Back in Time With Prince of Persia
- October 17, 2003 16:48 PM PST
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Find out how the Prince will weave his magic on the PlayStation 2.
Certain games achieve a level of timelessness that allows them to get ported to successive generations of hardware for a whole new audience to enjoy. The original Prince of Persia, released in 1989 for the PC, was such a game ?it drew critical praise for its fluid animation, brain-teasing puzzles, and tense action sequences. The inevitable sequel followed four years later, but another technical breakthrough was still a long way off.
Hard Act To Follow
How do you take something that revolutionized 2D-platform action and translate it into a creation that breaks ground in 3D? Mattel thought it had the answer in 1999, but Prince of Persia 3D received mixed reviews and was generally viewed as a disappointment. Now, just a scant four years later, it?s back to the proverbial drawing board.
?My first reaction was a little bit cautious because Prince of Persia 3D had not turned out so well,? says series creator Jordan Mechner. ?My feeling was that a new Prince of Persia title would have to be absolutely groundbreaking or it would not be worth doing.? Luckily for fans eager to see another revival, the new license holders, Ubi Soft, felt the same way about the project. Mechner adds, ?Producer Yannis Mallat brought me to Montreal to meet his team. We sparked immediately?I found their ideas and their enthusiasm terrifically exciting, and felt that this was a project I wanted to be part of.?
A Boy and His Dagger
The story begins with the titular Prince setting out with his father on a campaign to conquer the kingdom of a neighboring Maharajah. They successfully overtake the palace with the help of the Maharajah?s advisor and recover two mysterious items, the Dagger of Time and the Sands of Time. Being the trustworthy guy he is, the advisor tricks the Prince and his father into unleashing the Sands of Time, which transforms everyone into possessed creatures. Wielding the Dagger saves the Prince from transforming, but he must now find some way to reverse the effects of this cursed treasure.
It?s important to note that the preceding narrative isn?t laid out in one long cut-scene prior to the player picking up the controller. ?To me, it's important to always keep in mind that we are making a game, not a movie,? comments Mechner. ?The cinematics should be about the same thing the game is about. What I mean by that is, don't open with a 10-minute cinematic cut-scene explaining the complicated backstory of three warring kingdoms if the actual gameplay is ?Fight and kill everyone you meet.? A simple game should have a simple story.?
Still, anything involving the manipulation of time is never as simple as it seems. As much havoc as the Sands inflict, they can be used to aid the Prince in a variety of interesting ways. One of the most useful is the ability to rewind time, but other valuable feats allow the Prince to slow down enemies and speed around at the blink of an eye. Each power is discovered while progressing through a level and naturally gaining new bits of information. ?The movie-like elements in Sands of Time?story line, relationships between the characters, cinematic camerawork, music, and so on?are all expressed through the gameplay itself, not just the cut-scenes,? Mechner adds.
A simple yet epic tale requires a simple yet epic soundtrack, and The Sands of Time obliges with a fitting Middle Eastern score for the core of the tale. When the scene calls for such, orchestra-like music booms in to accentuate the action or dramatic moment.
Ninja Ballet
?One of the biggest challenges for the team was to re-create the fluid, fast-paced gameplay that made the original so much fun to play in a wide-open, realistically rendered 3D environment,? says Mechner. ?We didn't want it to end up being just another third-person action/adventure that is visually beautiful but clunky and kind of laborious to play compared to the lightness that the old games had.? Luckily, setting out on such a lofty goal didn?t require Ubi Soft?s Montreal team and Mechner to start from scratch for the technical or artistic ends. Quite a deal of programming know-how was traded with the Splinter Cell team and a few outside titles sparked ideas as well. ?I was greatly inspired by Ico, a real work of art that didn't get the success it deserved,? says Mechner. ?It had beautiful, atmospheric level design with great attention to detail, and probably the most fully realized NPC sidekick character I've seen in a game.? Unsurprisingly, a feisty heroine named Farah, joins the Prince as an NPC for a portion of the game.
Based on extensive hands-on time with a preview version of The Sands of Time, it?s safe to say that the fluid nature of the controls has the same impact as in the original game. The Prince moves gracefully, almost effortlessly, but controls with minimal delay. It feels like a ballet at times, which is no accident. ?The team was definitely influenced by the gravity-defying stunts of Chinese action movies like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,? says Mechner. ?Totally impossible, yet somehow believable. The screens on these pages show off the wide range of moves the Prince is capable of with some even coming off as ninja-like. There have been so many similar third-person adventure games, it?s hard to quantify what makes the game feel different. Admits Mechner, ?It's the kind of game that, to really appreciate what makes it special, you need to pick up the controller and play.?
Heir to the Throne
Anything can happen before a game gets released, but thus far The Sands of Time looks like it will be successful in its weighty task of reviving a classic this November. When asked what the future holds for the Prince, Mechner reveals, ?Chronologically, Sands of Time actually takes place before Prince 1. So the future is wide open for his later adventures?.?
