Tycho on POP:WW - "I smolder with generic rage."

[Jake]

Surely most of you read this already, but it's worth dropping in here too... I haven't played the game yet (though I do intend to since I loved SoT so much), but what Tycho's written here seems to confirm the fears I and most people are/were having about WW:

The good news is that game we liked is in there, but it's underneath a bunch of crap I ordinarily wouldn't touch without gloves.

Brenna refused to believe it when I told her that the plot revolves around the Empress of Time, who lives on the Island of Time where the Sands (all together now) OF TIME were created. All the same, that's the kind of situation we're talking about. Jesus Christ, people. Just call the island fucking Chronos or something. Spell it with a K if you have to. I can figure out that there's some kind of time thing going on.

I don't have a problem at some default level with the thematic change, my aversion to the new palette (visually or conceptually) isn't automatic. They just want it too bad. What's more, I think they're confused about what kind of personality they want the prince to embody. The PC demo you can download has another voice take for the game's introduction, which painted him as more "desperate" and less "x-treme." I preferred it. It's hard to prefer this Prince in a general sense, though, because (as Eurogamer put it) he's just not likable. The wry voiceovers and endearing progression of The Sands Of Time's rude royal son charmed me completely. I oversaw his redemption in the first game, apparently so they could take what I had done and negate it.

The entire writeup by both Gabe and Tycho on WW is worth reading. "I remember the comic book industry went through a similar phase in the early nineties. The success of books like Spawn lead publishers to believe that kids wanted dark anti-heroes. This lead to the creation of some of the worst comic book characters in the history of the world. Not only that but existing characters where retooled to be darker and more mysterious. For God's sake they gave Super Man a black suit and I think for a few years Captain America's shield drank human blood. Darker isn't always better, especially when you've already got a character that people love."

[MrHoatzin]

And the award for the Most Unecessary Post Ever goes to...

[Jake]

Pretend I just linked to the PA site. I couldn't resist though, they confirmed more or less every single feeling I had towards Wind Waker Warrior Within far better than I could have.

[Erkki]

And the award for the Most Unecessary Post Ever goes to...

Hey, some of us don't read PA. Well, I read them only when they are linked to from one of the places I visit.

[Ninja Dodo]

I think I'll leave the memory of Sands in Time intact and avoid this one.

[Duncan]

Man, I hope in the next Prince of Persia you can steal cars.

The Eurogamer review Tycho links to in his post is one of the better WW reviews I've read (better than Gamespot's, certainly). Also, apart from the unlockable concept art it refers to, there's also an 'Weapons Gallery' for you to unlock.

Other random points of interest:

1) It's startingly easy to decapitate people, even when you don't know what you're doing.

2) For those of you who were holding out hope that Godsmack wouldn't suck, you are wrong.

I think I'll leave the memory of Sands in Time intact and avoid this one.

That's the smart bet, yeah.

[ysbreker]

When I read tycho's rant I think he was spot on! He should write for idle thumbs

Maybe then we'd see some regular updates

[BigJKO]

I loved this part:

The problem with these guys is their voices, which are hilarious, and not grim. You can't feel tough when you cut these guys. Halo has those little grunts, and I guess I'm supposed to feel like a bad-ass when I destroy them but I actually just feel like an asshole. They both seem like races that just fell in with the wrong crowd. What they need are compelling after school activities, not death.

[Roderick]

Oh wow, I LOVE Penny Arcade. Tycho is a gifted writer. Aspiring to reach that level once.

[Chris]

I definitely don't plan on buying WW. That game is already surely going to outsell SOT, and they don't need one more sale to confirm their idiotic demographic targetting.

[Duncan]

I definitely don't plan on buying WW. That game is already surely going to outsell SOT, and they don't need one more sale to confirm their idiotic demographic targetting.

I hope that Ubisoft's apparent policy of listening to their critics above their fans on SOT will extend to this game as well, resulting in less shitty games after this... but I really, really wouldn't bet the house on it.

[Jake]

Much like what they did with WW, production on POP3 started long before WW shipped. Hopefully it's better.

[Lindset]

Much like what they did with WW, production on POP3 started long before WW shipped. Hopefully it's better.

Wait... So they're doing the dual-team thing?

Which means that the team that worked on Sands of Time is working on the next one right now?

[Jake]

Wait... So they're doing the dual-team thing?

Which means that the team that worked on Sands of Time is working on the next one right now?

Er that's what I'd read somewhere? I don't know if it's the "same team," but I know Ubi has been overlapping the POP production schedules.

[Marek]

I believe there's some Producer overlap as well as probably low-level personel who are brought in towards the end (Ubi sometimes puts a whopping 150 people on a project), but they're essentially different teams.

[Ninja Dodo]

One thing that puzzles me... if Mechner was involved with this game, how could he have let it stray from the original so much? Was he not really that involved or did he just get overruled by the suits or something?

[manny_c44]

He didn't get over-ruled, because he alone is the man who Ok's the projects....probably needed a longer yacht or something.

[Erkki]

I got to play this for an hour or so and the beginning was extremely boring...

[Roderick]

This week I bought Prince of Persia: Sands of Time for 23 euro's (=cheap), and it's quite addicting. I was planning to play it a bit and then return to Metroid Prime which I was currently playing, but lo! Return I could not, and I found myself playing it some more. I really like the opening. I'm only just realising how important an opening is for a game. And PoP:SoT has a good one. It's also fun to play with a character that isn't a standard edgy hero, but rather an arrogant and spoiled little ambitious prince. Loving it.

Already laughing at the rage-smoldering New Prince. He oughta call himself Tafkap, or create a symbol, just so everyone knows how serious he is exactly.

[ysbreker]

Rodi: you've been ripped of. you can get pop:sot for about 15 euro's

And yeah the prince in WW should get some kind of symbol instead of a name. I suggest this one:

[Roderick]

Now that would be badass indeed!

I should have pointed out that I got the game for the Gamecube, not the PC (which indeed features many games for half the price of their console counterparts). 23 euro isn't expensive for Popsot on the Cube.

[Bc9b]

Joke game boss line:

"I smolder with generic rage, driven by the stereotypical demons, born of the laugably obvious gods, fueled by the souls of the uninspired comic book artists!"