Prince of Persia: The Warrior Within

[Obnoxious]

For all the PoP fans out there, check this out! Gamespot did a preview on the upcoming PoP 2. There's a trailer and some screenies, and it'll be available for GC, Xbox, PS2, and PC. Fun fun!

 

http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/action/princeo...ew_6105828.html

[JFo]

There's already a discussion going on in this thread:

 

http://www.lcvg.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=3756

[Obnoxious]

Ah, excuse moi. Mods can delete this thread if you like, sorry about the double posting. God damn. I even used search for all the forums and that thread didn't even show up. To top it off I'm a few months behind on this info. :?

[JFo]

Don't sweat it. I figured I would just point that out so that we didn't have two threads going at the same time.

 

As long as we're on the subject, perhaps I should mention that topics covering games which are released on multiple platforms such as Prince of Persia: Warrior Within (as it is now officially called) should be posted in the General forum and not in one of the platform specific areas (GameCube, Xbox, PS2). So, if you want to do a search on a game like this in the future, you'll know where to find it.

[Romier S]

TeamXbox has a story up on the pre-order bonus for Prince of Persia: The Warrior Within and well, its SWEET!

 

http://news.teamxbox.com/xbox/6937/Ubisoft...PreSell-Program

 

 

A full color 36 page art booklet (and if the box above it is the games cover art I'll be quite happy :tu: .) You can apparently get this bad boy starting October 8th when you put money down on Warrior Within, which is retailing for 39.99!

[JFo]

Yeah, that's pretty damn cool. I haven't preordered this one as of yet, but I think this offer is going to change that in two days.

 

I'm also happy to see the game is retailing for $39.99. I hope that this helps Ubisoft sell more copies of this game.

[Ricky G]

Cool!

 

Pre-ordering it is something I would not have done if not for that nice looking book.

 

Keep up the good work, Ubisoft!

[Dan B.]

Wow, it's great to see the game is going to be $39.99. It's my #2 anticipated game this year & I am certainly willing to pay more for the sequel to my favorite game of last year.

[FLYING SE7EN]

Prince of Persia Warrior Within : Acquired :tu:

 

Picked it up at my GameRush today, I'm looking forward to playing it tonight. Anyone else get theirs yet???

 

BTW, retail on this game must've been changed because its selling for $49.99, everywhere I've looked.

 

J.

[Dan B.]

The game is selling for $39.99 at Target & Best Buy; I posted it in Glen's thread. I don't know what the deal is with the pricing disparity.

[FLYING SE7EN]

Yeah, that's weird. Game Rush, EBGames and Amazon.com all have it for $49.99.

 

I have a bunch of credit at GameRush, so thats why I got it there. If I didn't have the credit, I would definitely check out Best Buy or Target.

 

Hmm.

[Romier S]

Yep, I got the artbook about a month ago too. It's smaller than I expected but it's still pretty nice. I've played through the PC demo several times and had some issues with the music selection and new attitude but considering the first game was one of my favorites from last year, I'm really looking forward to digging into this one tonight (after I hit 18 in World of Warcraft that is. ).

[JFo]

If the game is selling for $39.99 at Target, I will definitely be getting it there as soon as I can find it. I liked the first one, but the direction the new one is taking has put me off a bit. I'll probably get to it sometime after I finish off Viewtifu Joe 2 and Katamari Damacy.

[Dan B.]

Here are some review links for the game:

G-Spot: http://www.gamespot.com/xbox/action/princeofpersia2 (note that they scored the Xbox version a tenth of a point lower than the other versions due to sound glitches they experienced)

IGN: http://xbox.ign.com/articles/568/568731p1.html

 

Here's IGN's head-to-head comparison of the different versions: http://insider.ign.com/articles/569/569964p1.html

[FLYING SE7EN]

Some thoughts:

 

Really good so far, much more difficult than SOT. I'm about 3 hours into it and I've not seen any audio glitches which is cool. The game looks amazing (480p widescreen = :drool: ), and gameplay is tight. The combos are taking me a while to learn, since the combat has more depth, the enemies are more powerful and skilled at blocking than in SOT. This is mostly true of the minor bosses rather than your generic bad guys (who fall pretty easily so far).

