Once the story is kicked off, you're set on a quest to cleanse the land by exploring four different corners of the map. Together with Princess Elika, you spend your time traversing across the labyrinthine sprawl of ruins with your mad parkour skills. Most of the time, you'll have to make calculated jumps and launches while running vertically along walls or clinging to ceilings or any number of other complex moves. As far as combat goes, it's strictly one-on-one with occasional monsters. The most intense of fights occur with four different bosses, who guard each area, but won't really die until you kill them in their respective lairs. And once you liberate an area and cleanse it, you have to collect light seeds, which will unlock the ability to use special pressure plates that can propel you to new areas. You just keep working at this until you can open up the temple and face the final boss. It's an extremely structured game with a bigger focus on platforming, puzzles, and collecting things, but it's pretty relaxing that way. You never really die in this game; even if a villain closes in on you, or you misjudge a jump and plunge down a lethal drop, Elika will save you every time with her magic. That leaves you free to work through the game at your own pace and skill; some of the acrobatics can be frustrating, and the combat is not really all that smooth or fun, but it is a more laid-back experience and a great way to pass the time.
The story is pretty limited in scope and scale, but it is an interesting enough tale with a cast of endearing characters. The actual Prince of Persia is a young, arrogant, wisecracking dude, and he shares great chemistry with Princess Elika, who proves to be just as sharp and able as the Prince himself. There is a history to the princess and the ancient kingdom you're made to explore, which adds up to a pretty interesting and exotic mythology. The characters often break out into discussions on free will vs destiny, and it all comes to full circle by the bittersweet ending.
This game is rendered with a cartoony, cell-animated look. It is rendered with decently-sharp and smooth-looking textures, lighting, and frame-rates. Particle effects are often pretty decent. The writing is not bad, and the voices, sounds, and music are decent. Designs for the settings, objects, characters, costumes, and overall worldbuilding is decent too.
2008's Prince of Persia is a fun game, plain and simple. It's a simple structure that offers hours of challenges, and is thankfully not punishing. It's not necessarily groundbreaking or profound, but it's satisfying nonetheless.
4/5 (Entertainment: Good | Story: Pretty Good | Game: Good)
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