| Prince of Persia | |
|---|---|
 Prince of Persia box art |
|
| Developer(s) | Ubisoft Montreal |
| Publisher(s) | Ubisoft |
| Designer(s) | Jean-Christophe Guyot |
| Composer(s) | Inon Zur, Stuart Chatwood[1] |
| Series | Prince of Persia |
| Engine | Scimitar |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X |
| Release date(s) | PS3, Xbox 360 NA December 2, 2008[2][3] EU December 4, 2008[3] UK December 5, 2008[3] Microsoft Windows |
| Genre(s) | Action-adventure, platform |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: T OFLC: PG PEGI: 12+ |
| Media | Blu-ray disc, DVD-9, digital download[5] |
| System requirements |
PC/Mac
PC: Minimum: Windows XP SP2, 1 GB RAM, DirectX 9.0c Shader Model 3.0
Supported Graphic Card, DirectX 9.0 Compatible SoundCard.
Recommended Windows Vista, 3 GB RAM, DirectX 10.0
Shader Model 4.0 Graphic Card Compatible, DirectX 10.0 Compatible
Soundcard.
Mac: Mac OS X version 10.5.6, Intel Core Duo processor, 1GB of RAM, Video card: ATI X1600, Nvidia 8600, or higher, 8.01GB hard disk space, DVD-ROM drive. |
| Input methods | Gamepad, keyboard and mouse |
Prince of Persia is an action-adventure and platforming video game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It was released in December 2008 across different platforms, then later ported in March 2009 to Mac OS X via the Cider engine.
The game is set in ancient Persia, although the exact century is not revealed. In the game, the player assumes the role of the Prince, whose name is not revealed in the game. The Prince is accompanied by a woman named Elika, whom he met after a large sandstorm diverted him from his course and he ended up in a mysterious land. Players traverse many different environments using the Prince's acrobatic abilities to scale walls and even crawl on the ceilings. Throughout the journey, players combat various enemies as they attempt to cleanse the land of corruption. The game's storyline and setting borrow heavily from Zoroastrianism.[6]
Contents |
Prince of Persia revolves around gameplay mechanics that producer Ben Mattes identifies as "pillars" of the Prince of Persia series; an acrobatic hero exploring a Persian environment with a balanced mixture of acrobatics, combat, and puzzle-solving.[7] The premise of Prince of Persia is that the player travels around the game world to heal specially designated spots of land. The game only features a single player mode. The player assumes the role of the Prince character, and is accompanied by the AI-controlled companion named Elika. The player can use the Prince character's acrobatic prowess, sword, and gauntlet, as well as magic from Elika to perform combat and acrobatic feats variously throughout the game.
Prince of Persia features open-world exploration that allows the player to travel to any spot in the game world at any given point, and allows the player to witness the plot in any way they want. Depending on how the player progresses, previously visited areas will become more challenging to traverse when the play re-visits them.[8] However, when the player heals a spot of land, it becomes void of traps. The traps are manifested in various forms of the antagonist Ahriman's Corruption; black-colored blobs that coat the land and swallow the player if touched.[8] The player can use acrobatics maneuvers to avoid these traps.
The player has many acrobatics maneuvers at their disposal. Acrobatics are also used in combat to vault over enemies, or hit them into the air. Sometimes when performing these acrobatics, the player is aided by Elika. There are magical plates that allow the player to perform even more complicated acrobatic feats via Elika. If the player fails to signal Elika's magic, they fall off of the plate, sometimes to their death.
