Console:
GameCube, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Xbox, Wii, Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, Mobile phone (lolwut).
Developed By:
Ubisoft Montreal
Published By:
Ubisoft Montreal

Graphics: Good
Storyline: Good
Characters: Good
Controls: Terrible
Music: Fair
Overall Grade: Bad


I borrowed Prince of Persia from a friend, and they enjoyed it a lot more than I did. I thought it was ok, and I would have been upset if I had bought it. I suppose some versions were rated M, but the wii version was rated T. The graphics weren't that great. They reminded me of Karaoke Revolution in that the people looked so real it was creepy. They tried too hard to make it realistic. The buildings and such looked good, and the fire was really well done.

The storyline was also ok. I felt like it didn't go anywhere, but I might have felt differently if I had played the first two games in the sequel. The plot was mainly find the visier (the main antagonist), be thrown downward, and begin the ascent to the throne room again. Repeat. The Prince did progress from a selfish jerk to a pretty cool guy, which is always a plus. The ending was probably my favorite part of the game. After you beat the visier, you were cast into a dream realm to chase after the evil counterpart of the prince. The whole experience was really crazy, in a good way. My biggest issue was that all you did was jump and climb buildings. There wasn't anything new or exciting, except for the occasional puzzle involving switches.

The characters were good, but there weren't many of them. There was the Prince of course, and he was both annoying and likeable at times. There was the visier, who didn't do much but talk about how he was immortal. Then there was Fara, who was the Prince's alli and his love interest. She was more of a nuisance than a help, since it seemed you were always running around trying to reunite with her rather than taking shortcuts. Finally, there was the Empress of Time, Kalina, who narrated the game as if it was a story. She wasn't in the game itself, except for the beginning and the end. There were a few other minor characters, such as the Prince's father (who we don't see until you find him dead at the bottom of a well) and some old guy that led the citizens of the Prince's kingdom against the sand monsters towards the end of the game.

My least favorite part of the game was the controls. You could perform a variety of tricks, like running up and across walls, but they didn't work all the time. Sometimes you would run across the wall instead of up, resulting in death and repetition of the level, which was extremely annoying. The combos you could do in combat didn't really work either. An example of a combo: wiimote down twice, nunchuck down once, wiimote down once, and nunchuk down three times. Instead, I ended up flailing my arms around instead of concentrating on performing the combo I wanted.

The music was good, when it actually played. It had a creepy Egyptian feel that I enjoyed. Unfortunately, it would start and stop playing at random times, and it sometimes left no background noise at all. The combat music was always the same, and it got much too repetitive at the end.

So Prince of Persia wasn't a terrible game. It's fine to borrow from a friend or rent, but I wouldn't recommend buying it. I don't plan on playing the other games.