required

-Recommended Configuration:
Win 98 SE/ME/2000/XP Only
DirectX 9.0b
1.2 GHz Pentium 4, AMD Athlon or equivalent
256 MB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 4 or ATI Radeon 9500
DirectX 8.0 compatible sound device
1.4 GB hard drive space
Windows-compatible mouse required

Note that that Geforce 3s ARE supported. I could load the game with a GeForce 4 MX, but the extremely low framerate made it unplayable.

Brilliant and absorbing

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 10
Date: January 09, 2004
Author: Amazon User

One of the most brilliant games I've played in a long time. I'm a big fan of this type of game (like Tomb Raider, Ratchet & Clank, Jak & Daxter). I feel like so much thought was put into Prince of Persia to make it all fit together. For instance, when you die and restart the game you hear "your" voice saying "No, no, no, that's not what happened. Let me tell it again." You regain health by drinking water available in fountains throughout the castle. Makes much more sense than finding "health crates" scattered everywhere the way you do in most games! The power ups that you can find also make sense in the context of the story instead of just being something you find lying around. It's also beautiful, clever, and fun.

One negative - at about 33% of the game I came across a bug that made it impossible to continue playing. Their tech support said if I started from a different save file the problem wouldn't be there but I didn't have a different save file. But I didn't consider it a big deal to have to restart the game since it has been such fun to play it anyway!

A Truly Exceptional Game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: April 12, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I bought this game on a Saturday, played it until 2:00 in the morning, began again the next afternoon, and beat it that evening. For a hard-core adventure gamer like myself (who grew up playing a single Space Quest or Police Quest game for almost a year), this would normally be completely unacceptable. So, you ask, why five stars?

This game, simply put, is not meant to be overly difficult. It is meant to be one of the most technically, graphically, and audibly cutting-edge games on the market... and it succeeds.

In general, you play as a Prince who battles his way through the hordes of evil to find a betraying Viser in a game style very, very close to Tomb Raider. Using a plethora of amazing gymnatics to get around and a series of easy combat commands to fight that translate into the most fluid and amazing moves I've seen in a game, this game is far and above the best example of the genre I have seen.

Graphically, the game consistently gives the player the feeling of being inside the Arabian Nights, fighting evil and exploring the wonders of mythical Arabia. Using a graphical technique I can't really put my finger on, the entire game feels like a dream, placing you in the story far better than almost any other game I have played. Possibly even more impressive is the games ability to make your characters gymnastics look feasable. Swinging, wall-running, and ricocheting that would be physically impossible for a normal person are animated so fludily that they appear not only possible but easy.

Audibly, the game is armed with a hard rock/arabian soundtrack that is amazing. As a professional reviewer once said, the only problem with the soundtrack is that it doesn't play all the time...only during the fights.

Technically...this is the part where I disagree with most people. I've noticed a lot of complaining about the camera control and character control. The fact is that I found it rather intuitive. While some of the camera angles are a little annoying, they generally only hamper your progress for about fifteen seconds...and then you move on. A delicate hand and a little patience and you can soon learn to control the camera.

As for the storyline, it is about the mistake of a young Prince (who you play), and his quest to fix it. By his side is a young princess, who wields a bow and a sharp wit, but still managed to impale me with more than a few misdirected arrows before the end of the game. The ending of the game is quite good- possibly the best I've seen since Final Fantasy VIII- leaving me with a bit of a peeve...considering the nature of the Prince of Persia francise, the next game probably won't build on this one. Crud!

All in all, one of the most throughly entertaining games I've ever played. If you enjoy the genre, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it.

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