The player can not conventionally "die" in Prince of Persia. Rather, when an enemy is about the strike the finishing blow, or The Prince presumably falls to his death, Elika saves him. There is not a limit on the number of times Elika can save a player.[9] Along with saving the player, Elika can perform many acrobatic feats or combat feats in tandem with the player. The downloadable content Epilogue added a new magic plate that allows Elika to recreate destroyed objects. A new combat maneuver for the player was also added.[10]
Prince of Persia takes place in an undefined ancient Persian city-state[11] based heavily around the religion of Zoroastrianism.[6] A thousand years before the events of the game take place, there was a struggle for power between the gods Ahriman and Ormazd. The outcome of the struggle was that Ormazd and his people, the Ahura, managed to imprison Ahriman and his minions, the Corrupted, in a tree. Ormazd then left the world, leaving the Ahura to make sure Ahriman remains secure. They are successful for a thousand years, at which point the Ahura started to believe that Ahriman and Ormazd were myths due to their inactivity, and most departed. Shortly before the events of the game, Ahriman is about to be freed again.[11]
Prince of Persia's protagonist is the Prince character, a nameless adventurer in search of fortune. The Prince is accompanied by an Ahura named Elika, whose race has forsaken the duty given to them by the god of light, Ormazd, and intend to set free the main antagonist, Ahriman.[12] Ahriman is the god of darkness who was imprisoned by Ormazd. He is intent on conquering the entire universe upon his liberation.[13] The Mourning King appears as an antagonist, intent on fulfilling his deal with Ahriman in return for the resurrection of his daughter, Elika. The Corrupted, four rulers Ahriman chose to aid him in conquering Ormazd, also appear as antagonists. They were imprisoned with him for a thousand years.
The Hunter is one of the Corrupted. He was a prince who enjoyed hunting, but soon became too good at hunting. Ahriman successfully made a deal with the Hunter that, in exchange for his soul, Ahriman would allow him to hunt a creature more satisfying than any he has hunted before.[14] Another of the Corrupted is the Alchemist. He was an Ahura scientist who felt he was close to achieving immortality when his health started to fail. The Alchemist asked Ormazd for a longer lifespan to complete his research, but when he was refused, Ahriman offered him immortality in exchange for his soul. The third Corrupted is called the Concubine. She was a woman skilled in politics who revered men of power. She was involved with a man, but was ultimately beaten by another woman, scarred and stripped of her beauty and influence. The Concubine then exchanged her soul for the power of illusion with Ahriman.[15] The final Corrupted is the Warrior. He was a king whose country was under siege. Struggling for peace, the king accepted power from Ahriman that allowed him to vanquish his enemies and secure peace for his people. When the war was over, however, the peace-loving citizens rejected the Warrior, who had turned in to a tool of war.[16]
Prince of Persia begins as the Prince character is traversing the desert during a sandstorm. The Prince runs into Elika, who is fleeing. He accompanies her to the tree that imprisons Ahriman and his minions. Elika attempts to secure Ahriman, but the Mourning King ultimately frees him. The Prince character and Elika then travel the land, healing special spots of Ormazd's power called fertile grounds, in order to stop Ahriman from harvesting the power. After the duo heals the land, they return to the tree. There Elika gives her life to seal Ahriman back into the tree. The Prince then destroys the tree, using its energy to resurrect Elika, which frees Ahriman in the process.
