GOTY.CX 2009

[JonCole]

I've been meaning to write a Bitmob article on this, but after playing Assassin's Creed 2 I don't think I can go back to PoP. The game was beautiful, but the platforming was so linear and boring with respect to AC2 that I don't even want to go back.

[Moelman]

Aside from being frustratingly difficult at times, I enjoy combat in Dragon Age. It is so similar to Baldur's Gate, NWN, etc which I love. And it almost requires more micromanagement since you can't queue commands and I just love how strategic it can be.

Also, I really liked the 2008 Prince of Persia. Visuals were probably my favorite part, but I still enjoyed the gameplay very much. I have never played any of the other PoP games.

[elmuerte]

Also, I really liked the 2008 Prince of Persia. Visuals were probably my favorite part, but I still enjoyed the gameplay very much. I have never played any of the other PoP games.

You must play Sands of Time.

[James]

I did finish PoP2k8, so I can't really say I hated it, but it was definitely a disappointment and my least favourite of the PoP games I've played (which is most of them, I think). Something about it made the whole thing feel very abstracted and artificial. It lacked any sense of immediacy for me (which is basically my way of avoiding saying it wasn't Visceral Games enough for me). The whole series has always been fairly absurd, but previously I've been able to suspend my disbelief. Something about the new one -- or probably a combination of things -- makes it all seem distant and empty. Conceptually, there is a lot of interesting things about it, and the graphical style is definitely very cool, but the actual execution left me cold.

[Kolzig]

Of the seven Prince of Persia games that have come out (to my knowledge: PoP, PoP 2, PoP3D, PoP:SoT, PoP:WW, PoP:TT, PoP2008) only the original and Sands of Time have been amazing, must play experiences. The others have been at best pretty good and at worst abysmal. I count PoP2008 as "pretty good," myself. Within the series, it's actually one of the better games, it just can't come near the lofty heights set by SoT.

For me PoP, especially PoP 2 and PoP:SoT where the greatest of this series.

I have never played the latest one, because I lost my interest because of Warrior Within and Two Thrones.

[miffy495]

Fair. PoP2 is actually the only one that I haven't played, so I can't comment on it. PoP3D was absolutely terrible, and the others have all been passable (WW), pretty good (TT, PoP2008), or amazing (PoP, SoT). I'm just saying, 2 (or maybe 3) out of 7 doesn't exactly inspire the most confidence in a series, so I don't quite get the feeling of betrayal that some people had with PoP2008. At least not as much as I would if, for example, the next Metroid or Zelda came out and was a giant turd of a game. At this point, those series have established the kind of pedigree where I'm saddened if the newest installment isn't a serious contender for my game of the year. PoP just doesn't carry the same weight.

[Murdoc]

Oh weird, I just picked up Pop 2008(whatever its called) the other day because I needed to see what it was doing and why it bugged people....

Short story short; Holy shit I fucking hate this game and this shitty asshole character.

Short story long: I played sands of time; it was amazing. I saw warrior within and thought the art direction they took was ballsy and good for them for making a different looking sequel, but then heard the story and lost interest; so I haven't played a prince of persia since SoT.

The presentation is just fucking aweful from the get go, it just starts, barely introduces the characters and the plot and basically just keeps going at this really gilted pace. The prince is a schmuck and it's probably the worst choice of voice for any high profile game that I can think of in the last 5-10 years.

Gameplay, I don't need to talk much, but wtf death mechanic? Platforming feels more like a rail timed thing. Inconsistant death heights, etc.. Areas are pretty mashy, paths aren't very clear, doesn't seem like a lot of thinking about set up, sticking to stuff isn't very fun, movement is as enjoyable as i remember. I am constantly snapping onto platforms or about to trigger the death save then it stops and I actually make it. Also fighting with the camera constantly. There is some weird gravity going on too, movement doesn't feel as good as what I remember it, I don't feel in control of my character(again very rail-esq)

Visuals: Ugh, aweful. Textures are nice, the idea is nice, i remember seeing cocnept art and it was nice; but then there is this constant "growth" theme throughout the game that is full of that fad vector art designer root shit that, at least to me, is a fad and belongs on a hip 6 year olds wall tattoo.

