Dead Pixels 3: A Prince Among Men

12-06-08

The dry period in gaming has already begun. The Hot Christmas Titles have rolled out and are in stores, and we've entered a period in which few worthy new releases are due us, which is actually sort of a godsend. The industry decided November was the perfect time to roll out every single triple-A title in their arsenal, and they spewed forth from the land of silicon as from a broken dam, thus giving us all a chance to go completely broke.
That's not to say we're not getting any good games between now and the actual official goshdarn holiday itself. There's some stuff.
The other day I got my grabby little hands on Prince of Persia. It immediately confirmed something I've suspected since Assassin's Creed, a suspicion enhanced by Far Cry 2 and now soldified. Ubi Soft has almost no interest in pumping out traditional action titles. There's no doubt Prince is inspired heavily by Altair, but it also strikes a new path. Not everything on this new path works perfectly, but whatever you end up thinking of it you'll be unable to deny that Ubi Soft is charting a new direction for action-platformers.
This is another in the recent trend of cannot-die-games. Every time you get in severe trouble, your new friend Elika will rescue you with her magic. Sure, bosses can heal during this time, but since you cannot die you just jump right back in the fray. This is going to seriously piss off the sort of gamer who thrives on proving he is better than his entire Xbox Live friends list. Ubi Soft has created a game in which being top dog isn't just not the top concern, it's not a concern, period. They are in this for the experience, and you're going to have to be too. The visuals, obviously the stand-out feature, are evocative of the sort of Persia we see in the old 1,001 tales stories. It's the sort of place I see on the backs of my eyelids when I dream, and for me personally is quite frankly a wish come true. I never could pinpoint where a lot of otherwise amazing fantasy game worlds let me down in the past, but Prince seemed to just sort of know, a knowledge he took and ran with. Imagine Hayao Miyazaki meets Rogue Galaxy and you're pretty much there.
The platforming is elegant, the combat is cinematic and reminiscent somewhat of God of War. Since you can't really die, action afficiondos are going to loathe it. Those who are tired of slogging through waves of enemies and dream of something more like playing an epic scene from a swashbuckler (like me) will be at home, snuggled in the warm sounds of ocean waves.
Elika, your AI-controlled partner, is quite an experience. She reminds me of the Princess in Ico, and if you didn't play that and have no idea what I'm talking about, for shame. That princess would find you the right piece to a puzzle and actually aid you in your escape from an evil tower; this one does pretty much the same thing. The difference, of course, is the difference that seven years of tech can make to visuals, not to mention a game's ability to tell a story through character. Being able to question Elika at any time is engrossing.