Techtite Game Reviews ---

Let's cut to the chase; I loved this game. Yes, I know; a lot of people have (unfairly) lobbed pot shots at this game for its many daring changes to the game design, which I'll be getting to soon enough. It also is a different story entirely from the prior "Sands of Time" trilogy, not unlike every Prince-ly game prior to that trilogy. It also doesn't have a limited number of "lives" leading to a "Game Over" screen after X number of tries. Is that such a bad thing, and if so; to whom? Nope; still feeling the love for this game, haters. Sorry.

The core reason I refuse to dislike this game (let alone hate this game) is the excellent art design; the best I've seen in games for a long time. Before you ask; yes, this is coming from someone who played "Braid" on the Xbox. Yes, Braid had pretty paintings seamlessly cut and pasted into the background. Yes, Braid had that amusing ending where the hero might be the villain, the princess might be your psychosis, and the whole game might be an allegory to mankind's quest for the atomic bomb. Yes, that was very "artistic," though this game is more so.

Here's a small sample of what I mean. the titular Prince and his new companion, Elika, force a villain to flee an area of the game. While this villain was present, the land was covered in "evil": pools of black goo, withered vines, cloudy skies, darkness, and despair. Then the heroes work their magic and the land changes before your very eyes. Grass grows, clouds part in the sky, vines flourish into leafy climbable surfaces, and all water is now crystal-clear. This is basically what happens when you defeat the villains in each of this game's 20 "levels," and it never gets old. If anything; you'll want to keep playing well into the wee hours of the night, to actually see good triumph over evil, again and again.

Story? Well, diehard fanboys of The Sands of Time might be upset when I say this, though that trilogy has passed. Said story involves a temple in the middle of the desert which imprisons an evil super-villain. The temple has unfortunately withered into disrepair as of late, and the villain is about to escape. You must go to the four corners of this land and defeat the evil found there, restoring "good" to the land and in the process, restoring power to the temple to keep the "big bad guy" imprisoned.

Assisting you in this quest is Elika; one of the most useful game companions I've seen in years. Press the "Triangle" key, and Elika can perform any number of magical tricks. Press Triangle while jumping and your jump distance is doubled. Press Triangle when idle and Elika's "magic compass" shoots a small ball of light in the exact direction you wish to go; just click on where you want to go on the game map, and Elika's compass points you in that direction. Elika also assists in battle, though like any good game; she won't defeat the bad guy for you with mere button-mashing. You must first fight a bad guy so he's weak enough for Elika's magic. So basically Elika is someone who helps you yet doesn't play the game for you, making the game too "easy." In short, she's practically perfect!

Yet most importantly; Elika makes sure you never die. What this boils down to is this: when you screw up you go back to the last checkpoint, which 99% of the time is the platform you were on just minutes before. Some gamers say this is a bizarre new element to gaming, since you can never actually "die." Did these people never play Unreal Tournament 3, when your character gets fragged into kibble by a grenade, only to appear good as new in a random area of the map? How about Grand Theft Auto, where "death" is just a quick trip to the local hospital? Bioshock only requires you to find the nearest bio-chamber, where you appear if you "die" anywhere on that level. The list goes on and on. Suffice to say: this game doesn't force you to freeze all action by attempting a daring jump, only to see a "Game Over" screen, a force-fed trip to the main menu screen, and unnecessary added load times. Instead; you can attempt any daring stunt you like, because Elika has your back. GREAT.

Though this is getting a little ahead of ourselves here; what exactly are Elika and the Prince supposed to do? This is achieved by traveling to each of four lands, in any order, and defeat the evil there. Each of the four worlds is controlled by a totally different henchman or henchwoman of the main villain (or the game's "mini bosses," if you prefer). Since each "mini villain" is different, so are the lands, with different puzzles within. The Alchemist's land consists of giant gears, peculiar machinery, and even more peculiar platforms, which float in mid air via giant balloons. The "Concubine" is a vain sort of villainess who resides in the palace tower, once inhabited by the kingdom's fair queen. Each world is linked to the other, allowing you to traverse the world at will, in any order you so wish.

Now, some game critics have claimed that the game's non linear nature means that the level of difficulty doesn't change either. Wrong! Each villain has a trick up their sleeve; get too close, and they unleash a new challenge to the game's acrobatic "puzzles." One villain makes tentacles appear from the wall, forcing you to time your jumps. Another villain releases a sort of dark "swarm" which engulfs you if you stay idle for too long. These new challenges stick with you all the way to the final battle. So in essence; after two bosses have been defeated, you must both time your jumps, yet you must jump quickly enough so you aren't "killed" for remaining idle for too long. So much for reviews that claim the difficulty curve is the same for the whole game. Did we play the same game?

Adding to the game's challenge level are the "cured" lands. Once you defeat the evil of an area and make that area full of bright, cheerful "life" again, a new puzzle awaits. The land is now littered with balls of life-"seeds" which must be collected to empower your magical companion, Elika. Collect enough life seeds and Elika gains one of four new powers. One new power allows you to run alongside a wall like Spider-man, without the use of vines. Another allows you to fly for a short while, for a batch of amusing flying mini-games (basically you must fly speedily from point A to point B without hitting any obstacles along the way). These powers allow you to travel to totally new areas of the game map, which are crucial to complete the game.

As for playing the game itself; it is enjoyably old-school "Prince of Persia." This game's jumping puzzles will thrill anyone who has played the classic Prince game, or the colorful remake of the game which is downloadable via the Playstation 3's online store. Much like the original Prince games; this is not just a mere button mashing fighting game. You must reach the next bad guy via several clever jumping, climbing, and acrobatic puzzles. Once there you must time your attacks carefully; a mere button-mashing of the "attack" button leads to a quick death. Similarly; Elika is a mere waif of a thing, though she has great power. So on the one hand a full-powerful enemy will throw Elika away loike a rag doll. She also can only attack an enemy at close range. However; if you've weakened the enemy somewhat and have just blocked the enemy's attack, feel free to press the triangle while the enemy is vunlerable, and unleash Elika's fury. Fights against game bosses is like that; a challenging bit of strategy, not just button mashing. Huzzah!

This leads to an ending which is perhaps, spoilers intact, the most talked about finale of the year...and not necessarily in a good way. All I will offer gamers is this: if you are upset at the ending to the story, I sure hope you watched the story. If I had a dollar for every gamer who didn't "get" the ending and never watched a single cutscene beforehand, I'd be able to buy a small island in the Pacific. The idea upon the ending is that you have seen all the optional cutscenes and have gotten to know Elika, this land, the enemy, and most importantly, fallen madly in love with Elika. This is all left as an optional batch of cutscenes, however, since the idea is that you pressed "L2" to talk to Elika at every opportunity. If you did not the ending makes no sense. Why? Because you didn't see the story. How can a gamer understand the ending if he didn't see the story? Yes, making this story "optional" via the L2 key was a design flaw, though if a gamer is upset at the ending because they didn't watch the story; I'm not reducing the game's rating to appease them. If a gamer is suffering from ADD, that's not the game's problem.

True, there were a lot of daring game design choices here. That's what I loved about it. It's similar enough to prior games to jump into right away, yet different enough to keep game play fresh and new. Its game mechanics make it "impossible" to die, though not to be cafe-philosophical; what is "life" in a game, anyway? In this game, "life" is visually seeing the effect you have on the world, as you defeat each villain, save each land, and change its foreboding design into a bright and cheerful one. Count me in.

	Final Rating : Deep Impact. Open ending notwithstanding (which, I hear, is leading to a downloadable "epilogue level" in early 2009), this game was graphically stunning, imaginative, and fun.
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