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Prince of Persia

EMAIL PRINT pc

6.6 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 25 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 71 votes
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Game Info

Publisher: Ubisoft

Developer: Ubisoft Montreal

Genre(s): Action, Adventure, Platform

Players: 1

ESRB Rating: T (Teen)

Release Date: December 2, 2008

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]

Cheat Codes & Hints: Cheat Code Central

Also On The Web: Official Website

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Cheat Code Central

Prince of Persia is a wonderful and nearly magical game. It’s not very long but it’s long enough, as it will entail around 10-14 hours of continuous platforming and fighting, even if you don’t try to pick up the 1001 Seeds of Light.

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IGN

It has its shortcomings, but I already sense that Prince of Persia will be one of the few games from this generation that I carry with me for the next decade.

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2404.org

One of the finest-looking games this year.

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AtomicGamer

While this one doesn't quite reach some of the stylistic and gameplay-oriented heights of Sands of Time a few years back, this re-imagined Prince of Persia delivers great thrills and plenty of accessibility inside a very pretty package.

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3DJuegos

Prince of Persia is an odyssey that manages to transmit the undeniable magic of its proposal. Ubisoft achieves the best adventure game of the year.

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YouGamers

The new visual style works and the technical side of the game is flawless but ultimately this re-imaging of Prince of Persia ends up being a bit short and easy. In the quest to rid the game of all potential sources of frustration, the low difficulty level is unfortunate collateral damage. Fun and accessible but fails to match the brilliance of Sands of Time.

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GameSpy

The new title combines strong platforming fundamentals, Assassin's Creed's open-world structure, and some of Okami's wonderful aesthetic flourishes. What it introduces to action games is something truly wonderful.

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GameZone

Well set up, because you set it up, but an effective and fun combat system.

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GameStar

A sweet love story, mixing humour and romance just right to enchant female and male players alike. Like in most new Ubisoft games it's necessary to accomplish the same tasks over and over again, but it's not as annoying as in other games. The unusual graphical style is beautiful.

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InsideGamer.nl

The Prince returns, and does so with a fresh new style, a phenomenal game world, and in stunning visual detail. The addition of Elika is a nice touch, but takes away some of the initial challenge in the game. The fact that you can’t die is a real shame, but the choreographical fighting mechanics keep the gameplay interesting and fun, and turn Prince of Persia into a small masterpiece.

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Gamers.at

Prince of Persia is repetitive in more ways than one, though nevertheless still highly enjoyable. If the nowadays ever-present backtracking is your thing and if you enjoy the gorgeous cell-shading graphics to boot, by all means, pick up the Prince. [Issue#17]

PC Games (Germany)

A fast and aesthetic action-adventure, that easily overcomes its monotony and lack of challenge due to responsive controls, two heart-warming heroes and the sheer beauty of its visual design.

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Game Positive

While Prince of Persia is definitely flawed and can even become tedious at points, it creates a dreamlike world that keeps you interested. It is an interactive extension of what good fiction tries to be, and while it's not for everyone, it can often leave you with a desire to come back for more.

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PC Format

While beautiful, the sometimes frustrating combat and last-minute rescues aren't quite a patch of the "Sands of Time." [Feb 2009, p.88]

Play (Poland)

It feels like I'm playing an absurdly extended minigame, leaping a pit here, using a glove there, pushing a button from time to time and generally enjoying the movie-like experience. But if you don't find any of the aspects of it enjoyable, the whole puzzle falls apart and even Elika's charms won't save it. [Jan 2009]

LEVEL (Czech Republic)

This action platformer makes no mistakes in presentation and excels in its great relationship between hero, his heroine, and the player – all together it’s fun for both hardcore and newbie gamers. [Issue#173]

PC PowerPlay

Having said this, Prince of Persia is one of those games that has obvious flaws but manages to pull together to become so much more than the sum of its parts. The charmingly cliched story, the visuals, audio, and their sparkling polish come together to make the Prince of Persia a modern epic. [January 2009, p.51]

GameSpot

While its lack of challenge may lull fans, its ease of use will delight newcomers and draw in anyone who appreciates a touch of magic.

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Absolute Games

Were it not for obtrusive hints and copy/pasted design, Prince of Persia would have taken its rightful place in our Hall of Fame.

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PC Gamer

It's not the lack of death that drains the game of its urgency and suspense; it's the lack of purpose in each level, other than to show off the lovely design of virtual monkey bars topped off with some fireworks at the end. [Feb 2009, p.66]

Computer Games Online RO

All of these things only take me to one conclusion: the stream of conceptual smoothness from the Sands of Time trilogy is gone, replaced by a lot of glossy plastic that can be seen by anyone, anywhere, anytime.

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PC Zone UK

It's undeniably charming, but how long you remain charmed depends largely on your patience. [Feb 2009, p.68]

Total Video Games

Continuing the theme of simplification that was prevalent throughout Assassin's Creed, Ubisoft's attempt to reinvent the Prince of Persia series is considerably disappointing.

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Total PC Gaming

A gorgeous, if uneventful platform game to some - Sands of Time with its brains kicked out to others. [Issue#15, p.60]

PC Gamer UK

Dumbed down; drawn out; deeply annoying. [Jan 2009, p.84]

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this game is 6.6 (out of 10) based on 71 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Nick R. gave it a6:
This game was wayyyyyy too easy. Fun, but too easy. You can't die, you can't fall, there are only 6 different types of enemies and you can only fight one at a time. The story was great, though, and that was the only reason i finished it. Would I buy the sequel? Prolly. If it was harder like the Sands of Time trilogy? In a heartbeat. If it was hard like the old ones, I'd pay 80 bucks for it!

rollo gave it a1:
Artistically 8/10. Playability 1/10. The prince looks and acts like the last American muscular cocky action-film star loosing all pathos and atmosphere... it's like a teenager B movie. The controls and playability is something of the '80 like Dragon's Lair or Space Ace laserdisc games. Only if you're 15 or less and it's the first game you have ever seen in your life you could give it more than 5/10. Don't buy it. Let me go back and play POP on the Amiga emulator.

