GC08 - Prince Of Persia Preview

Following up the last generation's successful Sands of Time trilogy was never going to be easy. In fact, it's been three years since the franchise last wall-walked onto the home consoles - Ubisoft has definitely been cautious of the next iteration. That said in the meantime, we've been subjected to the repetitive yawn-tastic 'adventure' that was Assassin's Creed, quite possibly TVG's most disappointing game of 2007.

Thankfully, the wait is nearly over, as the publisher is beginning to unleash the first demos of the new Prince of Persia, a cel-shaded adventure that seems to already look like a heady amalgamation between the best bits of Jade Raymond's Hashashin title and the Sands of Time.

TVG was there when The Ruined Citadel was unveiled at the Leipzig Game Convention...

Beyond The Sands Of Time

Demoed by Prince of Persia Level Designer, Michael McIntyre, the most obvious change in this new iteration of the brand - the art style - is something that will no doubt split the current fan base. With heavily cel-shaded characters and environments, it's quite a departure from what's gone before, although the fluidity of the animation remains very much in place. This time, the prince faces the supernatural enemy of 'The Corruption' a black, gooey manifestation of evil, created with the destruction of the Tree of Life. Deadly on touch to the prince, the substance corrupts creatures and rips through the environment in the same way that the giant circular blades did since the brand's earliest incarnations.

Dropping the 'Sands of Time' time-shifting mechanic of the past generation, this new look Prince (who's not actually a prince during the early parts of the game) instead has a rather helpful sidekick called Elika. Essentially an act of merging co-op gameplay into a single-player title, gamers manually call upon Elika's contextual abilities throughout the game with a simple button press. From the ability to act as a compass to the Prince, throwing a ball of light into the air that points the way forward, to the co-op jump that throws the prince that little bit further, the character is certainly a jack of all trades in the game. In fact, there's only a single instance where Elika isn't called into action by the player: when she uses a 'rescuing' ability that takes the prince back to the last checkpoint after he dies in battle of falls to his doom.

The Leipzig demo, set in 'The Ruined Citadel' (an area of Elika's mysterious world), took a different path from the one shown at E3 earlier in the year, despite taking place on the same level. A convenient way to show the trademark of gymnastics of the past few titles, it also proved a good way of showing just how fluid the visuals have become.

Despite the generation jump, this new prince has lost none of the athletic prowess of his Emo-loving predecessor; in fact, it's been enhanced, and not only by the appearance of Elika. The addition of the 'Roof Run' ability, which allows the prince to literally scramble across the ceiling for instance takes the over-the-top moves to new heights (literally), and has also allowed the level designers ever more freedom to craft increasingly engaging environments for players.

The clawed gauntlet sported by the prince in the new game also has its advantages, not least a 'Grip Fall' technique, which allows players to slow the falling rate of the character down the otherwise fatal vertical drops of the gameworld. It's unclear whether the metal claw's functionality will expand and develop as the prince continues his journey - the Game Convention map takes place early in the game - but it would be nice to think that its role is something more substantial than just a hollow gimmick.

Duelling Swords

Combat has also been tweaked for the upcoming adventure, with the hordes of enemies fought in the past games largely replaced by one-on-one set piece battles against more dangerous foes. An attempt by the team at Ubisoft's Montreal studio to create more meaningful and cinematic duels, it also gives players the opportunity to fight against beings possessed by The Corruption.

Switching between a normal state and several 'corrupt' states in a manner that's not a million miles away from the Venom Symbiote of Spider-Man fame, the creatures push players into using both the prince's and Elika's abilities - apparently learning as it goes. According to McIntyre, the focus on these more intimate encounters has boosted enemy AI beyond the levels seen in the past generation of titles. Whether that's truly the case, we'll just have to see. Such creatures protect the key objective of the new Prince of Persia game, unlocking the powers of the 'Healing Grounds', magical wells of blue light that transform the gameworld, and the gameplay, in an instant.

The dry, dusty, crumbling environment of the citadel for instance, transformed into a much more lush area, with greenery and an injection of colour running throughout level. The ruined citadel itself was repaired around the prince and Elika, with the gameplay all of a sudden becoming more about exploration and object collection than just relying on environmental puzzles. Demonstrating just a sliver of this gameplay duality proved enough for us to be enticed, and we can only hope that the dramatic switch is developed further in the final game as the prince gets closer to his goal.