 

Its a bit annoying that you don't start out with your time powers, you get them on the second or third level. But not having them during the first few stages makes the platforming a one wrong move and you're dead situation. I also find the way that you gain powers to be odd. Its not connected to the story, you just get a new one every level or 2 without much explanation. [scratches head]

 

Platforming and puzzle solving are just like the original and just as fun. The only strikes against it so far is the music (heavy metalish), the Prince's attitude (faux bad boy) and I kind of miss the story mechanic of SOT (narration, "No, thats not how it happened..." and so forth).

 

The online mode that I played a bit of was the time attack where you have to go through a level (original, not used in the single player) in a certain amount of time. Its pretty cool, but seems like a trial and error-fest. I haven't tried out the arena mode yet, so I cant comment on it.

 

Over all I give it an 9 out of 10 so far. If you liked the original, you'll like Warrior Within.

 

J.

[howiedo1n]

Is there any news on whether or not Ubi might offer this game with SOT in a Prince Package, similar to the older Clancy titles that just came out in a Clancy package?

[Romier S]

I was going to throw up some impressions of the game and I more than likely will when I move farther along but the guys at Penny Arcade summed up my thoughts on the combat portion of the game so well I wanted to repost a specific paragraph:

 

There's a new combat system now, but there's also way more combat, and it takes place all over, so whether or not it actually ceased being repetitive I couldn't tell you. Just as in the first one, I traverse the combat oriented areas so I can arrive at the next perfected, genre defining platform section. It is like ordering a pizza and getting a free walrus. Even if the walrus were excellent, I mean truly exemplary, I'm really not in the market for it and it's not why I ordered the pizza.

 

Perfect.

[Saurav]

I started it last night. A friend bought it and lent it to me (he'll be out of the country for the next month). So far I'm enjoying it, though there were several times when I wondered if I should have started the game on Easy. Especially right in the beginning - my first death occured within 30 seconds of having started the game. Some random thoughts so far:

 

* It seems more difficult than the last PoP. Especially the platforming and puzzles, it seems like they're a little more sadistic than they used to be, especially this early in the game.

 

* The combat is different, and I've faced a couple of bosses already (well, the same boss twice). So far the boss combat seems to be fairly pattern based - all I've done is block until the moment when I know I'll have an opening and then get in a couple of hits, and then repeat. Doesn't always work though, and I've died a lot.

 

* I read a review which said:

 

Even less compelling is the new, "mature" theme. Just like Jak II, Warrior Within has adopted a new faux-mature sensibility that is both shockingly banal and completely at odds with its predecessor. The Prince's wit has been extinguished, replaced with such snappy one-liners as, "You bitch!" The rest of the game follows suit, with blood shooting in geysers, breasts poking eyes out, and a single horrible Godsmack tune starting up at the most inappropriate times. T&A, gore and ultra-violence aren't necessarily bad things -- if they were, Hollywood would be dead -- but they seem laughable when ineptly shoehorned into a franchise that doesn't need them. Warrior Within makes a craven appeal to our presumed baser tastes, and just manages to look stupid in the process of pandering.

 

And I kinda agree, there are some gratuitous shots that didn't really need to be there. I put them down as character development though And I know I have a 15-year old's tastes. Anyway, in spite of the unnecessary T&A shots, I don't think the game is shallow at all. My comment would be that they made as deep a game as the last one, and added eye candy for the 15 year olds.

[Camp]

Yea, POP had a sense of class that this sequal seems to have forgotten about. I'm not put off by the content (hardly) but rather the developer's need to sell to the expectations of blood, sex, and 'mature' content.