Sean gave it a4:
The game starts out pretty cool; you get to do some fun acrobatics and you have access to all the combat combos from the beginning, which are nice to watch the first few times you do them. But it quickly starts dragging. There are 20 main levels plus 4 boss levels. Every single one of them is super repetitive. Not to mention the fact that you have to go through each level twice in order to pick up all the light seeds after you cleanse the level. The fights are also boring and repetitive and completely lacking in challenge, given the fact that you cannot die. If you happen to mess up and get "killed," you are saved by your companion, the opponent regains some health, and the fight continues. So in summary, for about 30 minutes the game is fun. The visuals are nice, the controls are simple, the camera works decently (occasional screwiness, but on the whole, satisfying). But the repetitiveness, lack of excitement and challenge, the prevalence of annoying and contrived obstacles, and the poor quality of combat drags it all down very quickly. I'm not sure how it got so many high scores from the critics. Perhaps they played it for less than an hour.

kyleb gave it a3:
I can't believe this is getting good ratings! Next to Sands of Time this is primitive crap. Figuring out where to go next was a huge part of the puzzle of the old POP, but this one insists on leading you around by the nose as you chase coins (oh,I mean "light seeds"), Mario style. Or you can always have the princess magically show you where to go if you're too dumb even for that. Gone is the innovative rewind feature, which forced you to realize your mistakes quickly enough to undo them and penalized you by costing you a sand tank. Now the princess just steps in and magically makes it impossible to die thereby killing any sense of tension. Walking into a room full of baddies in the old POP meant you were about to get your ninja on for 10 minutes. That's been replaced by painfully slow Boss fights where you're forced to hold the block button 80% of the time instead of, you know, FIGHTING. It's times like this I seriously wonder if there really might be some payoffs to reviewers. The only thing reviewers should be pondering about this game is why Ubisoft would so completely castrate their franchise.

vinEET R gave it a4:
Its a disappointment for me because it dosnt come anywhere close to achieving those standards of pop Warrior with in & pop Two throne.The gameplay is so easy u just hv to push a button again & again and it does all the trics which is quiet boring. Fighting same boss for FIVE times is just unforgatable.BUT graphics are prity cool & Prince became a superman & a wallruner that i think only thing i liked in this entire game.

Lance G gave it a7:
Actually, I'd give it a 7.5, and here's why. Now, I am a huge fan of the previous POP games, particularly Sands of Time, but initially, I had trouble getting into the game. The game just sort of throws you into the action without much explanation, and leaves you to figure most things out for yourself. That's fine and all, as you will soon realise that the game is really simple. On the plus-side, the game is visually stunning, and the very cool stunts the Prince can do remains intact. However, this game is completely and utterly void of any challenge what-so-ever. You simply CANNOT die - ever. If you fall into the abyss, or if you fall into the primordial black goo (or "corruption"), or if you accidently press the wrong button in the slowed-down quicktime events in the combat system, your new companion, Eleka, will save you. And then you just run through the very nice-looking worlds, fighting the same boss fights over and over again, collecting shiny balls, and occasionally encountering the random grunt baddy who dies the second you push them to the edge of the battleground. I really would have liked to see more combat sequences, and this new combat system is really unnecessary, as it just adds to the dumbing down and simplification of this already easy game. I liked how in Sands of Time the Prince's cool moves just flowed together with the combat. Not this time, as your character somehow loses the ability to JUMP in the combat system, and as an alternative, you can just roll over the bad guys, allowing you an opportunity to throw your woman at them as if she were some sort of potato sack, which she actually could have been replaced with as that would have made the game mildly amusing. Another annoying thing about this game is the painfully awkward and forced dialogue that goes on between the two characters - the Prince has become this cynical douchebag who sounds like an 18 year old North American teenager, and Elika is about as dynamic a character as a block of wood. Isn't this game suppose to be in "Persia"? Why do these people sound like a bunch of Americans? But, to be fair, I am nitpicking. I did get some fun out of this game, and i'm sure fans of the POP series will as well. However, the fact is Ubisoft has gone out of their way to make this game accessible for the "slower" demographic, and the game is over in less than 15 hours. I, my first play through, took the time to collect every single shiny ball (or "Light Seed"), and still finished the game in under 14 hours. So, it's good, but far from great. Probably best to rent it before you consider buying.

Lauren P gave it a6:
Prince of Persia is a masterpiece in its own right. That being said, it's not for everyone. It requires a lot of patience and a willingness to accept that this game chooses accessibility and ease of use over challenging and rewarding gameplay. Once you accept this, you can move on and enjoy the visuals and cinematics for what they're worth. If you are new to gaming and are looking for a fun, easy game experience without frustration, difficulty, or controller-throwing, this is the perfect game for you. If you're an experienced gamer, however, you will probably be disappointed with the complete lack of challenge whatsoever. It is somewhat appreciable solely for its story, but nothing else. Overall, Prince of Persia set out to be a work of art, and at the same time be easy and enjoyable for newcomers. It achieved those two things with flying colors, for better or for worse.

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