Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Comments by Tom Bramwell
Any excuse to play it again...
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Scripted events? PoP? Behave yourself gasman. There are only 2 things you can level at PoP (both mentioned in the review) the first is a very annoying puzzle at the end (wtf?) and the second the length of the game. Otherwise you will not play a better game all year. Critise away, but dont make sh*t up cos your a lazy ar*e.
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Mr Harvest
15/12/03 @ 09:52
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TipTop:
"a very annoying puzzle at the end (wtf?)" Which puzzle was this? I've heard people complain about some puzzle near the end but I didn't get stuck on anything at the end. |
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PoP: SoT is a fantastic game in terms of graphics and jumping puzzle gameplay.
However, as soon as the Prince takes out his sword and his dagger then things start to get really tedious. During combat, the camera swings around like crazy and is positioned in places where you can't see what you are doing. Blocking is nearly useless because enemies tend to pile up around you and you can't block all of 'em at the same time. The Prince also has a bit of a life on his own during combat. Sometime's he'll refuse to stab a "dead" enemy with his dagger to finish it off and he'll stab a "living" enemy instead. The first boss battle is incredibly annoying. Combat also becomes rather boring when you progress through the game. It's the same every single time. Other than that though, this game is nearly flawless (except for some sound issues with the PC version which ofcourse wouldn't happen on a console version). |
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Scripted events, i mean when i first move towards a piece of wall, someone shoots a cannonball at it. I reload, and the game repeats itself.
Er? Um, so what? That's a cinematic sequence to get the story going. And of course the game repeats itself when you reload. This is a jump and run/puzzle game, of course it's linear. Every game of this kind is linear, unless you count the option to change the order in which you solve the (in itself linear) levels in other jump and runs as non-linearity. PoP makes more than up for it with the story and level design, which couldn't have been done non-linear of course. More and more people seem to think that non-linearity is a sign of quality - which is rubbish, imo, it depends on the game and the genre - would it have been possible to create the magic that is Ico in a non-linear game? No, and it's the same here. |
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Unfortunatelky I haven't played it myself yet (mostly because I am waiting for the gamepad bundle, haven't encountered it in the Netherlands yet). But all my friends who have played it show none of the enthusiasm that the reviews and many of you guys do. They call if frustrating, boring after a while, whine about the horrible cameras.
To be completely honest (being lucky that none of those friends visit this site) I trust your judgement more, but still it makes me wonder if the praise isn't just a tad too much. Maybe this is not a game for casual gamers somehow? |
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Just drop those fanboy-glasses and see the reality: PoP: TSoT is just yet another completely linear platformer with no personality.
I am wearing fanboy glasses? Because I like the game? Riiiiiight. I already said it's linear, which is imo a good thing. for that genre. And that PoP has no personality is, hands down, the most ridiculous statement I've heard in a long time. But we can end the discussion here, seeing that you said you've played it for 15 minutes. |
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The first section of PoP (set in the big castle) is designed to show you the ropes, and as such is pretty linear and pre-scripted. Once you get to the main section of the game, pre-scripted events become relatively rare. Yes, it's basically linear throughout, but again later rooms are sufficiently complex in their layout that this isn't an issue - each room is a puzzle where the fun lies in figuring out just where you're supposed to go, much like the original Tomb Raider game.
I don't think you'd want this kind of game to be non-linear - imho, it would lead to a lot of unnecessary back-tracking, and up the frustration levels. |
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Mr Harvest
15/12/03 @ 12:41
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Oh, that annoying puzzle. Funny, I had completely forgotten about it. My mind had probably repressed the painful memory once I was past it, yes it was hideously irritating.
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My little brother has the playstation version of this and its awe inspiring to watch the things he does, the gmae is so intuitive that when I asked him about it he said "Oh the time thing, I dont use that" while balancing upsidedown on a poll preparing to back flip off the far wall and get so some secret area, all I could to was the perfect race in Kick Start 2 :(
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Ok, PoP i snot the best game I have ever played but it is a damn good game IMO. Not only is the story done well but the puzzles are, for the most part, pretty good. Ok, so there are a *fair few* scripted events but how many games get away withoiut these scripted events?
One problem I found within the PC version was after I completed the stairway puzzle with dirty gurlie in the red number and defeated the guards I was faced with finding my way out the chamber - which was none too hard - but where was the lady?? She was gone!! Now I managed to find her when I opened the chamber door and she promptly drops out the sky and splats on the floor. The only way round this was to either begin the level again or borrow someones saves or cheat - I opted for the save. ;) Anyone else get this problem or was I the unluckiest mutha in the game playing world? This was not the worst thing about the game for me though - that was the *odd* control* method chosen whereby left is not always left - its sometimes back or forward? I think the game would have been a little better for me had it had a Soul Reaver/Hitman style control method. The camera also works against you on the PC version - when you neeed to see from behind the character and time a wall run the camera would not allow this as there was a wall behind you and you had to rely on changing to first person or landscape camera views - but that is no massive issue. However, to stop playing a game after 15 minutes and complain about the scripted events is being pedantic - I mean does 15 minutes even see you past the training in PoP?? Seems to me that one or two bods decided they would not like this game before they even played it! ;) |
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Beyond Good and Evil, which despited the protestations of some people on this thread is an accomplished and enjoyable (if slightly short) experience is going for 19.99 in HMV. I guess everyone is buying MOH Rising Sun instead.