 

and a single horrible Godsmack tune starting up at the most inappropriate times.

 

Is that who does that song? It's horrible. As is the bulk of the music I've experienced so far. This soundtrack belongs in a WWE game -not a POP game.

[Kain rising]

I loved the music from the first one, it's sad to hear that they completely butchered the soundtrack to the sequel.

[Saurav]

Spent some more time with this tonight. This is definitely starting to grow on me. The boss fights have gone from being frustrating to challenging. The graphics are pretty good. And I'm starting to not notice the weird music

[JFo]

When you get past the absurd lengths to which Ubisoft went to make it dark and edgy, Prince of Persia: Warrior Within is not really a bad game. It's just not a really good game either. In the world of motion pictures, I can think of a a lot of bad films that are really well made. In other words, the film may stink royal doodoo, but those responsible obviously know their craft to make something look slick. Warrior Within is a really well made bad game.

 

On the positive, this sequel to last year's highly acclaimed, but poor-selling Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time features many elements that made the first one so great. Namely, the platforming elements have been brought back in full force along with the stupendous controls that accompanied them. The levels make good use of the Prince's abilities to run, jump, climb, and swing through the air almost effortlessly. In fact, doing so is every bit as enjoyable as it was the first go round if not more. I say this because it allows you to momentarily forget about everything else that's wrong with this game.

 

Let's start with the new attitude. As we all know by now, Warrior Within sports a new look for our hero, the Prince, who is now cursed and doomed to die at the hands of a demon called the Dahaka. I actually think this is a great set up for a sequel, but the problem is that Ubisoft just went too damn far with their idea. The concept of making the sequel darker doesn't necessarily bother me. In fact, I rather liked the concept for Warrior Within. But, for God's sakes, they replaced the Arabian-tinted music of the original with bland heavy metal tracks! The Prince no longer talks to himself as he did before. Now, he just quips with his adversaries. He's doomed to die at the hands of the Dahaka, and we're doomed to hear him (and the enemies) repeat the same lines over and over again. There's no charm in this game. There's no magic in it. With The Sands of Time, I felt like I was in a fairy tale. Now, I feel like I'm trapped in some poorly-conceived action game. Ubisoft, if I want to play an action game, I'll pop in Ninja Gaiden.

 

Furthermore, it's obvious to me that this game needed several more weeks in development to polish various bugs and glitches. The most problematic issue (at least on the Xbox version I have) is the sound, which frequently stutters or cuts out. In fact, I had to rewatch to cinema scenes because the sound for both didn't play the first time through. I can't believe Ubisoft was allowed to release this game like this.

 

By the way, I do appreciate the expanded combat system. However, as Tycho from Penny Arcade said, it's the hippo that comes with the pizza. It's nice but not what I look for in these games. In fact the frequency of the fights irked me more than I can say here.

 

Anyway, there you have it. If you like the original, you'll probably find some value in this one. Just don't expect to walk away completely satisfied this time around.

[Dan B.]

The prince does still talk to himself actually...although rarely. I've noticed it 4 or 5 times so far...unless you're not hearing it due the audio glitches. The game is definitely buggy. I've had it freeze up on me 7 or 8 times so far...I'd guess I'm around halfway through the game.

 

And, I agree with you so far about the magic from the first game not being present, but I'll withhold final judgement until I finish the game.

[GrumpyElf]

I wonder if the skipping audio is a DVD pressing issue? I have the game, I just got through the clock-tower levels, and am at the Empress. Haven't had a single audio glitch yet... running through my 5.1 loudly, I'd know for sure if it glitched.

 

I do like the game, you're right, the "magic" is not here. But I love seeing a huge level and figuring out where to go... the gameplay is still there!

 

T.

[GrumpyElf]

There's a post about this in the general section as well, maybe they should be merged? I love it so far, I'm at the Empress, after the clock-tower, that was tough! I'm digging it though, it's harder, that's for sure, but I'm still addicted so far!

 

T.