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Prince of Persia: Warrior Within

Was für ein Spiel! Von der ersten Minute an konnte mich das neue Prince of Persia-Abenteuer voll überzeugen. Der Spieler bekommt auf technischer Seite traumhafte Animationen, Lichteffekte und Umgebungen zu Gesicht. Mit der Steuerung finden sich Fans des Vorgängers sofort zurecht. Neulinge erlangen nach wenigen Minuten die totale Kontrolle über die vielen Bewegungsmöglichkeiten. Spielerisch fügen sich die neuen Aktionen perfekt ins Spiel ein und auch die immens gestiegene Anzahl an Schlag- und Trittkombinationen lässt sich flüssig ausführen. Nur die völlig überzogene Gewaltdarstellung ist etwas unverständlich. Ohne die Brutalität wäre das Spiel auch nicht schlechter. Für Fans grandioser Spiele wird es jedenfalls ein teures Weihnachten.

Prince of Persia: Warrior Within is the sequel to Ubisoft’s Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, and it delivers a gameplay experience that qualifies it as one of the best video game sequels ever. Sands of Time captivated gaming audiences with the Prince’s acrobatic movements, complex puzzles, and stunning visuals. In Warrior Within, we are treated to more of the same and given some added features that truly spice up the gameplay. The game does an excellent job of making you use a healthy balance of intellect and swordsmanship; it is an adventure title that will require some timing, patience, and attention to detail, and those of you who appreciate such tactics and precision will get a lot out of this game.

"When a man knows he is going to die, the impossible doesn't seem so hard." That's a fitting quote for our embattled prince. Prince of Persia: Warrior Within picks up where Sands of Time left off: the prince is now hunted by a dark beast called the Dahaka who is intent on making the prince face his fate and imminent death. To defeat this creature of darkness, he must travel to a mysterious island where the Sands of Time were created and stop the Empress of Time. Have you figured out that you'll be time traveling yet?

Last year's Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time was notable for many reasons. It brought back a fondly remembered franchise, further established Ubisoft Montreal as a celebrated development house, and featured a distinct and memorable visual style. But more than any of that, it made platforming gameplay work in 3D. Even in a room with no enemies, it was fun to jump between platforms, run along walls, and not have to fight with the controls to do these things -- you could simply enter the room and the fun would be in making it to the other side. This year's sequel Warrior Within changes some of that game's themes with varying degrees of success, but keeps the brilliant platforming and overall quality.

With all these new moves available, you can imagine that there's a lot more combat in Warrior Within than in The Sands of Time. It's also quite a bit more difficult in spots. Enemies will come at you several more at a time, so you'll need to become proficient with your moves to survive. Eventually, though, you'll find that you can get through the game more efficiently when you quickly end battles by throwing opponents off of high ledges rather than laboriously finishing them off with your weapons. There are a few boss fights in the game, but, unfortunately, quite a bit of recycling has been employed, so these confrontations aren't as memorable as they could have been. What's more, most of the high-level weapon combos are all but useless against bosses, because these combos tend to get blocked. You'll end up relying mostly on dodging and the simplest of combos to steadily winnow health away from bosses.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time ranks among the very best console action-adventure games of this generation. Despite the critical acclaim, Ubisoft decided to tinker with the formula in hopes of attracting a wider audience with Prince of Persia: Warrior Within. The result is a much darker Prince, who speaks in a gravelly voice, travels through a rather grim labyrinth of saw blades and spiked floors, and is solely concerned with saving his own butt, no matter who he has to take down in order to do so. In the process, Ubisoft Montreal re-invented the combat system, added a few new traps, lengthened the gameplay experience, and threw in a number of bosses. So, with all of these improvements, how is it that Warrior Within isn't as good as The Sands of Time?

You will die. Keep this one sentence in mind, because you’ll hear it, and the sentiment it conveys quite a bit throughout the sequel to one of the best games from last year. When the Prince of Persia made its return to gaming after more than a decade’s absence, its presentation was a magnificent mix of old school platforming that paid tribute to its roots with new jack technology, manipulating time and space thanks to the Sands of Time. What’s more, the story was an exciting journey of growth and redemption, as the prince attempted to restore balance to the world by returning the mystical particles to the hourglass of time. What a difference a year makes Ubisoft’s sequel takes a completely different turn in our hero’s saga with Prince of Persia: Warrior Within.

C'est avec joie que l'on retrouve le héros le plus agile du moment. Courir sur les murs, se balancer sur tout ce qui bouge, bondir et rebondir est toujours un plaisir immense. Mais quelque part, la claque n'est plus aussi monstrueuse, la surprise fait moins effet. Heureusement pour compenser, Ubi Montréal a su apporter quelques modifications de bon aloi. Il est alors bien triste de constater qu'en contrepartie, d'autres défauts du jeu original persistent encore et toujours. et quoi qu'on en pense, l'attachement au personnage du Prince était pour beaucoup dans le charme du jeu original. Ici, il faut avoir envie d'incarner cette brute épaisse au vocable rustre... De quoi relativiser un peu la qualité de ce qui reste néanmoins une très bonne suite.

Prince of Persia: Warrior Within’s new tone isn’t really the direction we were hoping they’d take the series, but the action is intense and the new combat system is pretty cool. Still, a downgrade in the look and sound combined with increasingly annoying platforming and camera issues get in the way of this warrior’s ultimate victory.

In trying to appeal to the mainstream, while holding out the occasional olive branch to their faithful, Ubisoft run the risk of satisfying neither. The distinct style of Prince of Persia has been extracted, almost surgically, but in doing so they have unwittingly exaggerated flaws rather than correcting them.

Prince of Persia : L’Ame du Guerrier reste un bon jeu, c’est indéniable mais il est loin d’exceller comme l’avait fait son prédécesseur voilà un an. L’ambiance glauque à souhait enlève finalement le charme qui se dégageait de cette série, la magie ne fait plus effet et gâche considérablement le jeu. Ceci dit la réalisation générale tient quand même la route même si les fans ne pourront s’empêcher d’être déçus.

Imagine you made a game that was beautiful, fluid, well-designed, charming -- even witty at times. It has a few problems, notably combat, but most games do. Imagine further that this game of yours, upon release, doesn't sell quite as fast as expected. It does well enough in the end, but ... you think it could do better. You just need that killer angle, the hook that'll snare those fickle 18-24 year-old males. After some thought, you come up with a plan. Your sequel will be darker, which mostly means the colors will be expunged. It will have embarrassingly juvenile T&A. And it will jettison nearly every vestige of the last game's charm. Is this a winning plan? Back in the real world we'll soon find out, because I've just described Prince of Persia: Warrior Within.