Metascore

Generally favorable reviews - based on 73 Critics What's this?

User Score

Mixed or average reviews- based on 143 Ratings

  • Summary: Set in a land rooted in ancient Persian mythology, the Prince finds himself caught in an epic battle between the primal forces of light and darkness: the God of Light, Ormazd versus his brother Ahriman, the destructive God of Darkness. The Prince arrives just in time to witness the destruction of the legendary Tree of Life - an act which threatens to plunge the entire world into eternal darkness. Manifested in the form of the Corruption, a dark substance that physically contaminates the land and the skies, the Prince must partner with Elika, a deadly companion, to heal the world from the evil Corruption. [Ubisoft] Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 57 out of 73
  2. Negative: 0 out of 73
  1. 100
    All told, this is a great debut for the Prince of Persia series on the PS3 and Xbox 360. [Jan 2009, p.74]
  2. It’s a really fun game to play, with good characters, controls, locations, and objectives, and is truly an evolution of the series.
  3. It’s a short game, clocking in at 14 hours tops for most gamers the first time through, with at least a quarter of that time padded with “light seed” collection tasks that require you to re-explore levels after defeating bosses.
  4. If you want a truly great 3D Prince of Persia experience, however, we’d recommend tracking down a copy of The Sands of Time instead.

See all 73 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 14 out of 34
  2. Negative: 12 out of 34
  1. AlixeViolet
    10
    I am desperately awaiting the sequel for this. The story was great and had me on the edge of my seat the entire time. The humor was spot-on and the chemistry between the prince and Elika was amazing. The ending was manly, and there are still secrets to unlock. Additional content and bonuses make it worth replaying, and the game system never seems to get tired. The perfect blend between 3D fighting and platforming. Gotta love this game. Expand
  2. 8
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Prince of Persia is a game that tends to the casual audience while keeping the masochistic at bay. There are some hiccups that could have been fixed, but with a beautifully unique art direction that is unparalleled to anything previously done, dynamic and perpetually new environments with seamless acrobatic platforming, much can easily be forgiven. Expand
  3. jt
    5
    Do you like collecting orbs? If you said no, then don't bother with this game. Do you like challenge? If you said yes, then don't bother with this game. If i had to sum up the PoP experience in one word, it would be "shallow". As beautiful as the game is (and it is gorgeous), it just doesn't have enough substance to feel satisfying. It absolutely baffles me to think that respected reviewers gave this game a better than mediocre review. Let me explain the problems systematically. 1. There is no challenge. At all. The main character can not under any circumstance die or fail. Ever. If you fall off a cliff, miss a quick-time event, or just suck at combat, the game will literally hold your hand until you get it right. Each time you do something that would have caused your death, Elika saves you. This would not be such a problem if not for my next point. 2. You're not playing a game. You are "interacting" with a game. What does that mean? In a real platformer, getting from point a to point b involves skill as you time your jumps and movements just right. This is not the case in PoP. I literally moved from one side of a level to the other by touching my analog stick once then just pressing buttons. In fact, moving around a level is honestly just a cleverly engineered quick time even where you are trained to notice certain objects as specfiic button presses. If you see a ring, you press B, if you see a plate, you press Y, if you see a gap, you press A, the game does the rest. I moved across an entire level by pressing A, B, and Y when the game told me to. And remember that hand-holding i mentioned earlier, it's in the movement too. The window of opportunity is so large that it's almost insulting. 3. The levels are very, very small. From the time you enter a level to the time you get to a boss is generally about ten minutes. I'm not exaggerating. This is a good deal if you're renting the game, a horrible deal if you bought it. 4. Bosses? Hah! The game has four "stages". Each stage has one boss that you fight a total of five times. I could deal with this if the boss fights varied substantially or increased in difficulty as you went, but they don't. Two reasons they don't: one, the game is non-linear, so the bosses weren't designed to be harder than each other, two, it holds your hand remember, you CAN NOT DIE. 5. Orb collecting. Remember when i asked if you enjoyed collecting orbs. I was serious, you better love it or you are going to hate this game. Getting to, and defeating a boss takes about ten to fifteen minutes per level, after that you're expected to spend a good twenty to thirty minutes scrounging around the level picking up orbs so you can unlock magic for elika. not you, elika. 6. There are no character upgrades. There's a game called metroid, it came out in the 80's for the original nintendo, it included upgrades for the main character. Why, twenty years later, can this not be accomplished. You start with a sword and a gauntlet, you end with the same thing. You don't learn to double jump. You don't find a better sword, nothing. 7. I'm done, i've put too much energy talking about how mediocre this game is already, when there are GOOD games out there waiting to be played. in short, rent or borrow this, but DO NOT BUY IT. Expand
  4. This is an absolute horrible game. The story sucks. You run around doing the same thing over and over, climbing and sliding up and down rocks and mountains. Then you finally get to an enemy and it's the same one as the last and it takes 30 seconds to beat him, (EASY) and then you're back to another 15 minutes of climbing and sliding again. The moves are pretty cool but that's the only thing I liked about this game, well, besides the cool sort of artsy graphics. This game is made by the same people that made Assassin's Creed and you could call this an Assassin's Creed without the depth, maps and action. HORRIBLE. Expand

See all 34 User Reviews