Prince of Persia First Look

Jordan Mechner's original Prince of Persia game (1989) is probably one of the most memorable experiences from my geekish youth. Seriously, there's a reason why it became one of the most popular games of all time. Not only did it feature challenging gameplay, but it saw some major breakthroughs in video game character animation as well. The series lives on and has seen quite a lot of iterations over the years. Ubisoft, of course, claimed the PoP franchise and rebooted the good old Prince, so to speak, with Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Still, clinging to the series, Ubisoft once again, leaves matters into the capable hands of subsidiary studio Ubisoft Montreal; also credited for the recent hugely successful 360/PS3/PC action adventure, Assassin's Creed.

While the France-based publisher managed to keep a lid on the brand new Prince of Persia project for a while, the very first official info and media have been unleashed as of a few days ago, during the company's Ubidays 2008 event.

The first major change is, most obviously, the new illustrative art style that gives Prince of Persia a completely new look very much different than the Sands of Time series. The goal of the creators of this next-gen. edition of Prince of Persia is to stay faithful to the 2D illustrations and drawings made by the Ubisoft Montreal's art team. That's why they've opted to implement the whole new look.

Backing PoP's fresh appearance is Ubisoft's proprietary Anvil engine, which, as you may know, powers Assassins Creed. To make sure there's no confusion, the new Prince of Persia game is attempting to distance the technique from the classic cel-shaded graphics. So, what you'll see is a visual style that's actually something between the realistic approach (like in Assassin's Creed) and the cel-shaded method.

As Ubi explained, this time around gamers are going to experience a fresh storyline that uses the same setting as the Sands of Time games. The new game presents a completely new character, who actually isn't a Prince at the beginning of the game. Players will start off as a drifter; a wanderer that was described as sort of a mix of different heroes, such as Sinbad from the Arabian Nights, Han Solo from Star Wars and Aragorn from the Lord of the Rings. Characters like Lo "Dark Cloud" (the desert-bandit from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) also inspired the creation of the new Prince.

Set in a land rooted in Persian mythology, the game begins as our hero finds himself in the middle of an epic battle between the forces of light and darkness - to put it another way, the battle between Ormazd, the God of Light, and his brother Ahriman, the God of Darkness. Arriving just in time to witness the destruction of the legendary Tree of Life, our hero joins Elika, a deadly companion, to heal the world from the evil Corruption. The Corruption is a dark substance that physically contaminates the land and the skies.

Elika isn't just a useful ally throughout the game, but also a key component in the plot, adding the element of mystery. Elika is an extremely important element in the gameplay itself. She won't be playable at any time during the game, albeit she will be very cooperative in battle or when there are puzzles that need to be solved. Well-executed combos with both characters are far more effective against enemies than other ordinary moves.

Essential ingredients from previous PoP games have, apparently, been thrown out. For instance, there are no spikes emerging from the ground, no saw blades sliding across the walls, etc. The only thing you'll be facing is the Corruption. That's a lot more dangerous than it sounds, because the Corruption takes on many forms and frequently appears when you least expect it to. It can assume the form of a puddle (which you don't want to fall into) or it may infect the Prince or it could, quite literarily, explode out of the wall. Other forms are kept secret at this time. Enemies materializing out of the Corruption were described as very proficient in combat and more intelligent than in any other PoP game. Each foe is going to rely on the environment to gain the advantage in combat, which requires players to think and act very quickly.

Ubisoft is putting emphasis on open-world gameplay mechanics, allowing players to make their own choices in terms of how the plot unfolds, as well as the course they're willing to take. Vista points are incorporated too. The main character uses these to can get a better view of the area, finding out exactly in which parts of the world the Corruption has spread. The important thing to note here is that these vista points are not similar to Eagle Eye viewpoints from Assassin's Creed. They have an entirely different role in this game.

As for the combat and acrobatics, our Prince has a variety of familiar moves, in addition to plenty of new ones. As before, the Prince can swing off poles, run across walls and execute numerous aerial stunts that have been possible in earlier PoP games. Time cannot be manipulated, which leaves more room for extra moves. The all-new claw-type glove (placed on the Prince's left hand) is going to be of great help in both combat and acrobatics. For instance, the glove can be used to slow down your fall when sliding against a wall.