The TPS Report - Games, Beats 'n' Blogs

Fucking Hell...Prince of Persia: Warrior Within Reviewed
Posted by Diggler - 16/12/2004 23:19

The new "mature" Prince of Persia. If ever there was a case of bad judgement...

Last year's Prince of Persia: Sands of Time was a wonderful update to the platforming golden oldie we all grew up with. The graphics were stunning, the story was great, and best of all it played like a dream. Among all the dark, violent shooters and beat 'em ups of recent times, Sands of Time was the perfect antidote - it felt like a souped-up version of Aladdin, wrapped up in a modern 3D twist.

That same year Ubisoft also put out Beyond Good & Evil, resulting in a fantastic double whammy that put them right up there as some of the premier games developers of our time - even more impressive when you consider both games were cross-platform titles that still retained the quality and magnificence usually only associated with system exclusives.

My love for the PoP series goes back further than Sands of Time though, all the way back to the old PC classic. I still find myself playing the much enhanced SNES version to this day in fact - it truly is about as atmospheric a game as you'll ever find. It's also the series that spawned Flashback, and for that it'll forever have a place in gaming's hall of fame.

Downhill From Here

For the very best in dull grey levels, pick up Warrior Within now!

With all that in mind, my thoughts on Warrior Within are hugely disappointing. Right from the get-go it's quite clear what's going on here; as wonderfully magical and gorgeous as Sands of Time was you see, financially it didn't do as well as it should have done, and now Ubisoft seem to be pandering this sequel to the lowest common denominator in an attempt to shift more copies. In other words, everything just wreaks of "sell-out".

So instead of the lush Arabian nights setting of the last game, everything's been "darkened" up with a gothic tinge. Instead of the old reliance on platform shenanigans and complex puzzles, we now have much more of an emphasis on blood-soaked beat 'em up sections (against women, no less). No longer is the Prince the charming yet sheltered character of the first game, now he's all stubbled up, full of attitude, and uses words like "bitch!". Instead of the old impeccable voice acting, it's now drowned out by non-sensical annoying American accents. There's even great big sodding boss fights. But worst of all, horrendously loud rock tunes now drown out most of the game, and are about as out of place as hearing the Sesame Street theme tune played at a heavy metal concert.

All in all it feels like the Prince has been completely and utterly "Mtv'd" up for the mainstream. Heck, we even get gratuitous point blank arse shots for no good reason at all, but this one I can live with. It's not a complete failure as a game admittedly, but it's a significant step back from last year's much more stylish classic...and that makes me a sad panda.

But Now the Prince is Super Bad Arse & Cool!

The Prince has been playing some Mortal Kombat since we last saw him

Okay, so the fighting has been heavily expanded since Sands, but really, was it worth it? If we wanted a beat 'em up, we'd play Ninja Gaiden. The Prince games are about so much more than battling hundreds of enemies with endless finger-numbing combos. It's always been a puzzle game at heart, where the journey from one side of the screen to the other is an intuitive series of mental and physical challenges. Not hammering X as many times as humanly possible.

In an attempt to rectify arguably the single problem in Sands of Time - the simplistic combat - the developers plans have backfired hugely here, and the fighting seems to be a heck of lot more prominent and annoying this time around. It's also stupidly hard unless you play on the lowest difficulty setting, and most definitely not in a good way.

The one thing I always felt missing from the series was a battle with a 15 foot demon

The platforming, swinging, and wall-jumping escapades are just as good as ever, which is really the most important thing to remember, but at the same time the much darker and gloomy setting results in a game that's not nearly as fun to look at while you're doing it all. I miss those glorious purple skylines, the hazy sun beams, and most of all...Farrah. Where oh where are you? Now it's all ominous dark pits and depressing grey skies everywhere you look. What a lost opportunity - I can just go jumping around England if I wanna see that kinda thing.

Extra mention has to be made of the sound, as Warrior Within has possibly the worst of any game this year. Along with the previously mentioned monstronsity of a score, the voice acting is absolutely heinous. But it's the dialogue itself which truly makes your heart turn to ice, with the kind of sexploitation nonsense usually relegated to top-shelf porn flicks. Battling half-naked chicks and hearing them scream, "You like the pain don't you!" for the first time was very possibly the moment it suddenly struck me what a complete misfire this damn game is.

Now compare that to the both hilarious and extremely touching dialogue of the last game.

Potential

Admittedly, the ability to now slide down curtains is pretty damn sweet

One aspect that I like, at least on paper, is the plot. Despite all the hell that broke lose in the prequel, with the Prince setting free the Sands of Time and nearly destroying humanity, his time travelling antics allowed him to cheat death...and now death wants revenge. The Prince's number is up, and an evil demon named Dahaka is all but two steps behind him, determined to set right the natural course of events. As the Prince, you have to stay one step ahead of him at all times, and it results in many of the game's standout moments.

It's a sweet little storyline, and a great way of tying in the last game with this one, but never the less I don't think the plot should automatically necessitate such an enormous shift in tone as we have here.

I dunno, I was just hoping for more of the same I guess. While it retains elements of the same core gameplay as Sands of Time, Warrior Within does a complete 180 in terms of style and artistic merit. If this one sells better than the last game then I guess Ubisoft will have proven their point, but honestly, part of me hopes it flops...

...because bare-clad female foes that constantly scream, "Hit me harder Prince!" isn't exactly high art.

(Pictures courtesy of Prince of Persia)