Proof of conception for Prince of Persia was found in September 2006, when a file that was leaked to the internet was found to contain concept art for the game,[17] although Ubisoft didn't announce the game until May 2008. They stated that they expected to release the game towards the fourth quarter of 2008, and gave details about the plot and game play. In one such preview of the game, they revealed that the general staples of the game play remained intact, although altered drastically. These staples are platforming, combat, and puzzle-solving. It was also revealed that the game's combat would be one-on-one fights, similar to the original Prince of Persia trilogy, rather than fighting hordes of enemies at any time, as in the Sands of Time series. Producer Ben Mattes stated that the intent in changing the combat so drastically was to give players the impression that each enemy was a unique and dramatic experience in itself.[7] Prince of Persia utilizes a heavily-modified version of the Scimitar engine, which was also used in Assassin's Creed. Developers chose to use this engine because it would allow them to enhance the game by adding more expansive worlds, and less linearity.[7] In May 2008, Ubisoft released two official videos of a concept artist designing the Prince character and Elika.[18] One video shows the Prince character being drawn, while the other details Elika.[19] Yet another fast-forward concept art emerged in July 2008, this time depicting an antagonist: the Hunter.[20] Unlike previous Ubisoft games such as Assassin's Creed, the PC version of Prince of Persia contains no digital rights protection.[21]
Mattes said that when Ubisoft was initially developing the game, cooperative gameplay with an AI-controlled partner was the main idea they wanted to build on. Mattes explained, "We knew from day one basically [cooperative gameplay] was the hook that was going to replace Sands of Time...We didn't always know that it was going to be Elika from day one...We sort of explored the idea of maybe a child or father figure or brother, or something like that."[22] The idea to base the game around AI-controlled functions came from Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Mattes explained that the team felt the relationship between Farah and the Prince character worked well from a story-telling point-of-view in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, so they decided to expand on the concept.[22]
Downloadable content for Prince of Persia, titled Epilogue, was confirmed by Ben Mattes in an interview with IGN. Mattes said that the new content would include new areas to explore, new enemies, new combat maneuvers, and a new power for Elika to use.[23] The content was planned for release on February 26, 2009 on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles,[24] but was delayed one week until March 5, 2009.[25] Citing business reasons, Ubisoft is not releasing this Epilogue content for the game's PC version. [26]
| Reception | |
|---|---|
| Aggregate scores | |
| Aggregator | Score |
| Metacritic | Xbox 360: 81% (based on 70 reviews)[27] PlayStation 3: 84% (based on 58 reviews)[28] PC: 82% (based on 24 reviews)[29] |
| Review scores | |
| Publication | Score |
| 1UP.com | Xbox 360: B+[30] |
| Edge | 5/10[31] |
| Eurogamer | 6/10[32] |
| Game Informer | Xbox 360/PS3: 8.75/10 |
| Game Revolution | Xbox 360: B[33] |
| GameSpot | Xbox 360/PS3/PC: 8.0/10[34] |
| IGN | Xbox 360/PS3: 9.3/10[35] |
The game was well received by most critics, scoring an 81%, 85%, and 82% on Metacritic for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC, respectively.[27][28][29] IGN writer Hilary Goldstein praised the game for its simple but visually spectacular acrobatics and combat, but noted that one must "embrace the change [to the series]" in order to "fall in love [with it]."[35] Goldstein also praised Elika, the secondary character of the game, as a useful sidekick during gameplay and also as a likeable character.[35] The GameSpot reviewer shared a similar opinion and in addition praised its excellent artistic design.[34] However, many criticized the game for being too easy or "consumer-friendly," regarding the simple platforming and combat segments.[35][32][34] Eurogamer described it as a "poor game" with "excessive repetition" but nonetheless with "fantastic technology and interesting mechanics."[32] 1UP.com criticized the trial-and-error nature of the platforming gameplay.[30]
Many comparisons have been drawn to other video games in terms of artistic design and gameplay. Examples include Mirror's Edge[30] and Ubisoft's own Assassin's Creed with unique platforming and timing-based combat.[32][34] The vast open-world environment with intense boss fights have been compared to Ico and Shadow of the Colossus,[30] and the watercolor looks to Ōkami.[33]
Prince of Persia was the fourth best-selling game on the Playstation 3 in December 2008, but sold only 483,000 units on the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 combined.[36] Ubisoft later released sales figures showing that Prince of Persia has sold over 2.2 million copies worldwide as of January 2009.[37]
On February 19, 2009 Prince of Persia was awarded the "Outstanding Achievement in Animation" at the twelfth Annual Interactive Achievement Awards.[38]
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Prince of Persia (2008) | Table of
Contents | Walkthrough
| Prince of Persia | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Developer(s) | Ubisoft Montreal |
| Publisher(s) | Ubisoft |
| Engine | Scimitar Engine |
| Release date(s) |
 
|
| Genre(s) | Action-adventure, Platform |
| System(s) | PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Windows, Mac OS |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Rating(s) |
ESRB:
 TeenPEGI:
 Ages 12+ |
| System requirements (help) | |
| Series | Prince of Persia |
Prince of Persia is an action-adventure game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It was released on December 2, 2008 for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, and was released on December 9, 2008 for Microsoft Windows.
