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Prince of Persia First Impressions
Ubisoft Montreal has taken a classic franchise from the shelf and dusted it down and is preparing it for its next-gen debut.
By Luke Anderson, GameSpot UK
Posted May 28, 2008 12:26 pm PT
We recently caught up with the Prince of Persia development team to see how the game, which has remained a well-hidden secret until recently,
has been developing. The fourth game in the series following 2003's The
Sands of Time, Prince of Persia has been in development for more than
two years and is coming close to seeing the light of day, with a launch
planned for the second half of this year. Ubisoft Montreal is
developing the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC versions, with Ubisoft
Morocco handling the DS version. We sat down with Ben Mattes and
Jean-Christophe Guyot, the game's producer and creative director
respectively, to see the new prince in action on the Xbox 360.
Producing the Prince
Luke Anderson talks to Prince of Persia producer Ben Mattes about the reboot's story, characters, gameplay, combat and more!
Watch | Download
Visually, Prince of Persia is looking quite promising, which should
come as no surprise given that it uses the same engine as Ubisoft's
other recent period piece and 2007 holiday hit, Assassin's Creed.
However, the game marks an artistic departure from what has gone
before, with the team opting for what it refers to as an "illustrated"
style. While the team has attempted to distance the technique from the
cel-shaded approach taken by games such as The Legend of Zelda: The
Wind Waker and Viewtiful Joe, the graphics do bear some
resemblance--although they're certainly not cel-shaded to quite the
extent of the graphics in either of those games.
A mix between the stylised look of cel-shaded games and ones
that aim for realism, Prince of Persia's unique aesthetic makes for a
refreshing change. There are subtle graphical effects too, including
black ash that seems to float in midair (perhaps serving as a visual
clue to the corruption that exists), dust blowing across the landscape,
and light bloom effects, all of which help reinforce the environment's
dark, forbidding, and corrupted nature.
Prince of Persia's illustrative look is a departure from the series and comes as a welcome change.
The
events in Prince of Persia occur in a completely separate timeline from
the Sands of Time trilogy, with an altogether new prince making his
debut--except this time, he's not a prince from the get-go. The new
character that you play as is described as an adventurer searching for
riches, who, through the course of the story, becomes a prince.
Inspirations for the character have been drawn from Sinbad the Sailor,
Han Solo, and even Lo "Dark Cloud," the desert bandit from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
The story is also loosely based on Persian mythology and the twin gods
Ormazd (read: good) and Ahriman (read: bad). It seems that something's
amiss with the Tree of Life--which holds the power of life and
death--and an evil corruption is spreading across the land. Throughout
your quest you'll need to heal the world one area at a time by
destroying enemies that serve as a manifestation of that corruption,
thereby ridding the land of it.
You'll also be accompanied by an attractive young lady named
Elika, the last descendant of the guardians of the Tree of Life and
apparently inspired by Keira Knightley's character in Pirates of the Caribbean.
Elika has grown up within the walled garden that protects the tree from
the outside world and therefore has led a rather sheltered life until
now. While Elika serves as a storyteller, she'll also assist you in
combat, acrobatic moves, and puzzle-solving.
Elika becomes your companion early on in the game, and while
you won't control her directly, there is a context-sensitive button
that's assigned to her and at your disposal during the game. For
instance, you might be able to pull off a move midfight by throwing her
over your shoulders into attackers or use her during the more acrobatic
parts of the game to help you climb the more difficult ledges. She'll
also respond automatically on some occasions, switching places with you
while scaling a vertical cliff, for example. Despite the fact that she
is human, she can't die or be killed in the game.
Keira, erm, I mean Elika, will assist you throughout your Persian adventure.
The
enemies you'll encounter in Prince of Persia represent physical
manifestations of the corruption. They're neither human nor mechanical
but instead are a result of the gooey, organic corruption coagulating
into adversaries, which, unlike in previous games where you fought
multiple enemies at once, now have to be taken out one at a time.
The majority of the game's action takes place in outdoor
environments. You'll explore canyons, cliffs, and many other natural
structures that you're able to scale. You'll also find yourself indoors
at times, with corridors and sheltered bridges mixing things up a bit.
Highcastle, one of the regions we saw, was dominated by--you guessed
it--a castle set high above the corrupted landscape.
The series has always had elements of acrobatics,
puzzle-solving, and combat. However, on this outing the prince will
have to rely more heavily on acrobatics to advance through the game.
That isn't to say there won't be any adversaries or any puzzles to
solve, but the emphasis will be more on exploration and using the
prince's abilities to reach new areas. Standard Prince of Persia moves
are back, but the prince also now sports a glowing, metallic glove that
will allow you to perform an array of new moves, including the Grip
Fall--a move that gives you a second chance in instances where you
might otherwise have plunged to an untimely death.
The game has a partly open-ended structure, in that the order
in which you explore each area is completely up to you. However, the
path to each objective will still be linear. The developers didn't
elaborate, but we were told that the order in which you complete the
objectives will also have an effect on gameplay.
The game's world is divided into dark and light areas, which
represent the two states of cursed land and healed land. One of the
major objectives in one of the regions we saw was represented by a beam
of light that extended high into the sky. When we came close to
reaching the healing ground from which it emitted, we were confronted
by a huge beastly creature called a hunter. After a short fight he was
disposed of, and we were then ready to step into the light, presumably
to vanquish corruption from the region, yet unfortunately for us, it
was at this point that the demonstration drew to a close.
Prince of Persia will be making its way to the Xbox 360,
PlayStation 3, PC, and DS later this year. Stay tuned for more coverage
of the game.
