Hello all.
Recently I completed Price of Persia: The Sands of Time. And it’s a rather fantastic game – breathtaking acrobatics, a misty-mythical Arabian-nights feel, and a good story too. I actually gave a damn about what happened to the Prince and Farah – and it’s all too rare that a game evokes such a response. Sure, maybe their fallign in love is rather obvious and inevitable, but their journey to that point is well done, from bickering and mistrust to grudging mutual respect and then affection. They’re characters you can empathise with, not just generic heroes. When the prince takes a hit in combat, and Farah goes “oh no!”, it’s actually kind of gut-wrenching.
The combat meanwhile is on the weaker side but what the hell, learn the wall-rebound move and you’re practically unstoppable. So you can enjoy hacking up a few sand monsters, then get back to running, leaping and swinging which is really what the gameplay in SoT is all about.
Now I’m onto Warrior Within… and I’m undecided so far. The acrobatics look of a similar nature, which is good. The combat is greatly expanded, with a whole load of combo moves. All of which result in me getting my ass kicked when I try them, apart from the aerial-slash. Which I use over and over. Also, the game’s attitude is very different. It’s all dark and angsty, and the prince scowls a lot. I kind of miss the wry commentary of the young chap from before, now it’s all “IS THAT THE BEST YOU HAVE YOU BITCH”. I think he’s been listening to too much nu-metal.
Also while farah’s outfit was on the scanty side in SoT, WW’s female costumes are several steps more ridiculously flimsy. Really, development chaps, there’s more of us than just adolescent boys playing this game.
Oh, wait, this is officially supposed to be an old-games blogjournal. Well, I do intend to try the original PoP sometime soon. And will probably find it ridiculously difficult!
Oh, I could have saved you some pain. The PoP series tumbles downhill after Sands of Time, which is so good that you crave a sequel. It’s a honey trap. The short version is that none of the games will be as enjoyable as the first one.
I’ve played the original PoP on about five different systems and never past the first two levels. I’m not sure why it’s worked out this way, and if you added up my collective time on all of them then I would have beaten the game. I think the excuse is that Flashback enthralled me more than the Arabian Nights style, but it’s still a fine game.
I did notice that PoP had been remade as a downloadable "arcade" title for Xbox360, with a new 3D style similar to Duke Nukem Manhattan Project. Played the demo, the controls and gameplay made it over faithfully, but I was a little unimpressed. I think I would have preferred it if they had released the unmolested 2D original.
What do you fellows think about the supposed neccessity to release old game with flashy updated graphics? Pointless? Trickery? Worthwhile if they actually encourage newer gamers to try old stalwarts?
June 20, 2007 @ 7:46 pm
I’m not hugely opposed to the idea, if the core gameplay is mostly unchanged (or even improved). Tho it would be good to keep the original versions available too, maybe as an "extra feature" or something.
June 20, 2007 @ 11:50 pm
It’s an easy one to mess up. It depends how much effort’s gone into the whole enterprise.
A while ago, Sega released some ‘Classic’ retro compilation for the PS2, with Golden Axe, Space Harrier, Outrun and others – and it was terrible. They were all half-arsed approximations of the original arcade games with dreadful, PSOne-era polygon graphics.
This compilation managed to upset people who enjoyed these games first time around, and any newer gamers would have wondered what all the fuss was about.
Outrun 2 (or 2006: Coast2Coast), on the other hand, is awesome, and a good example of how it should be done. Not sure if it would make anyone check out the original though.
June 21, 2007 @ 8:51 am
And now Ubisoft or whoever made the game are releasing it as a FREE download, albeit ad-supported.
Well worth checking out.
September 2, 2007 @ 8:47 am