Prince of Persia

Prince of Persia is not a sequel to what is now called the Sands of Time trilogy. It can be likened to the recent superhero reboot of Batman - it wipes the slate clean and starts anew while keeping the franchise's better core elements. This is entirely a good thing as the trilogy took a dark turn which did no good to embody what people loved so much about the original Sands of Time. This new Prince of Persia looks set to recapture the fun adventuring spirit of Sands of Time and deliver it in a sweet current generation package.

Development of the new Prince began almost immediately after The Two Thrones was completed, but strangely, it was only officially announced earlier this year in May. With the announcement came a few welcome details - there would be a balance between combat, platforming and puzzle solving and the Prince's trademark acrobatics would be back like we've never seen them before.

This Prince of Persia tells of a vagabond thief who, upon returning home with the spoils of his latest adventure, finds himself caught in a sandstorm. As the sandstorms subsides he finds himself in a beautiful and heavenly garden whose centrepiece is the Tree of Life. In the garden, the Prince comes across a girl named Elika, whose coming to the garden was of a similar circumstance, and as such, they pair up and decide to make their way to the Tree of Life. As luck would have it, the ancient god of darkness, Ahriman, is set loose and destroys the Tree and begins to corrupt the land with his darkly power. Bearing witness to this, the Prince and Elika decide it is their duty to defeat Ahriman and cleanse the land of the darkness. Fairly standard stuff.

Both characters are somewhat refreshing for the series as this is the first Prince of Persia whose starring character isn't a prince. He's the sort of character as a kid we all wanted to be, the ruffian who lives each day as it comes and spends his money on enjoyable ventures such as women and liquor. Oh, and he's an expert swordsman. Inspiration for the character is said to be drawn from the likes of Han Solo, Aragorn and the original Arabian hero, Sinbad. My money is on him becoming the Prince by the end of the game.

Elika too is largely original. Being infused with magical abilities, she allows the Prince to perform some incredible acrobatic manoeuvres. As in this Prince of Persia we won't have the ability to use the Sands of Time, her powers are said to be just as innovative, meaning you will find it hard to miss the Sands. She is also the first “goodie" character with magical abilities. Developer inspiration for Elika comes from Elizabeth Swan, Arwen and Padme, which explains why she looks exactly like Natalie Portman.

The game has been built on the same engine as last year's Assassins Creed, but with some obvious modifications. Prince of Persia has a unique graphical style which exudes a lot of personality. It can certainly be described as cell-shaded, yet there is still some stunning detail present. And though built on the same engine, Prince of Persia won't have cities brimming with locals; you'll be fighting and platforming through various areas which have been corrupted by Ahriman's power.

There have been several changes to the Sands of Time formula with this new Prince of Persia, the biggest of which is the point that you simply cannot die thanks to the secondary character Elika. For example, you could be running along a wall and misjudge the distance for a jump you're to make - instead of plummeting to your death Elika will grab onto you and teleport you back to the last ledge or platform which indicates the beginning of an acrobatic puzzle.

Elika can also assist in battle by attacking in unison with the Prince to deliver some wonderful combos. Not only this, but she will also be able to boost the Prince mid-jump to access areas otherwise unreachable, indicate where to go next and protect him if he is taken out in combat. To balance this last point out the enemy will regain their health while you do but at face value it's hard not to feel that Prince of Persia is going to be a forgiving and easy experience. The developers have stated that this is to make the game more accessible and broaden its audience, and surely it will, but at the same time will it alienate existing customers of the franchise? Fingers are crossed that some of these features will have the option of being turned off.

The question of difficulty and challenge aside, Prince of Persia is shaping up quite nicely. The inclusion of the ally character Elika sounds like a great idea and the new art style is sublime. Being able to perform the acrobatics we've grown to love over the years in HD makes it difficult to look the other way. Prince of Persia is due for release on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC and Nintendo DS later this year; stay tuned for a review from your favourite New Zealand gaming website when it does.

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