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IGN Review of Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands
I hate to say this at the start of a game review, but the idea of Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands on the Nintendo DS offends me deeply. I've been a huge fan of the franchise since Jordan Mechner created it on the Apple II two decades ago, and while the game design on the console has evolved for a current generation of gamers, I think much of the evolution is for the better and makes the series shine.
Unfortunately, what could (and should) have been a celebration of the game's hardcore past and present is simply a failed exercise of a developer's need to shift the franchise into that "expanded audience" genre. On the DS, not only has the "edginess" of the character been fluffed out with a "chibi" rendition, but the controls have been mucked with to the point where the game plays itself.
Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands is actually the second try with this "expanded audience" attempt on the Nintendo DS. I did not write the review for the 2008 handheld rendition, but if I did the article would have started exactly the same way: the new direction doesn't work.
Look, Ubisoft: I know you want the game to skew younger with a more approachable character design and forgiving control scheme, but by doing this you're abandoning the appeal the franchise has on the console: a great atmosphere and classic, hardcore gameplay. Nintendo's reworking of The Legend of Zelda to touch-screen control was a success because of its more open design. Prince of Persia touchscreen? Sorry, it's not Zelda.
The final product isn't dreadfully terrible, but even if I wasn't offended by the direction the game's taken on the handheld I still wouldn't like what's been done in The Forgotten Sands. The touch and drag stylus control to maneuver the Prince in the side-scrolling environments isn't a very tactile system, and you never really get a sense that you're in direct control of the prince. He's just floating along doing his own thing just to get to where you're pointing on the touch screen. He'll jump on his own. He'll wall run on his own. He'll climb walls on his own. You never have to do anything but slide the stylus around to maneuver him through the traps. Fights are a little more involved, but you'll just tap and slash over the enemies with repetitive motions.
The Forgotten Sands does bring back beloved mechanics from The Sands of Time, like the "Reverse Time" effect to retry a failed attempt, or "Slow Time" power to, obviously, slow down traps to make advancing through the hazards much more easily. So here's at least a nod to the team for recognizing at least one of the things that made the original Sands of Time so cool.
But I don't want a game that feels like it's playing itself, especially in a Prince of Persia game – a series that's been considered "hardcore" since its 1990 birth. Yes, you need to pick your battles on the Nintendo DS, where you want your game to appeal. Should it be accessible to the young or should it appeal to the audience the series has already established? In this case, and in my honest opinion, it should be the latter. Rarely do I criticize a game product for what it should be versus what it is, but in the case of Prince of Persia, I'll come right out and say it: it should be a challenge, it should be fun, and it should play like the classic Prince of Persia. The Nintendo DS version is none of this.
Incidentally, I'm still trying to figure out the deal with the DSi-exclusive camera feature. There's nothing in the instruction manual about it, and the in-game directions aren't exactly helpful, either. Best I can figure it, if you camera's pointing at something "bright" enemies will stay on the screen, but if you're playing in the dark, they'll go invisible…leaving only their swords on-screen. Is that right?
©2010-05-18, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Unfortunately, what could (and should) have been a celebration of the game's hardcore past and present is simply a failed exercise of a developer's need to shift the franchise into that "expanded audience" genre. On the DS, not only has the "edginess" of the character been fluffed out with a "chibi" rendition, but the controls have been mucked with to the point where the game plays itself.
Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands is actually the second try with this "expanded audience" attempt on the Nintendo DS. I did not write the review for the 2008 handheld rendition, but if I did the article would have started exactly the same way: the new direction doesn't work.
Look, Ubisoft: I know you want the game to skew younger with a more approachable character design and forgiving control scheme, but by doing this you're abandoning the appeal the franchise has on the console: a great atmosphere and classic, hardcore gameplay. Nintendo's reworking of The Legend of Zelda to touch-screen control was a success because of its more open design. Prince of Persia touchscreen? Sorry, it's not Zelda.
The final product isn't dreadfully terrible, but even if I wasn't offended by the direction the game's taken on the handheld I still wouldn't like what's been done in The Forgotten Sands. The touch and drag stylus control to maneuver the Prince in the side-scrolling environments isn't a very tactile system, and you never really get a sense that you're in direct control of the prince. He's just floating along doing his own thing just to get to where you're pointing on the touch screen. He'll jump on his own. He'll wall run on his own. He'll climb walls on his own. You never have to do anything but slide the stylus around to maneuver him through the traps. Fights are a little more involved, but you'll just tap and slash over the enemies with repetitive motions.
The Forgotten Sands does bring back beloved mechanics from The Sands of Time, like the "Reverse Time" effect to retry a failed attempt, or "Slow Time" power to, obviously, slow down traps to make advancing through the hazards much more easily. So here's at least a nod to the team for recognizing at least one of the things that made the original Sands of Time so cool.
But I don't want a game that feels like it's playing itself, especially in a Prince of Persia game – a series that's been considered "hardcore" since its 1990 birth. Yes, you need to pick your battles on the Nintendo DS, where you want your game to appeal. Should it be accessible to the young or should it appeal to the audience the series has already established? In this case, and in my honest opinion, it should be the latter. Rarely do I criticize a game product for what it should be versus what it is, but in the case of Prince of Persia, I'll come right out and say it: it should be a challenge, it should be fun, and it should play like the classic Prince of Persia. The Nintendo DS version is none of this.
Incidentally, I'm still trying to figure out the deal with the DSi-exclusive camera feature. There's nothing in the instruction manual about it, and the in-game directions aren't exactly helpful, either. Best I can figure it, if you camera's pointing at something "bright" enemies will stay on the screen, but if you're playing in the dark, they'll go invisible…leaving only their swords on-screen. Is that right?
©2010-05-18, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved