prince of persia game review
Test: Prince of PersiaAlthough the origins of the Prince of Persia saga now go back almost two decades, the story told to us over the course of the episodes does not concern a single prince. Far from the tortured concerns of the Prince of Sands of Time, the central character of the new Prince of Persia takes us to the discovery of his own legend, for a journey that is both poetic, aesthetic and artistic.
The context of this new Prince of Persia is therefore deliberately anchored in a brand new universe, devoid of any relationship with the Sands of Time trilogy. Wandering on a land rooted in Persian mythology, the one who appears to us as the new "prince" is the witness of an irreversible act which marks the rebirth of Ahriman, the lord of evil and destruction. Like our hero, the player is helplessly witnessing the destruction of the Tree of Life and the liberation from Corruption, materialized by a black substance which spills over the four corners of the kingdom, contaminating both the earth and the beings who populate it. Therefore, the prince has no choice but to purify one by one all the sites that have been affected by the Corruption, and for that he must ally himself with Elika, the daughter of the man who is responsible of this chaos ...
In Prince of Persia, your quest therefore consists in exploring each of the territories affected by the Corruption in order to reach their nucleus so that Elika purifies it with the help of its mysterious powers. The kingdom being divided into four regions protected by guardians devoted to the cause of Ahriman, the duo must also repel these evil beings by fighting them repeatedly, until they are finally destroyed in their lair. To the west, the ruined citadel is the territory of the Hunter, which you will have to track down to its lair, beyond the ramparts erected formerly by the Ahura. Become a veritable war factory passing through the hands of the Alchemist, the valley is a marshy region dominated by technology. It adjoins the royal palace, once resplendent, but now stronghold of the evil Concubine. Finally, to the east, the city of light is guarded by the Warrior, a colossus insensitive to your attacks and who can only be defeated by cunning. The darkness of these four recurring bosses makes us almost forget the almost total absence of other enemies to face during this new epic. It must be said that action is no longer the number one priority of this episode, as we will see a little later.
We were told of an open world and this is indeed the case in the sense that all of the 25 areas of the game are connected to each other without there being the slightest split or transition, constituting an extremely vast world which has many branches. These areas can also be explored in any order, and to easily move from one point to another without having to trudge for hours in already known environments, the map allows you to instantly teleport between places that have already been purified by Elika. The levels themselves are not always very large, we progress fairly quickly, but the lifespan is lengthened by the need to seek a maximum of spheres of light to unlock access to the following levels. This constraint forces the player to necessarily extend his exploration so as not to have to return later to look for the orbs left behind. In addition, some puzzles, very rare, occur when we least expect them and sometimes cut us off in our momentum to push us to reflect. These enigmas, whose presence is all the same praiseworthy, all have in common a fairly tedious method of resolution which will not necessarily suit everyone. Anyway, their disappearance would have been synonymous with sacrilege in the eyes of the purists of the series.
If some gameplay choices may divide the opinion of the players, the breathtaking nature of the realization should however make everyone agree on the very high graphic quality of this episode. Without losing sight of the original influence of the Prince of Persia license and its "Arabian Nights" atmosphere, the app is more anchored in magic and fantasy than the three Sands of Time opus which stood out with an atmosphere much darker and tortured. The designers have adopted a truly unique graphic style that achieves the feat of remaining incredibly faithful to the artworks that served as the artistic basis for the project. The visual rendering, described as "illustrative art" by the developers, gives the impression of evolving in decorations painted by hand, and in which the characters fit perfectly perfectly. The result is quite staggering in efficiency, the movements of the characters being more aesthetic than ever, while the grandiose landscapes stretch as far as the eye can see. Nothing to say either about the very cinematic staging of the battles which relies on a large number of contextual actions to make the confrontations really exciting to watch.
The prince also gains in charisma and no longer hesitates to express himself to complain or to play boastful, without ever giving up a little bit of irony that sticks well with his air a little bravado. His origins are, at first glance, not much noble, the man being rather of the vagabond type without attachment and always quick to seek the fight. At his side, Princess Elika has everything of a lady of royal blood. Opposed to her father who is still responsible for the spillage of Corruption across the kingdom, the young lady takes her quest very seriously and does not hesitate to pay her person to give the prince what he sorely needs: Magic powers. As he is not able to go back in time, Elika makes it a point to reach out to him whenever his death seems inevitable. Concretely, as soon as you are about to succumb in one way or another, the screen goes blank and Elika's helping hand brings you as if by magic to the place where you perished. The game over therefore no longer really exists in Prince of Persia, the death simply forcing us to start a failed game phase until we succeed. A kind of ubiquitous checkpoint that allows you to progress more easily and which is part of the avowed perspective of making the series more accessible to the general public.
The designers have thus clearly displayed their desire to offer a software that can be appreciated by all without necessarily requiring a great practice of video games. Most movements are therefore relatively assisted, to the point that it is usually enough to simply orient his direction and interact at the right time so that the prince does exactly what is expected of him without deviating from the planned course. In addition to the traditional jumps around the fixed bars and races on the walls, the prince is now able to evolve on the ceiling by hanging with his metal gauntlet provided with claws to then take support on rings fixed in height. Its claws also allow it to slide down below or, conversely, to take an upward impulse in order to propel itself towards a ledge. Finally, magic tiles can, once activated, allow you to fly in the air towards other portions of the level. Flight phases occur even at very specific times, the player then having to lean to one side or the other to avoid obstacles. Again, the actions are much assisted but the game is nonetheless very pleasant to navigate, even if it is not possible to take shortcuts which, sometimes, however seem quite achievable. The game will always take care of suddenly changing the tint of the screen to make you understand that Elika will in no case allow you to get out of the right path.
Whether or not we like this new choice of gameplay, the result is nonetheless impressive to watch and pleasantly intuitive to take in hand, even if we no longer stress for fear of missing a jump at the sight of a long streak of pure platform. In the same vein, we can regret that the traps are so few and that the acrobatic courses never really succeed in renewing themselves despite the changes in environment. The thing is a little different with regard to the phases of combat, the modifications brought here being much more radical. First, the action is very clearly set back in this episode. Progress is rarely interrupted by a confrontation, which can sometimes even be avoided if you arrive quickly enough to destroy the Corruption area before the enemy appears. The designers have also decided to give up fighting against hordes of enemies to offer only one-on-one duels. The objective is indeed to make them longer and more intense. What fans of the series may regret is the outright abandonment of the reflexes that we had ended up completely assimilating in the Sands of Time. From now on, there is no longer any question of trying to gain speed by flitting in all directions to divert him, even if it means leaning on the walls to pass behind his back or doing a pirouette above his head. .
In this opus, the duels are indeed more wait-and-see, more focused on timing, the player being able to complete an attack only on the absolute condition of succeeding a counter. In other words, you have to manage to parry at the right time to unbalance your opponent and then have time to counterattack. Needless to say, you should make the most of this moment to place a chain of long shots, because the longer your combo, the more damage it will inflict. You are then free to choreograph this sequence at your leisure, alternating in the order you want the strikes with the sword, the attacks on the gauntlet, the acrobatic movements which throw the enemy in the air and the magic assaults of Elika. As you progress through the game, your opponents will make it harder for you by changing their state, which will require you to use a specific type of attack to neutralize them. In the end, even if this new approach to combat turns out to be quite confusing at first, it reveals its effectiveness once the system of counter assimilated and has the merit of showing a certain subtlety. It remains to be seen whether the concept will fully satisfy the fans of the series who used to enjoy complete freedom of movement in the Sands of Time trilogy. Anyway, we certainly will not blame the developers for their risk taking, especially if the elements put in place to make the license accessible to a larger number of players manage to give a new boost to the Prince of saga Persia.
The notes
Graphics 18/20
It is enough to lay eyes on the images to better understand what the designers mean by a visual rendering qualified as "illustrative art". Rarely have the graphics of a game been so close to the artworks that served as the artistic basis for the project. The realization gives the impression of evolving in decorations painted by hand and in which the characters move with great grace.
Gameplay 16/20
Several major changes have been made to the gameplay compared to the Sands of Time trilogy. This is mainly the case with fights, fewer in number, less free, but now exclusively favoring duels where the notion of timing brings a certain subtlety to the unfolding of battles. Designed for greater accessibility, the software is truly fun to play from start to finish.
Lifespan 15/20
The adventure involves 25 areas to explore, all linked together to form a huge territory in which it is fortunately possible to teleport. We move quickly at first but things get complicated later with the essential collection of spheres of light and the resolution of some puzzles sometimes quite difficult.
Soundtrack 16/20
The sound environment admirably supports the action, the music adapting to the liking of the situations and creating an atmosphere radically different from one region to another. The voices in French are successful and the fact that the prince speaks without restraint allows us to better understand his character.
Scenario 15/20
The game takes place in a completely separate setting from that which served as the background for the Sands of Time trilogy. Without losing sight of the original influence of the Prince of Persia license and its "Arabian Nights" atmosphere, the app is more anchored in magic and fantasy, and offers a journey that is both poetic and artistic. It's a shame that history puts so few actors on stage and that the quest for purification makes the course of the adventure fairly predictable and redundant.
A new Prince of Persia comes to take over from his predecessors in an episode under the sign of change and renewal. Despite the gameplay choices that could disturb the regulars, the adventure can be discovered with immense pleasure and permanent delight guaranteed by a simply magnificent achievement. If the next sections correct the few faults mentioned in the test, we could witness the birth of a new memorable trilogy.
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