The gameplay in Prince of Persia retains a similar feel to the Sands of Time trilogy, in the sense that the acrobatics, puzzle solving and combat elements remain. However, the game is non-linear, and hence, the players are given the opportunity to explore any part of the world at any time they want to. The player fights enemies variously as they perform acrobatic feats to get from one fertile ground to another, to heal them.
editPrince of Persia series
Prince of Persia · The Shadow and the Flame (SNES) · 3D · The Sands of Time · Warrior Within · The Two Thrones · Prince of Persia · The Forgotten Sands
Battles of Prince of Persia · The Fallen King · Prince of Persia Classic
| Prince of Persia | |
 |
|
| Developer(s) | Ubisoft Montreal |
| Publisher(s) | Ubisoft |
| Designer(s) | Jean-Christophe Guyot |
| Engine | Scimitar |
| Release date | PS3, Xbox 360: December 2, 2008 (NA)[1][2] December 4, 2008 (EU)[2] December 5, 2008 (UK)[2] Microsoft Windows: December 9, 2008 (NA)[3] December 12, 2008 (EU)[3] |
| Genre | Action-adventure, Platform |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
| Age rating(s) | OFLC: PG, ESRB: T, PEGI: 12+ |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 |
| Media | Blu-ray Disc, DVD[4] |
| Input | Gamepad, keyboard and mouse |
| Credits | Soundtrack | Codes | Walkthrough | |
Prince of Persia is an action-adventure and platforming video game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It was released on December 2, 2008 for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, and was released on December 9, 2008 for Microsoft Windows.
The game is set in ancient Persia, although the exact century is not revealed. In the game, the player assumes the role of the Prince, whose name is not revealed in the game. The Prince is accompanied by a girl named Elika, whom he met after a large sandstorm diverted him from his course and he ended up in a mysterious land. Players traverse many different environments using the Prince's acrobatic abilities to scale walls and even crawl on the ceilings. Throughout the journey, players combat various enemies as they attempt to cleanse the land of corruption. The game's storyline and setting borrow heavily from Zoroastrianism.[5]
Contents |
The gameplay in Prince of Persia retains a similar feel to the Sands of Time trilogy, in the sense that the acrobatics, puzzle solving and combat elements remain. However, the game is non-linear, and hence, the players are given the opportunity to explore any part of the world at any time they want to. The player fights enemies variously as they perform acrobatic feats to get from one fertile ground to another, to heal them.
A new supporting character, Elika, has a large role in gameplay, in that she saves the Prince from death while in combat or exploring the world. The Prince cannot "die" in this game, as Elika will save him from any danger and bring him back to the last safe point of the game. For example, if the Prince slips and misses a jump, instead of falling to his death, Elika will grab him, and set him back on the last stable platform that the Prince stood on. Elika can also perform many combat moves, some in tandem with the Prince. If the Prince is downed in combat, Elika can protect him as he regains his energy. She also assists him in acrobatics. She boosts the Prince further than he can jump alone using her magical abilities. She is also very acrobatic, performing the same moves as the Prince, with ease. When solving puzzles, Elika plays a role as well. If the Prince does not know where to go next, Elika will guide him in the right direction with a magic compass, however the magic compass points where directed by the player on the in-game map.
Combat largely differs from that in the Sands of Time trilogy, but is similar to that of the original Prince of Persia trilogy. The combat is one-on-one, and there are four main combat options. There is a sword attack, which is where the Prince uses his sword to attack enemies; a gauntlet attack, by which he lifts and throws enemies; a magic attack, by which Elika uses her magic to damage enemies; and an acrobatic attack, which is useful for switching places with the enemy, and performing combat feats in tandem with Elika. All of these four combat options can be linked together to perform combos which do variably more damage to enemies. In later stages of the game, enemies also change state, and can only be attacked using only one of four combat options at a given time, as indicated by the style of the enemy. If the player uses a combat option other than the one prompted, they will be damaged. There are three stages of the Prince's health in combat; healthy, weakened, and grounded. When the Prince is in his healthy state, he is not yet damaged. When an enemy strikes the Prince, he goes into his weakened state. He is more vulnerable to being attacked in his weakened state, but it can sometimes take several strikes to make the Prince go into his grounded state. When the Prince becomes grounded, the enemy makes a swift attempt to kill him. The player will be prompted into a quick-time action, in which they will have to push a button to subdue the enemy and get back up into their healthy state. If the player fails the quick-time event, pushing the wrong button, the enemy will attempt to kill the Prince. Elika, however, subdues the enemy as the Prince returns to his weakened state, but the enemy also regains a fraction of their health as well.
