PS3 version previewed
Rarely do I see a game that, over the course of the demo, delivers as many unique impressions during the first ten seconds as it does the last five minutes. Seeing the Prince escort a thin female companion whilst trying to evade pools of black corruption immediately resurrected tearful memories of everyone’s collective art-house favorite, Ico. But unlike the virtually helpless Yorda, PoP’s Elika is never in one to be found in a perilous situation. Damsel in Distress isn’t her cup of tea, as she’s looks to be entirely necessary in a couple of the platforming segments.
She’s also fully responsible for saving your ass if you find yourself in the unlikely position of nearly getting killed. PoP carefully eschews the entire concept of dying by having Elika instantly come out of nowhere and rescue you before you hit the ground. That’s right, you can’t die. While this admission from the gentleman doing our demo was initially met with apprehension, it really made sense after we thought about it. Dying is discouraging and replaying entire segments of a level can eventually wear thin with ones patience. So rather than inexplicably kill and resurrect a character over and over, why not set him back about thirty seconds of gameplay? It’s a route taken before, sure, but this emerging paradigm shift in the concept of lives is certainly appreciated in high profile titles like Prince of Persia.
Elika also gets a few chances to shine on her own. Most of the time she’ll be used in tandem with the prince, helping him to swing across barriers, but we’re also told a player can fully control her by pressing a button in contextually appropriate situations.
Together the Prince and Elika must do their best to combat Hunters. In our demo, a Hunter was trying to defend some sort of mythical fountain of healing. A mini battle ensued about halfway through before he eventually retreated to the fountain itself. Once we made it there the Prince and Elika combined to attack, and do some button mashy minigames, to beat him into submission. We were told this could be done by wearing away his health bar, but the Ubisoft rep doing our demo won by a Virtua Fighter-like ring out method where they knocked him off a cliff. It’s also crucial to note that every single battle in Pop will only involve one enemy at a time, which is great news for those who prefer a clearer, focused approach to combat.
Once the Hunter is defeated and the healing pool is reclaimed, all of the corruption from the level is purged and the fundamental gameplay and visual appearance of the level undergoes a drastic transformation. The drab and lifeless wasteland we just scoured was instantly restored into a prairie of lush vegetation. And, though I’m not sure of the context, dozens of glowing balls appeared everywhere, which I was told would transform the combat/platforming centric gameplay into a more collection/exploration focused angle.
And I can’t submit this impression without taking some space to declare my appreciation for the game’s art design. I had seen the visual style in videos before and, without playing too close attention, figured it was another (albeit great looking) cel-shaded title. Seeing it played in real time, however, revealed it to be a combination of traditional animation and cel shading, it’s not a reach to say it draws inspiration from Richard Kelly’s rotoscoped feature films, Waking Life and A Scanner Darkly, which are two of the most visually impressive films of the last decade. Needless to say, I’m pleased to see a game try and embrace a similar aesthetic.
