Prince of Persia: Warrior Within Preview

The old man told the prince: "Your fate has been written. You will die."

The first Prince of Persia game, developed back in 1989, by Jordan Mechner introduced a notable improvement in character animation in video games. This game not only influenced future games in its genre, but it also set some standards in the gaming industry in general. The second installment followed soon, and after more than a decade, this classic platform game received a 3D makeover in the form of a third-person action-adventure, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Mechner took an important part in the development of the title. Sands of Time was not a perfect game, but it was one of the top games last year, being immensely fun and playable. The Prince is alive, goddammit, long live the Prince! Now we're in for the sequel (working title - Prince of Persia 2. Gee, how ingenious. Still, it's a better working title than The Game Formerly Known as Prince of Persia), which takes place some five to seven years after the Sands.

Your ship will be mine!

Surrender now and I might not cut your head clean off.

Unfortunately, Mechner is not participating in the development process as he was preoccupied with other things, but this did not pose a problem to the rest of the development team, at least if we are to judge on what we saw on this year's E3. Visually, the game is quite impressive (even in comparison with the Sands of Time, which was one of the best looking console games last year). However, the game has a much darker look and feel than previous PoP titles, which is less than a surprise after Mikael Labat's (designer) statement that the team found inspiration in the Silent Hill series. The levels bear a grim mood, and the protagonist has turned from a nice and cheerful prince into a serious, silent and skilled warrior with a tattoo and a chaotic hairdo. Instead of the combination of sword and dagger, he now uses two swords, but he also has other weapons at disposal. Ubisoft is rumored to be considering long-ranged weapons, but no details have yet been disclosed.

Sit still! How can I chop your head off if you keep moving?

One big difference in comparison to the previous game is in that the platform style puzzles and combat will no longer be clearly separated. In PoP: SoT, the typical gameplay involved slaughtering a horde of enemies, then solving a jumping puzzle, where you would be greeted by more enemies. This concept has been left behind. The developers are also avoiding loading times between areas. Ubisoft revealed that the combat system did not turn out to be as good as they had initially expected, so a lot more effort has been placed into developing the combat system for PoP2. It now features new attacks and moves, like the ability to grab an enemy from behind and slit his throat, cut an enemy in half or even use him as a shield. You will be able to take a sword from the enemy or to sever his head using your two swords in a highly impressive and even more brutal manner. Just check out the 3D screenshots we have lined up for you! Some larger enemies can only be killed by climbing on their backs and hitting them on the head. The prince also retained and improved his acrobatic abilities. He used to feel comfortable with climbing ladders, ropes and pillars, and now he can climb tapestries, which can also be used for swiftly descending from high-up places. The key for successful play will be to use the surroundings as much as possible - the Prince can spin around a pillar cutting heads off nearby villains. Time control is also improved... the Prince uses the magical Sands of Time to slow down time, but he can now avoid the effect, and only slow his enemies.

The environments in POP: SoT were designed in a more Oriental fashion, and the new Prince of Persia will have a buccaneering look about it. The development team wanted to avoid further innuendos to 1,001 Nights of Sheherazade. They found the solution for this in its sinister and more gloomy atmosphere achieved by combining different geographical influences (Persia, Mesopotamia, and Babylon) with fantasy elements. Other huge levels include a pirate ship, lush gardens, harbors, temples, castles... The levels should be very versatile, which is also influenced by the fact that levels that take place in the present are desolate desperate chaos, whereas the levels in the past shine with life and splendor, yet under the shadow of what is to come. Apart from the Silent Hill series that I already mentioned, the game was also inspired by some Tim Burton movies, and "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy. Greatest inspiration came from old and modern pirate movies, as the game even begins with a fight scene on a pirate ship. The entire game has a movie-like feel to it.

Magical sand is not to be toyed with, scum!

Equal attention has been given to enemies, which vary from bloodthirsty female assassins and huge armored giants to packs of smaller animals, all of which have better artificial intelligence than the enemies in the previous game. Labat emphasized how the general approach on all levels of design was to use obscure materials like leather and bronze, which look very realistic and bring out the dark aspect of the game (together with the severed heads flying around).

That's a great way to off someone!

Quicker than the speed of light, baby!

The story is nothing too impressive: the prince faces Dahaka, an invincible foe who is said to be involved into the Loom of Destiny. (Robert Jordan, anyone?) Much as in Nemesis and Resident Evil 3, Dahaka, the Guardian of Time cannot be slain. It is a little unclear whether this is one deity or several, but whatever the case, he (or they) are quite angry with the Prince for using the Sands of Time and the enchanted Dagger, as no mortal should interfere with the course of time. Now, prince has to travel back in time and destroy the sands before they get destroyed in the present by the monstrous Dahaka in a scary steel suit of armor he borrowed from Sauron for such occasions. How all of this transpired if the Prince did destroy the Sands in the past is beyond me. As I said, the plot is far from original, but it will serve as an excuse for the Prince's acrobatics.

To recap; Prince of Persia: Warrior Within is a third-person action-adventure with a lot of typical platform elements. This means that you are required to have timely reactions and quick reflexes on your way through the levels, where you have to disable traps and solve a number of fairly easy puzzles. The visuals are extremely rich, detailed and vivid, and the sound doesn't fall behind. This goes for the excellent voice-overs, as well as for realistic sound-effects and atmospheric background score.

PoP2 will use the Jade engine just like the Sands of Time, but the surroundings will be bigger and graphics and animations substantially improved. Game requirements for the PC are not yet known. What is known is that the Xbox version should sport up to 60fps, and the PS2 version up to 30fps. The game will appear on four platforms - PC, PS2, Xbox and Gamecube, in November this year.