Acrobatics remain largely unchanged from the Sands of Time trilogy, except that Elika now provides acrobatic support. The Prince is capable of running on walls, sliding down walls, climbing walls, and jumping from wall-to-wall. The Prince utilizes his gauntlet as a tool to break the fall as he slides down a wall. Elika also plays a large role in acrobatics. Elika boosts the Prince further than he can normally go, she saves him if he misses a jump, and she herself is very capable and agile. As the game progresses, the Prince can collect Light Seeds.[6] The Light Seeds unlock certain abilities for Elika, which allow her to access various parts of the game world. The abilities activate certain plates, which, when boarded by Elika and the Prince, allow them to perform acrobatic feats that they couldn't otherwise, using magic.
The game is set in ancient Persia, in an undefined city-state where Zoroastrianism is the dominant religion. At the center of the city-state rests the temple imprisoning the god Ahriman, who was locked there by the god Ormazd. Ormazd locked Ahriman there because Ahriman was trying to conquer the land. At first, Ormazd stepped down, hoping Ahriman would stop when no resistance was met, but was soon forced to take action due to Ahriman conquering a majority of the countries and plaguing them with Corruption. Ormazd managed to imprison Ahriman and his Corruption inside the temple with the help of the Ahura. After this feat, Ormazd departed the world to rest among the stars, humiliated that he lacked the foresight to take action sooner.
Despite the existence of previous Prince of Persia installments, no characters from these games reprise their roles. Instead, the game primarily focuses on a new Prince character and a secondary protagonist, Elika, as the duo explores an undefined Persian city-state, cleansing the land of Corruption, in an attempt to stop the god Ahriman, the primary antagonist of the game, from escaping his imprisonment fully. The Prince and Elika meet the resistance of Ahriman's four soldiers, known as the Corrupted. These characters are known simply as the Hunter, the Alchemist, the Concubine, and the Warrior. Throughout the game, Elika's father also transforms into a Corrupted, known as the Mourning King.
The adventure begins as the Prince is caught in a fierce sandstorm while seeking his donkey. The Prince, unable to see because of the sand, stumbles into Elika, who requests that he follow her into a temple at the center of the kingdom. When they arrive inside the temple, Elika's father destroys the tree of life, which begins to free the god Ahriman, who was imprisoned by the god Ormazd, whom the Ahura worship. With the tree of life destroyed, Ahriman begins plaguing the land with Corruption. Elika explains that there are multiple fertile grounds found throughout the land that she has to reach and heal in order to again give the tree of life power and stop Ahriman from escaping.
As the Prince and Elika travel to and heal each fertile ground, Elika reveals her past; first her mother died, and then Elika did as well. Her father, the Mourning King, could not handle his grief, and made a deal with Ahriman. The Mourning King freed Ahriman, who resurrected Elika in return. After the the lands have been cleansed of Corruption, the duo returns to the temple to cleanse it as well; a necessary and final step in stopping Ahriman. Inside the temple, the Prince and Elika are confronted by the Mourning King. After being defeated by the duo, he jumps into the Corruption below. Ahriman then rises to oppose the duo, but is unable to defeat them before Elika heals the tree of life. To seal Ahriman again, Elika transfers her own life into the tree, causing her to die again. The Prince, driven by grief, destroys the tree of life, and gives its life force to Elika to resurrect her, but in doing so also fully releases Ahriman. The Prince then carries Elika into the desert while the temple is destroyed and Ahriman escapes.
