Prince of Persia: The Warrior and the Alchemist
November 13, 2008 - The new Prince offers an open world to explore, a magic-wielding AI partner and intense one-on-one combat. For those who have played the previous Prince titles or anyone expecting an experience similar to Ubisoft Montreal's Assassin's Creed, you may be in for a bit of a shock. This isn't your daddy's Prince of Persia.
The world of Prince of Persia is divided into four regions, each of which is guarded by a boss. The various regions are then broken up into what could be called five different levels -- or areas that need to be healed of Corruption. At each level, you'll battle with the boss of the region, until you meet for a final confrontation. This is really unlike any game I've played before. I can't remember ever fighting a boss five times, much less having the freedom to choose when I would fight that boss each of those times.
Prince of Persia's open world element means that you are free to journey between the different regions, healing specific levels and moving on. You could focus on clearing out a whole region or work your way around the world, exploring at your whim and healing levels across the map. The choice is yours.
What's impressed me about Prince of Persia -- more than the slick platforming or challenging combat -- is that each region has its own look and back story. And each boss feels wholly unique and requires a different strategy to defeat.
In the City of Light, you battle against the Warrior. This massive boss appears to be made of stone and dwarfs the Prince and Elika. No matter what attack you throw at the Warrior, he can't be hurt. The Prince's powerful gauntlet can't launch the Warrior into the air (he's just too heavy), your sword bounces off his stone body, and Elika's magic has no effect. For each battle, you'll need to discover a way to hurt the Warrior. It may mean knocking him off a platform or trapping him so you can escape. It's only in the final battle, on the fifth level of the City of Light where you can actually do damage and finish the Warrior off for good.
But before you can reach this end conflict with the Warrior, you'll need to reach him. This is not an easy task. To get to the Warrior, you'll need to make use of Elika's dash magic. With this spell, the Prince quickly crawls along walls and ceilings. It's an on-rails sequence, where you must direct the Prince to dodge obstacles in his path. Having played about half of Prince of Persia at this point, the dash moments are my favorite.
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In the final showdown, the Warrior has caught fire, weakening his protective skin (and creating a beautiful fire effect). But even in his vulnerable state, taking out the Warrior won't be easy. You'll have to contend with several quick time events or risk taking some serious damage from this brutal boss.
Another region, the Vale, perfectly illustrates the differences in Prince of Persia's locales. The City of Light is a region of crumbling stone. It's dark and foreboding, cold and lifeless. The Vale has some stunning vistas and is covered in a greenish haze. It has wood structures and massive, tethered balloons. The platforming elements are more straightforward than in the City of Light, but have some really great wall-running sequences. But the real difference can be seen in the boss battle.
The Alchemist is a disciple of the evil Ahriman who has discovered how to manipulate corruption. In battle, the Alchemist uses corruption against the Prince. Corruption borders the battle arenas, preventing the Prince from knocking the Alchemist over the edge. And should you knock the Alchemist into the corruption, he'll sink into it and then reappear behind the Prince. This forces the use of new strategies as you're at a severe disadvantage when the Alchemist appears at your backside. Those who never bothered to mix in acrobatics with their combat will suddenly find themselves hitting a new button. If you don't place yourself between the Alchemist and the Corruption (and continue to force him towards the center of the arena), you're in for trouble.
Prince of Persia has no upgrade system and your weapons never change. The only thing you bring with you to a battle with the Alchemist is your own skill. There is, however, dynamic diffulty in PoP, which changes based on your performance. If you keep getting your face stomped, then the difficulty scales back and the enemies become less aggressive. Start tearing through enemies and you'll find the AI blocking and countering more frequently. Since Prince of Persia is an open world where you can tackle levels in the order of your choosing, the dynamic difficulty should help scale the game so that it never becomes too easy.
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