Prince of Persia

Visually, this is one of the most refined and mature titles I've ever seen. The art direction, the environments, are just magnificent. Great voice acting and a mildly amusing script also helped. The game has almost no load screens, and in an open world game, it sure is nice. The gameplay mechanics work really fluidly, so getting the Prince around is a breeze. That all being said, this is a very poor installment in the PoP series, for the gameplay is ridiculously redundant, and its puzzle solving elements could be completed by a nine year old. Not that I have anything against nine year olds, it's just that when a game's combat is a rarity I would expect something else to redeem it. Unfortunately, it is not the case here. The platforming is enjoyable for the first few hours, but it gets real old real fast. Also notable, you can figure exactly what will happen the entire length of the game within the first hour of starting it. So, what does PoP offer us ultimately? A beautiful world to explore, compelling banter between the two protagonists, and a very fluid platforming element. On the other hand, the story is laid out in the first 20 minutes, the combat (which is enjoyable) is scarce, and every other facet is so easy I can't fathom how they were targeting anyone over the age of 12 to enjoy this in its entirety. So basically, it fails on PoP's three historical strengths. Play the demo, and leave it at that.