I got the game now - well, finished it already actually - and all I can say is: Wonderful! It's a beautiful piece of software!
You can just tell that the game was made with alot of dedication and attention to detail. The graphics are amazing, state of the art and the style is new and refreshing, looking sharp and still manages to look mature despite the slightly cartoonish looks.
The controls are very easy. And even though I consider myself as more of a hardcore-gamer, I don't think that's a bad thing. Having played the latest Tomb Raider recently, it kinda feels like two different worlds. Lara simply jumps anywhere you tell her to (sometimes even somewhere you never wanted her to) - even if it means she's jumping to her death. The prince feels "smarter" when you control him. He usually lands where you wanted him to. Missing a ledge or a cliff or platform is nearly impossible. Where you have to tell Lara every move exactly, it feels enough to tell the Prince "I'd like you to jump that way / on that ledge", something that reminds me alot of how it felt to control Altair in Assassin's Creed - and back then it was one of the things that made playing the game feel nice and smooth. Running through the huge levels is very enjoyable and way easier than it looks - another similarity to Assassin's Creed. So, it feels easy to control, even though it less direct than controlling Lara.
And one thing definitely deserves mentioning here: the camera. Usually that can be biggest enemy of such games, often making things harder than they should be - unintentionally. This game features a quite good camera - it doesn't need alot of adjustment and you usually see quite well what you wanna see, where you wanna go and where to better not go. That might be a bit because of the intelligent, if not guiding character of the controls themselves, but it's a combination that plays well indeed.
And yes, you can't die in the game. Alika will save the Prince whenever he falls too far or before he gets slain or whatever. While you might complain that this is lame, I don't see it that way. The thing is: when playing a game like Tomb Raider or Ninja Gaiden, you'll eventually end up dead. But when you do, you either automatically respawn at a checkpoint somewhere or you have to load an older savegame. The result is the same, except that you spend alot of time watching loading screens... ok, I agree that the "checkpoints" in Prince of Persia are very close together and you hardly ever end up far from where you were when you get saved, but even if it would put you back more, it would still feel great because it doesn't slow down the pace of the game. It was alot of fun and some challenge too to fight the boss mobs and spend many many minutes in the fight while trying to figure out their weaknesses, master the quicktime events and find the best combo to do damage to them. I rather have that than having to reload a couple of times until I actually figured out the tactic to beat the boss mob. It all works well and gives the game a nice, smooth flow. It's simply fun to play, and the fantastic environment is always enjoyable while you run through the world - a feeling I can best remember from playing "Shadow of the Collossus": It's not just beating the enemy, it's also getting there, and getting lost in the world and it's atmosphere. Maybe it's just me and my lack of interest in human relations or huge crowds but I simply love being left alone with the level itself from time to time... that's why I liked the new Tomb Raider and that's one of the main things why I like this game.
The prince itself is designed to be kind of a thug. But you catch the drift very quickly that he's got a big mouth but also a big heart. His funny, silly and cool remarks are always good for a chuckle or smile when you play the game, since he often says what you as a player might think yourself. There's alot of possible dialog and conversation between him and the princess that you can manually start. I was amazed about how many dialog sequences they added. It takes a while til you hear a generic soundbite twice. And being able to also let the prince talk while you are fighting a boss mob and hear him say "You sold your soul to look like THIS?" is just so amusing! I can't remember a game where I had people watch me play and seeing us laugh quite alot just because of the small remarks the prince made. When I initially read a review before I got the game and they mentioned the new type of character of the prince, I was alittle worried that they might've tried to make him extra cool and relaxed and laid back to be "up-to-date" with teenagers and to have him be completely different from all the former protagonists.
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the ending itself is interesting - and wasn't even too surprising for me either. But it did leave a slightly melancholic aftertaste. Not bad, but not exactly happy either. I could see where they wanted to head with this ending, but they could've spent alittle more time actually preparing the characters' development for that moment, since the prince's final decision does not seem to be fitting his previous actions and beliefs up to that point. The ending did remind me alittle of the one from Assassin's Creed (not too surprising) with some touches of "Shadow of the Collossus". And it left me with the same kind of unsatisfied feeling, paired with the need to have a sequel as soon as possible. I guess that was Ubisoft's goal in the end - and they got that one right.
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