Prince of Persia Preview!

Try saying that five times fast.

Intro:
Ok, here's a little back story. Prince of Persia started the concept of realistic platforming, when you can jump only 2-3 feet and falling more than 10 turns your legs to pudding, your torso into cream, and your head into a delightfully bloated cherry. Then in the later years, They made him in flat shaped little polygons in PoP 3d. Then back in 2003, PoP: the sands of time came onto the market. For me, I was never a fan until this point when my brother made countless suggestions of games HE wanted to play on my Christmas list. I got me a helicopter game, a 007 game , and PoP Sands of Time. Now I inevitably sold him the first two because they were bloody boring and short. However, I consider it a Christmas miracle that my brother's poor judgment in games led me to have the most fun that winter sitting in front of my TV. The levels were truly innovative, the story was one of the best I've ever seen and the combat was not half bad(even though I've heard countless people tell me otherwise). This made me anxious to try the new one when they said they were going to make PoP Warrior Within. I rented it first though because I was a bit confused about the cover art and some of the looks of the game. I started by killing a small legion of baddies and my eyes started glowing at the amount of fun I had just from the combat, not to mention the fact I could pick up and duel wield enemy weapons. Then I got to the first real cut scene and stopped. There was the villainess with an insurmountable amount of flesh sticking out. This always is one of the worst omens in games for me, right next to a chapter skipper being mentioned on the back of the game case. Every time I heard the prince talk, I could think of some kid I know who puts that same raw emotion when they talk about how much their parents don't love them as he talks over his 500 Dollar cell phone. The prince I came to know and love turned into a sad, angry man and it just made the storyline much less enjoyable then the first. That to me is a serious kick in the balls for anyone who ever enjoyed the sands of time because it had such a gripping edge of your seat storyline, believable characters, and much less cleavage. Call it what you will but that's the way I see it. If you want tits then use the computer you're on right now and search for it because there's bound to 1000's of fan artists who like to get commissioned by the lonely sweaty nerds who have nothing better to do then brag about their WoW characters and complain about people they wish they were better then. Now after that, I tried to go through and like it solely for the game play and environments but I had a strange little niggling doubt in the back of my mind; I thought i'd seen this all before. The puzzles felt very similar and the texturing was a lot like SoT. This was yet another kick in the aforementioned balls by ubisoft because it seemed like they wanted to cash in on the fact that they were dominant in the platforming industry as Mario sunshine turned out to be a load of horseshit and chips. Then I gave the game back to the retailer and went on with my life. Then I heard of the next game that apparently would make this the "trilogy of time" and I was really baffled because I didn't know how to feel on this one. It was either going to rock harder then jesus on ice or it was going to suck more than a prostitute genetically combined with a vacuum cleaner. Well, as the avid gamer I was I went back to my happy retailer who rented me my game and I went home with high hopes and a torrent of both sad and happy coursing through my veins like a game of Mario cart run by only baby luigis. Then I sat down and ran through the game, in about 7 hours; I felt ripped off. The storyline was much more comforting and understandable then WW, not to mention that the added platforming abilities and physics had been honed to a mirror perfect sheen. However, the combat had turned to mush. I liked the violence from WW, i'm not gonna lie. However, TT had introduced the quick kill system making the entire combat of the game feel a lot like one big motherfucking quick time event; Not to mention the linear boss fights. I was appalled by the combat changes but the platforming I had come to know and love was better then ever. I'm still having a hard time getting to see this series ever hitting perfection because the characters and story of the first, The combat of the second, and the platforming of the third, could be just the best damn game this world will ever know.

Prince of Persia (next-gen)Preview:
Now from what I've seen of this game so far, it looks like we have an even more sheer shine of the platforming then TT. I believe ubisoft took a point from assassin's creed and used it properly to perfect platforming as we know it. However, they took away the prince's dagger and he has a magical girl who follows him around and fights with him. This could breed one thing that I don't like to see in most games; linearity. In some games, it is a good thing but in games like this, I don't want it. I've been playing Mirror's Edge lately(expect a review in the future)and the fact that almost every level has 2-4 ways of getting to your destination is totally sa-weet. This is something that should be in EVERY platformer regardless of concept because it adds so much to the replay value. Ubisoft has emphasized the fact that you can go "anywhere" in the game from the get go but I haven't seen any game except for GTA pull stuff like that off with finese. PoPng might have this, but the magical girl saves you from every fall and every death making the prince virtually invincible and throws the realistic platforming out the window. However, he has added a good chunk of new platforming abilities to his arsenal such as sliding down through tunnels, Now from what I've looked up from reputable sources, most other reviewers say that you need to stop caring so much about the old stuff and start caring about the new stuff or you won't enjoy it. well, i'm thinking I might play this game, and then go back and play SoT. If SoT continues the feeling that ubisoft is trying to cheat me out of a few dollars by exploiting my love for the series, then i'm going to lose all hope that they'll do a proper job of perfecting the series.