BTW gasman, Stopped playing after two "castles". How would you know how big the world is then? A bit like Zelda (a game you're obvoiusly familiar with) the game area expands the more you play it. |
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Rented Prince of Persia, and just completed it. I was dissapointed. The game looks great, and if I was to just watch someone play I'd be really impressed. However, I found the gameplay to be flawed, contrary to what I had read in pretty much all of the reviews.
The majority of gameplay is comprised of "acrobatics" jumping, swinging, running along a wall to a ledge, platform, whatever. From there you look for the next ledge or platform to jump to. Its very straightforward, and not difficult to determine where you need to go next as there really is only a single path. So gameplay boils down to following that path- its a matter of pointing the stick in the correct direction, and hitting the 'action' button. The only challenge that occasionally arises is due to the camera. You sometimes can't see where you need to jump to next, or you don't have a good perspective to judge the distance to the nearest ledge, pole, rope whatever. This simplicity is hampered by the good-looking but annoying character animations. Every time you perform an action, you have to 'wait' for the animation, which further detracts from the immersement of gameplay. Its lacks the freedom of movement of a platformer- at times its kinda like playing Space Ace or something, you hit the button and then watch as the game plays out. Combat is similarly flawed. You have one weapon, and few actual 'moves' to dispatch enemies. You basically do the same thing over and over and over again. It looks damn cool, but again the animations kinda pull you out of the game, you can get stuck in the middle of an animation, when you really want to alter your method of attack. Not to mention that combat is artificially lengthened by enemies that spawn and spawn and spawn again, until you really wish they would just fucking die already. They can keep coming ad infinitum, as there's always a pool of water nearby to regain health, not to mention the handy rewind function, so its not like you could possibly be killed. Combat could last forever, and it wouldn't make any difference. I wouldn't say it was a bad game. I liked the story, the cut-scenes (which there should have been more of), I liked the characters and voice-acting. Overall though, it wasn't quite the AAA gaming experience I had anticipated. It's a very polished game, and I think watching the game and how great it looks... might convince people that the game is much better than it actually is. Then again, maybe its just me. You may love it. |
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If gaming was perfect this would be an average game, it didn't really blow me away at any part but just did what it had to do very well. Only a few very slight niggles (camara, fighting THAT puzzle) but overall it more than made up for it.
It didn't really revolutionize the genre but I don't think every game has to, to be good. I'd also like to concor on the part about getting a decent pad for it, it just makes it a more enjoyable experiance. |
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" ... every time you perform an action, you have to 'wait' for the animation ..." Erm? Some of your points are very valid (combat especially) but this isnt somehting you can level at PoP, it is widely (check gamerankings reviews) recognised as having the best character animation and transition animations of its genre. Stick to the facts maam ...
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I read people complaining about this game being linear. Think about it in a different way. Creating a non-linear game has two major disadvantages:
1 - As a developer you'll have to create a lot more content for the game without adding gameplay time for a single run. Playing the game a second time through is only interesting if most of the game is different, which would require from the developer that they'd actually develop twice the amount of content, which is unrealistic with the time development cycles for a single game take these days. 2 - If you create a non-linear game then it's hard to direct the progress of the game. I'm not a game developer either, but many people do not realise that designing a game is much like directing a movie. You want the player to experience something and if you're going to try to put non-linearity into your game, you'll be providing a number of experiences of which one will be more satisfying than the other. As a developer you have to gently nudge the player in the right direction to let him experience what you thought up for him (or her... gotta stay politically correct ;)) If you would write a movie with two endings, then one of the endings will always be less pleasing than the other, so why bother implementing the lesser ending if it can save time (and money)? Non-Linear storylines sound interesting and all, but I'd rather have two completely seperate and unrelated titles from the same developer than one game with two storylines. |
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Is it that hard to understand the Prince is telling a story?
If you want non-linearity buy an RPG, but don't depreciate a game for being a different genre from the ones you like. (This "you" is for everyone that doesn't like this great game) And more, I don't really apreciate platformers like Mario 64 (well, it's not that I don't like them, it's just that was never much of a console gamer) but find this game incredible. POP:SoT is exactly what PoP was in its time. |
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The problem with game isn't the linearity due to the story, or the fact that you progress through each level in a specific order. No, the linearity is in the path you have to take through each level. Like I said before, jump, swing, whatever to a platform, look around, find next platform to jump to. There is always one single path, just one. I can't think of a platformer ever- as linear as this game. Name me one.
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Well I don't see this game as your standard platformer either, since no platformer before this one had it's emphasis set so much on being agile enough to reach a certain point.
I just see each room in PoP as a single puzzle which needs to be solved. Once you've figured out how to do it, then the time comes to execute it, which can be rather tricky at times when everything you touch just collapses under you and a slight miscalculation of a series of 5 or 6 tricks can send you plummeting to your death. A normal jigsaw puzzle has only one solution as well, and I've never heard anyone complain about that. Sometimes I just wish we were back in the age of Wolfenstein and DOOM, when everybody still thought games in general were just cool and people weren't complaining about linearity yet. |
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Shakermaker
22/12/03 @ 01:42
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o/
Playing PoP:SoT now and I must say its a beautiful and very enjoyable game.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 22/12/03 @ 01:42
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