New Prince of Persia move unveiled

By Ellie Gibson Published 21 August, 2008

Plus: why he sounds American.

Ubisoft has revealed a new acrobatic move for the titular character of the new Prince of Persia game.

During a demo at the Leipzig Games Convention, level designer Michael MacIntyre showed off the roof run - a move that enables the Prince to cling to ceilings and traverse them upside down. He can also grab objects hanging down from the ceiling to prolong his run.

"To wall run in the previous Prince of Persia, you would just hold down a button when near a wall and he would do it," said MacIntyre. "In this game the acrobatics are very jump-centric; you actually have to jump at a wall, and then it detects what angle you're hitting it at, and he'll run when he hits it.

"It's a similar thing with the roof run. When you come in contact with the ceiling you jump, you do the run and then you have to hit the glove button to grab any element on the roof in order to keep going. So there's a rhythm to it," he continued.

"With this new move, our level designers had all the tools they needed to create acrobatic sequences that can use pretty much every surface in the game."

There's not much else to report from the demo, seeing as the same level was shown at E3 last month. MacIntyre confirmed there will be PS3 Trophies in the game, and that they're not planning to do a downloadable demo. The Prince still sounds like he's from America, rather than, you know, Persia. Why is that?

"I think it was just accessibility," said MacIntyre. "Even in the original one he had a British accent, right? He wasn't very Persian either. It's just one of those things.

"The character doesn't even necessarily look Persian, but the Persian part is not so much him as much as just the spirit of the world," he added. Righto.

Prince of Persia is out on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 this "holiday", as the Prince would say.

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (32) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • That_Happy_Cat #1 4 years ago

    Maybe it's like Lawrence of Arabia....?

    No?

  • Tomo #2 4 years ago

    Hmm. Not convinced by this one.

  • bodypopper #3 4 years ago

    Films have been doing it for years. Russell Crowe had an Aussie accent playing a Roman solidier in Gladiator and it didn't seem to matter to most people.

  • lambtron #4 4 years ago

    It is shite - it would be far better if he didn't speak in English and didn't have an English or American accent.

    But it wouldn't sell.

  • Triggerhappytel #5 4 years ago

    This move doesn't sound so great. It's almost as if they're running out of ideas, and now they're just going a bit OTT. I think those moves where Elika flies through the air and throws Princey do not help; they look bloody stupid.

    He has a point about the original Princey having a British accent, but a character in a game set 3000 years ago having a British accent is at least a bit more feasible than having a Yankee accent. I think they should get a middle eastern actor to record the lines in English with a noticable accent; that would be a fair compromise. But they never would because the Americans wouldn't buy it and I'm certain that's Ubi's biggest market.

  • CrashT #6 4 years ago

    I don't mind the American accent as much as the sub-Joss Whedon "hip" dialogue.

  • Feanor #7 4 years ago

    Have him speak in R2D2 beeps.

  • Triggerhappytel #8 4 years ago

    @ Crash - yes I agree, from the couple of videos I've seen the dialogue it utterly abhorrent.

  • JediMasterMalik #9 4 years ago

    The thing is, a british accent seems to go well with the setting, at least more so than an american one. It happens in movies too. An english accent is far more universal than an american one. I don't know why, but it just feels that way to me.

  • the_dudefather #10 4 years ago

    They should use authentic Arabian dialects like they did in the sands of time trilogy

  • Spanky #11 4 years ago

    They should get omid djalili to do his voice.

  • ChthonicEcho #12 4 years ago

    The thing is, a british accent seems to go well with the setting, at least more so than an american one.
    Agreed.

  • sirtacos #13 4 years ago

    Accessibility = pandering to the lowest common denominator?
    Remember Altair? Remember how fucking annoying Altair was?
    Get that Iraqi guy from Lost to do the voice. He has a British accent but can also put on a Middle-Eastern(?) one.

  • neilka #14 4 years ago

    I hear Persians communicate using a complex system of clicks and whistles.

  • Artemus #15 4 years ago

    He sounds like Drake from Uncharted now. In fact I'm fairly sure it's the same actor.

