PoP 2008 has a strange story, where it received a lot of hate from the gaming universe, but not exactly for any faults of its own. I have this theory: Ubisoft thought that by strapping "Prince of Persia" on their newest platformer they would assure a large, eager fanbase right off the bat for it; a safety cushion for sales, if you will. After all, it was a game about a guy with a saracen sword who runs along walls, right? Prince of Persia fans would buy in no problem. Why wouldn't they? But the plan backfired when fans went in expecting an actual, proper, full-fledged new Prince of Persia that followed the tradition of the series, and they found something completely different; so much so that it even takes some big steps back in areas where the series had been consistently moving forward from one chapter to the next. That said, I think PoP 2008 is a good game. In fact, I think it's a great game. The complaints you most likely saw all over the place were always the same, so we'll adress them one by one in a handy list format: • "Meh, it's so easy it's no match for my 1337 g4m0r sk1lls" - I've been gaming for over 20 years; the only, rare ocassions when I don't beat a game is when I despise it so much I can't be bothered to do so; and I thought the difficulty level was on par with current standards. PoP 2008 is easy, but then I've been bitching about how easy games in general have became for no less than four or five years. With the honorable exception of S.T.A.L.K.E.R., F.E.A.R., and a few others, I find almost every game out there to be terribly easy, with some of them reaching levels so ridiculous as to have a "Nightmare" difficulty mode that I've beaten without seeing a single "Game Over" screen. PoP 2008 is easy, it's true, but it's not the piece of cake some people accuse it to be either. • "ZOMG it's a kiddie-friendly piece of shit YOU CAN'T DIE!!!!!!!1111!!1" - This is the most frequent complaint and, unless behind those words there's some elaborated reasoning that escapes me, it's also the less thought-out, most blatantly stupid sentence to be echoed over and over in the history of the written word. Here's the thing: Elika, the female sidekick, is integrated into the gameplay so that, with the press of a button, you can summon her and her oh-so-magical powers of whatever to give you a little boost in a difficult jump or to lend a hand in combat. At some point during the pre-mating rituals between press, developers and public, someone at Ubisoft merrily explained that Elika would also jump into action by herself whenever the protagonist faced a certain death (like, say, a miscalculated jump), rescuing him at the last minute and thus making it effectively impossible to die. I bet the poor guy is wishing he kept his head stuck up his own ass because, boy, did that statement stir up the beehive. Now

After being very disappointed in the direction in which Warrior Within took the Prince of Persia franchise, this new release is a positive step in some ways, but a negative step in others. The game goes back to the more lighthearted tone seen in Sands of Time and to some extent in the earlier games, and the physical and verbal interactions between the Prince and Elika are a lot to watch - in particular, there's a lot more dialogue between the two than between the Prince and Farah in Sands of Time, though most of it is optional and can be triggered at your leisure. What brings the game down, however, is its extreme simplicity. The environment is much less deadly than in earlier games. There are no death traps here, and only a handful of points where any timing is required; it's not quite autopilot, but it's close. Combat is weak, as well - although it's visually quite impressive, it essentially boils down to quicktime events. Overall, the game is worth experiencing for the dialogue and characterization, but the gameplay leaves much to be desired.

this is the dullest game i have ever played. and considering ive been gaming since the 70s, thats saying something. the story is trite, cliche'd, and slow. so slow. in fact, the whole game is characterized by "slow"... slow, and EASY. easy puzzles, easy platforming, and easy combat. slow + easy = booooring. about the only thing this game has going for it is the graphics. it looks absolutely outstanding. but that isnt enough to make up for being a terrible game.

Good old fashion fun. I wasn't a fan of Sands of time, which is what everyone seemed to like, but I did love this game. The story was just fun, kinda like reading a good book(Disclaim:I don't read books). The story is really what drives this game forward, not the combat. In fact the combat gets old fast, but the story is interesting, and the character development really adds something to the game that most games miss. If you want a game that draws you in and makes you wonder whats going to happen next, then you should pick this game up.

Excellent game and superb story reminds me of Final Fantasy ^^