-GameSpot
Ubisoft Montreal has taken a classic franchise from the shelf and dusted it down and is preparing it for its next-gen debut.
By Luke Anderson, GameSpot UK
Posted May 28, 2008 12:26 pm PT
We recently caught up with the Prince of Persia development team to see how the game, which has remained a well-hidden secret until recently,
has been developing. The fourth game in the series following 2003's The
Sands of Time, Prince of Persia has been in development for more than
two years and is coming close to seeing the light of day, with a launch
planned for the second half of this year. Ubisoft Montreal is
developing the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC versions, with Ubisoft
Morocco handling the DS version. We sat down with Ben Mattes and
Jean-Christophe Guyot, the game's producer and creative director
respectively, to see the new prince in action on the Xbox 360.
Producing the Prince
Luke Anderson talks to Prince of Persia producer Ben Mattes about the reboot's story, characters, gameplay, combat and more!
Watch | Download
Visually, Prince of Persia is looking quite promising, which should
come as no surprise given that it uses the same engine as Ubisoft's
other recent period piece and 2007 holiday hit, Assassin's Creed.
However, the game marks an artistic departure from what has gone
before, with the team opting for what it refers to as an "illustrated"
style. While the team has attempted to distance the technique from the
cel-shaded approach taken by games such as The Legend of Zelda: The
Wind Waker and Viewtiful Joe, the graphics do bear some
resemblance--although they're certainly not cel-shaded to quite the
extent of the graphics in either of those games.
A mix between the stylised look of cel-shaded games and ones
that aim for realism, Prince of Persia's unique aesthetic makes for a
refreshing change. There are subtle graphical effects too, including
black ash that seems to float in midair (perhaps serving as a visual
clue to the corruption that exists), dust blowing across the landscape,
and light bloom effects, all of which help reinforce the environment's
dark, forbidding, and corrupted nature.
;)
Prince of Persia's illustrative look is a departure from the series and comes as a welcome change.
The
events in Prince of Persia occur in a completely separate timeline from
the Sands of Time trilogy, with an altogether new prince making his
debut--except this time, he's not a prince from the get-go. The new
character that you play as is described as an adventurer searching for
riches, who, through the course of the story, becomes a prince.
Inspirations for the character have been drawn from Sinbad the Sailor,
Han Solo, and even Lo "Dark Cloud," the desert bandit from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
The story is also loosely based on Persian mythology and the twin gods
Ormazd (read: good) and Ahriman (read: bad). It seems that something's
amiss with the Tree of Life--which holds the power of life and
death--and an evil corruption is spreading across the land. Throughout
your quest you'll need to heal the world one area at a time by
destroying enemies that serve as a manifestation of that corruption,
thereby ridding the land of it.
You'll also be accompanied by an attractive young lady named
Elika, the last descendant of the guardians of the Tree of Life and
apparently inspired by Keira Knightley's character in Pirates of the Caribbean.
Elika has grown up within the walled garden that protects the tree from
the outside world and therefore has led a rather sheltered life until
now. While Elika serves as a storyteller, she'll also assist you in
combat, acrobatic moves, and puzzle-solving.
Elika becomes your companion early on in the game, and while
you won't control her directly, there is a context-sensitive button
that's assigned to her and at your disposal during the game. For
instance, you might be able to pull off a move midfight by throwing her
over your shoulders into attackers or use her during the more acrobatic
parts of the game to help you climb the more difficult ledges. She'll
also respond automatically on some occasions, switching places with you
while scaling a vertical cliff, for example. Despite the fact that she
is human, she can't die or be killed in the game.
;)
Keira, erm, I mean Elika, will assist you throughout your Persian adventure.
The
enemies you'll encounter in Prince of Persia represent physical
manifestations of the corruption. They're neither human nor mechanical
but instead are a result of the gooey, organic corruption coagulating
into adversaries, which, unlike in previous games where you fought
multiple enemies at once, now have to be taken out one at a time.
The majority of the game's action takes place in outdoor
environments. You'll explore canyons, cliffs, and many other natural
structures that you're able to scale. You'll also find yourself indoors
at times, with corridors and sheltered bridges mixing things up a bit.
Highcastle, one of the regions we saw, was dominated by--you guessed
it--a castle set high above the corrupted landscape.
The series has always had elements of acrobatics,
puzzle-solving, and combat. However, on this outing the prince will
have to rely more heavily on acrobatics to advance through the game.
That isn't to say there won't be any adversaries or any puzzles to
solve, but the emphasis will be more on exploration and using the
prince's abilities to reach new areas. Standard Prince of Persia moves
are back, but the prince also now sports a glowing, metallic glove that
will allow you to perform an array of new moves, including the Grip
Fall--a move that gives you a second chance in instances where you
might otherwise have plunged to an untimely death.
The game has a partly open-ended structure, in that the order
in which you explore each area is completely up to you. However, the
path to each objective will still be linear. The developers didn't
elaborate, but we were told that the order in which you complete the
objectives will also have an effect on gameplay.
The game's world is divided into dark and light areas, which
represent the two states of cursed land and healed land. One of the
major objectives in one of the regions we saw was represented by a beam
of light that extended high into the sky. When we came close to
reaching the healing ground from which it emitted, we were confronted
by a huge beastly creature called a hunter. After a short fight he was
disposed of, and we were then ready to step into the light, presumably
to vanquish corruption from the region, yet unfortunately for us, it
was at this point that the demonstration drew to a close.
Prince of Persia will be making its way to the Xbox 360,
PlayStation 3, PC, and DS later this year. Stay tuned for more coverage
of the game.
-GameSpot