  • hiddenranbir #16 4 years ago

    He sounded better with a British Accent. As did Farah, who was horribly ruined in Two Thrones.

  • coojam #17 4 years ago

    Weren't they getting Matt Damon or someone daft to do the voiceover? MMMMAAAAAAAAAAT...actually, too easy.

    "They should use authentic Arabian dialects like they did in the sands of time trilogy

    Persians aren't Arab, they're Persian. It's just to most westerners, they're pretty much the same. But that's the thing... maybe we prefer British to American because it's closer to home rather than authentic.

    Now I'd love to hear an Aussie POP. Stereotypes rule.

  • FenderMaster #18 4 years ago

    The English accent of Sands of Time really suited the character, the new American accent is just jarring and horrible, and this is coming from an irishman

    bring back the English accent Ubi...
    Edited by 1 at 21/08/08 @ 20:39

  • Les #19 4 years ago

    didn't read the article but this is not news

  • Razorus #20 4 years ago

    The British accents can be taken more seriously. For epic movies, it sounds far more authoritative and classical than some whiny yank. Suits the mood more. And no, Russel Crowe didn't have an Aussie accent in Gladiator. That was an English one, with hints of Coruscanti (Obi-Wan stylee).

    People tend not to use "fake" accents in games and movies anymore because its seen as offensive and cheesy. The actor that played Altair wasn't that bad IMO, because he could at least speak Arabic. If only his English was British accented.

    And no to whoever said Sayid from Lost should do it. Just no.

  • ChthonicEcho #21 4 years ago

    maybe we prefer British to American because it's closer to home rather than authentic.
    As a foreigner, I can say a British accent doesn't feel out of place as much as an American one does.

  • the_dudefather #22 4 years ago

    they should have give him a yorkshire accent

  • shotgun44 #23 4 years ago

    I bet half u bellends won't buy it because of the American accent! Reee-dic-yoooo-laaarse!

  • Geowolf #24 4 years ago

    I love the art style. It's like the natural evolution of cel-shading to a more classical art look.


    And with the suggestion of cel-shading, I sensed the cries of a billion hardcore snob gamers cry out as if there lives had been crushed all at once.

  • retr0gamer #25 4 years ago

    At least the animus isn't being used to explain his accent.

  • frostcircus #26 4 years ago

    At least the guy was honest about the accent thing. There's no bullshit in his answer.

    While I wasn't happy about the dialogue, the main thing that bothered me in the gameplay clip I saw was a natural side effect of the partner system - it makes the stuff you do seem a lot less impressive. There's no surer way to cheapen an act of heroic death-defying than to have another person effortlessly copy it less than a second later. That's a serious miscalculation in design.

    Gorgeous, though. I do wish the Prince had actually reacted to Elika making the land pretty, but I guess that wouldn't make him cool apathy guy.

  • Zanuah #27 4 years ago

    @Artemus :: He does, doesn't he?

  • Doctor_What #28 4 years ago

    The accent is annoying, but I can live with it I guess, it's the terrible script that there is no excuse for!

  • SleepyMagpie #29 4 years ago

    Of course it would sound better if he had a Queen's English british accent, not a cockney or any other one, mind you. I'm not british either, but with only a modicum of world history knowledge one would know that the British Empire was a pervasive presence in the middle-east. Even though the time of the Prince of Persia is not established (is it?) I imagine it to be set in some kind of mythical Peter O'Toole as Lawrence of Arabia setting and time. Ergo the british accent. American is just right out. And these days with brits being so popular in the states - this boggles a bit.

    But Ubisoft has recently become more hellbent capitalist than any american, so that probably explains it.

    "Sub-Josh Whedon dialogue"? Oh please no, only Josh Whedon can pull off Josh Whedon.

  • Ryze #30 4 years ago

    [Scot]
    Madness...? Thesss esss Spaarrrrtaaaaarrrrr!!!!!!
    [/Scot]

  • Gearskin #31 4 years ago

    I wouldn't mind the accent... if the dialogue made him sound like a hero. He sounds like an ass.

  • Liggur #32 4 years ago

    @neilka

    I thought that was dolphins