Prince of Persia's development team began conception right as Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones was released,[7] however, proof of conception for the game was found when, on September 21, 2006 a leaked RAR file contained concept art, although no comment was made by Ubisoft.[8] Also, on January 23, 2008 some screen shots from the game when it was in conception were leaked onto the internet, and again Ubisoft made no comments.[9]
In May 2008, Ubisoft confirmed the game a work-in-progress. They stated that they expected to release the game towards the fourth quarter of 2008, and gave details about the plot and game play. In one such interview, they stated that the general staples of the game play are to remain intact, including platforming, combat, and puzzle solving. The game also focuses more on one-on-one combat, similar to the original Prince of Persia trilogy, rather than fighting dozens of enemies, as in the Sands of Time trilogy. Ubisoft stated that the reason for changing the combat was that it would give players the impression that each enemy was a unique challenge in itself, instead of "just another enemy".
In May 2008, Ubisoft released two official videos of a concept artist designing the Prince and Elika.[10] One video shows a full-bodied new Prince being created with the computer program Photoshop. The other art drawing video detailed Elika.[11] Yet another fast-forward concept art emerged in July, 2008, this time depicting a prime enemy; The Hunter.
The game uses a heavily modified version of the Scimitar engine, which was also used in Assassin's Creed. Developers chose to use a modified version of this engine because it would allow them to enhance the game by adding more open land, and less linearity. Developers also chose to implement an illustrative graphical style, similar to cel-shaded graphics, but with more detail drawn in.[12]
Downloadable content for Prince of Persia was confirmed by Ben Mattes in an IGN interview. The Prince of Persia DLC would include new areas, new enemies, new powers and new fighting moves.[13]
| Site | Score |
|---|---|
| IGN | 9.3/10[14] |
| 1UP | B+[15] |
| GameRevolution | B[16] |
| Edge | 5/10[17] |
| EuroGamers | 6/10[18] |
| Giant Bomb | 4/5[19] |
| GameSpot | 8.0/10[20] |
| MetaCritic | Xbox 360: 82% (based on 57 reviews)[21] PlayStation 3: 85% (based on 48 reviews)[22] PC: 83% (based on 17 reviews)[23] |
The game has been well received by most critics, scoring an 82%, 85%, and 83% on Metacritic for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC, respectively[21][22][23]. IGN writer Hilary Goldstein praised the game of its simple but visually spectacular acrobatics and combat, but noted that one must "embrace the change [to the series]" in order to "fall in love [with it]."[14] Goldstein also praised Elika, the secondary character of the game, as a useful sidekick during gameplay and also as a likeable character.[14] The GameSpot reviewer shared a similar opinion and in addition praised its excellent artistic design.[20] However, many criticized the game of being too easy or "consumer-friendly," regarding the simple platforming and combat segments.[20][14][18] Eurogamer described it as a "poor game" with "excessive repetition" but nonetheless with "fantastic technology and interesting mechanics."[18] 1UP.com criticized the trial-and-error nature of the platforming gameplay.[15]
Many comparisons have been drawn to other video games in terms of artistic design and gameplay. Examples include Mirror's Edge[15] and Ubisoft's own Assassin's Creed with unique platforming and timing-based combat.[20][18] The vast open-world environment with intense boss fights have been compared to Ico and Shadow of the Colossus,[15] and the watercolor looks to Ōkami.[16]
 |
This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Prince of Persia (2008). The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Wikia Gaming, the text of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (unported) license. The content might also be available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. |
| Prince of Persia series The original trilogy: |
|---|
| Prince of Persia | The Shadow and the Flame | Prince of Persia 3D |
| Sands of Time trilogy: |
| The Sands of Time | Warrior Within | The Two Thrones | Rival Swords |
| other games: |
| Battles of Prince of Persia | Prince of Persia Classic | Prince of Persia (2008) |
| Characters: |
| The Prince (Prince of Persia) | Prince of Persia | Allies | Enemies |
| films: |
| Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (film) |
|
|
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