Book reviews, art, gaming, Objectivism and thoughts on other topics as they occur.

Jan 3, 2006

Prince of Persia

These are some of my all-time favorite games. I just finished playing The Two Thrones, and I thought I'd list just a few of the things I loved about them.
  • Easy to play. If you're a veteran computer gamer you've probably experienced picking up a game that had a truly horrendous interface (Daggerfall comes to mind) where you felt like you needed two hands for the keyboard and one for the mouse. None of the PoP games have that problem, in fact, they are so easy to play that you don't have to even think about it. Which is good because:
  • Action, action, action! These games are non-stop, in the way that a good book is. You want to keep playing to see what happens next. Some areas have a time limit, so you have to get a move on. Unusually for many action games, however, they have:
  • A great plot. Swords! Mystic Empresses! Time travel! Strange sand monsters! Romance! Seriously, I could see Errol Flynn in this game, no problem. And when you are not contemplating the overall plot, there are plenty of:
  • Ingenious puzzles. Most of them are not too difficult, putting them right on the edge of "fun but not so frustrating you feel like screaming". Most of the puzzles are worked into the game so smoothly that it doesn't really come across as a puzzle, you are just trying to figure out how to get to the other side of the room by climbing along the walls. In fact, you may experience some vertigo because of the:
  • Fantastic scenery, which is both incredibly real and exquisitely stylized. Oh, and the music is great.

Many praises to UbiSoft!

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