I don't know wtf the designs were doing when it came to the enemies, but so far I've fought Venom from Spiderman and Spawn... of course these are very rooted into middle eastern culture and history. Like the thumbs mentioned the ink shader sucks too. Animation and movement is super stiff and the facial animation is terrible; but that could be because I just hate these two peter chung proportioned assholes.

The world setup kind of seems like they are shooting for a SotC thing but it's not as nice, there is no gravity to the lead up, situation, presentation, its just bland as hell. there didn't seem to be any depth in the distance, then it showed up for half a second one small cut scene... so they had the ability. The scaled of alot of things seems really inconsistant as well(I know I am getting nit picky, but this was me reference collecting, not sitting down for a weekend play and I feel very passionately towards what I thought pop was since SoT)

The designs of characters and environments are all over the place that I don't get a sense of the world, of myth, of history, or anything I used to get out of the old games or anything good to replace those feelings. I understand this is a total fantasy world now, but it seems pretty inconsistant with what the title suggests. It's like clint hocking wanted to make this crazy africa shooter and they decided to call it Farcry 2; that was cool, but then some other asshole wanted to make this cheap looking fantasy platformer and they decided to call it PoP... not cool.

It's like some psychology experiment where they introduce to me these vapid characters with annoying dialog and voices, but then wont let me jump this fuck face off a cliff a thousands times just to get some kind of pleasure out of it.

/ugh

[Erkki]

The prince is a schmuck and it's probably the worst choice of voice for any high profile game that I can think of in the last 5-10 years.

But he isn't a prince.

but then some other asshole wanted to make this cheap looking fantasy platformer and they decided to call it PoP... not cool.

Yes, that actually does piss me off. This shouldn't be a PoP game. I think it's a good game, but it has little to do with PoP. And the main character isn't even a prince (hmm... I'm not actually sure the original PoP character was a prince though).

[elmuerte]

SoT was the absolute best of the whole series. What I love most of the game is how it plays quite seamlessly. PoP2008 had an amazing world, and that was pretty much it, but luckily it wasn't the steaming pile of shit like WW or PoP3D. TT was ok, because it wasn't WW. SoT with the world design of PoP2008 would have been absolutely amazing.

[Murdoc]

But he isn't a prince.

Not my point, he's the "prince" character that I don't know the name of, but from now on I'll refer to him differently

[SoulChicken]

SoT was the absolute best of the whole series. What I love most of the game is how it plays quite seamlessly. PoP2008 had an amazing world, and that was pretty much it, but luckily it wasn't the steaming pile of shit like WW or PoP3D. TT was ok, because it wasn't WW. SoT with the world design of PoP2008 would have been absolutely amazing.

Bloody acronyms. I thought "Why is he hating on Wind Waker out of nowhere"

I enjoyed PoP2008 for an hour or so, then I realised the game was playing itself and became pretty certain that if I got up and made a sandwich, read the paper, eat the sandwich I made and then returned to my living room, my dude would be onto the next world he was going to repaint with moss and trees, happily jumping away. I became quite detached from the game and then just stopped playing it. I wasn't angry I had just become disinterested.

one of the most inoffensive games ever. i was playing the Enya of video games.

[ThunderPeel2001]

I LOVED Prince of Persia. What a wonderful game that was (still is?). Prince of Persia 2 lost some of the atmosphere by going a more cartoony (weird decision), but it had buckets and buckets of charm. If only it wasn't the most infuriatingly difficult game ever made.

I will complete it one day! (Probably.)

I have 3D and SoT, but I've yet to play either of them.

[Erkki]

I should probably play TT, I lost interest in that "trilogy" after Warrior Within. But people keep saying it isn't as bad. Sands of Time was amazing.

[elmuerte]

TT is indeed not as crap as WW, but it does have QTE iirc

[gdf]

I'm weird in that I liked Warrior Within and absolutely loved The Two Thrones.

Didn't like Prince of Persia (2008), though.