I don’t know what is wrong with the developer Ubisoft of late, but some of their games have been terrible, one such bad game is their newest Prince of Perisa: The Forgotten Sands.I mistakenly bought this game on a whim when I meant to rent and I so wish I had rented it and it is certainly not as good as their last episode.
Firstly, the combat has no depth whatsoever, it is a simple press X to swing your sword and that is it. There are special powers you can upgrade to but these actually make the game a bit too easy. I am all for easy games, but eventually I was getting a one shot kill and there was no challenge. There are also not many puzzles and those that were there did not require much brain power to work out, apart from one where I resorted to looking on the web as it had me stumped. Breakable pots and vases only contained power or health and it would have been nice to have found some collectibles. The only collectibles in the game were stone statues which you had to break – for more power and health. The other thing is the look of the game feels very dated. The previous Prince of Persia on the Xbox 360 looked stunning but this game feels like a step back before that, just not good at all.
The platforming sections – swinging jumping etc, the controls worked well but it was dull. It was the same old jumping from pole to pole, swinging from swings and evading razor saws on walls. There was just no variety at all and I felt the game was just a rehash of older versions.
I really would not recommend anyone buy this game at all unless it is in the bargain bin. It is short, it has no depth and is just old tired ideas mashed up into an omelette of nothingness. Buy cheap, rent or avoid.
AVERAGE/10
SparkysDream says:
Well I waited till this was about £18 (as I do with most games now) and absolutely enjoyed my time playing it. That said; I wasn’t expecting much based on the very mediocre reviews.
It’s pretty short, a bit buggy, and I found it very easy indeed. There isn’t much in the way of puzzles and that’s disappointing – I remember back to Sands of Time with that massive light/mirror puzzle – no PoP game seems to have been able to trump that yet, and this one doesn’t even try!
The platforming elements are solid, but very easy. The new water freeze mechanic is nicely done, but the rest of the new powers are a bit duff. As for jumping from bird to bird in mid air… what’s all that about? The prince has been able to do some pretty improbable moves in the past, but this is in a league of its own… totally bizarre and totally naff.
Fighting swarms of baddies is done reasonably ok (even if the AI has been forgotten about completely), and presents a bit of a challenge to start with as you get to grips with avoiding too much damage, but as soon as you start to power up your stats everything gets a bit too easy. By the end of the game you’re just slashing through hoards of baddies for each swing of your blade and any fun is completely gone.
Graphically, everything is adequate although a step back from the cell shaded look of the previous outing. Locations again, I found to be lacking – they all look the same! Even the rooftop gardens looked just like everything else, only with the occasional but of green – hardly what you’d call a garden!! I won’t mention the story because it’s pretty much non-existent…
So yes, disappointing in a way, but it’s still Prince of Persia and it’s still fun to play if you enjoy the style of gameplay. 6/10 from me.
beck says:
You shoudl have written the review
SparkysDream says:
LOL yes maybe, but it’s a couple of months late
One thing I didn’t mention was the challenge mode. Once you’ve finished the game with decent upgrades, it isn’t even a challenge! I think I hacked my way through every wave in about 6 minutes – hardly what you’d call a challenge, and hardly a game mode at all at just 8 waves!! That said; it’s useful if you’re a score-whore as the single player campaign doesn’t quite give you enough XP to upgrade everything. By playing the challenge mode a couple of times afterwards, you can get those elusive gamer points quite easily.
There is a second challenge mode which is unlocked via Ubisoft’s U-Play system, but I haven’t had a look at that just yet.
One big thing (again) that’s missing from a PoP game is a level selection option to allow you to go back and play specific levels. I simply do not understand why developers frequently do not allow this rather useful option in their games. Splinter Cell Conviction is next on my to-play pile, so that better have one…!