Digital Thinkbox

Introduction

I grabbed this game on a lark while ordering some books from Amazon.com. I mostly enjoyed the last Prince of Persia game, Sands of Time, and actually completed that one. While this type of game doesn’t usually interest me, the recent PoP games usually do some pretty interesting things and usually have a decent story. Additionally, I briefly played the original Prince of Persia ages ago on the IBM PC back when Brøderbund was still alive.

This installment in the PoP franchise appears to portray the Prince as a somewhat darker character. In the last installment, the Prince was this happy go lucky guy who just happened to be granted unlimited universal power, and ran amok with it. This one sees him dealing with the consequences of those actions.

Graphics

The graphics in PoP:WW are pretty decent, and appear to be a pretty decent upgrade over the previous game, which was no slouch in the graphics department. Some of the outdoor sequences were quite attractive. The game has two distinct “time lines.” One in the past and one in the present. You manage to cover a fare amount of the same territory in both the past, and the present so you get to see both locations shiny new, and rundown and dilapidated. A very nice effect.

Sound

Audio was very good, and the dialog was clean and understandable. I especially liked the music. While it wasn’t “period,” it was appropriate to the situation. Combat music was usually hard driving and tense. Music and sound effects play an important part of setting a game’s mood, and PoP:WW did an excellent job in this department.

Game play

If you are playing on Windows GET A GAME PAD NOW. Trying to control the Prince with the keyboard is horrible; you won’t like it. I went out and purchased a Sony PS2 Dual Shock controller and a USB adapter. I really like the Dual Shock, and this combo worked quite nicely.

The new combat system is quite entertaining. There are a lot of different moves that the Prince can execute depending on his situations. He can hop off of walls, grab enemies, wield two weapons, etc. Judging by the number of combos available, there are LOTS of moves you can perform. For the most part, I just use a few combinations that I found effective. There were instances, however, where I was surrounded by enemies and started flailing away and the controller and some how executed some amazing and devastating combo.

Some of the levels are quite well designed and present challenging puzzles. Unfortunately, it is the core game play that got me down on this title. Sands of Time has a nice “rewind” system that you could use if you made a mistake and wanted to turn back the clock. PoP:WW preserves this system, sort of. There are places where you will find yourself on long, desperate runs with no opportunity to refill the your sand tanks (utilized to power the various Sands of Time abilities) system. Additionally, you may find yourself in a situation with few sand tanks and no clue how to proceed. Then you fall and die and can’t rewind forcing you to restore to a save point that is probably a way back. Annoying.

Indeed, I found myself cursing the designers on several occasions. These instances really sapped the fun out of the game, and ultimately caused me to put down the game about half finished. I found myself only able to play this game for 30-45 minutes at a time before I felt like throwing my controller through the monitor. Not my kind of entertainment. In the end, I abandoned this game, which is too bad since this title has lots of good qualities. It’s the run-jump-fall-die sequences repeated that got me down.

Conclusion

It has an interesting story, great graphics, superb combat, and usually intriguing level design. It’s the few levels and situations that are designed to frustrate the player that really detract from this game. I feel that this game will be one of those titles that you either love or hate. Since the game can be found used for not at lot, you can give this game a whirl and see whether you like it.