๐ข PRINE! IT IS I! YOUR LONG LOST BROTHER! ๐ข
Excuse me, who? ๐ค
Did anyone ask for this game? I did? Well, upon receiving it I will have to resend my request, sir! I'm sorry... This game checked none of the boxes required to be a good game, let alone a good Prince of Persia game. Yes, folks, it's gonna be one of those types of columns.
And soโ๏ธ In this edition of Through the Lens ๐, we'll be taking a look at Ubisoft Montreal's attempted second franchise reboot from 2010: Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, โ๏ธ
(this game should have never been made, oh well)
Roll it! ๐ฝ
https://images.ecency.com/DQmVGHD6Xb9X9NeNCjhcDXptYxepp13qc3CR5ZeaTu3Vvd3/elegant_up.png
๐ท UP TOP ๐ถ
Out of all of the Prince of Persia soundtracks, this one has to be the least inspired. And that is a sequence of words that I can probably use in each game statement I make - least inspired. The soundtrack sounds generic with some minor Prince of Persia influences. As you can see the duo composers that did all our previous Prince of Persia soundtracks are no longer with us in this one. Hence the misalignment between the soundtrack and the franchise.
Pound of pound this is not a bad soundtrack, it's just... bland, uninspired, and boring. And honestly, if you're those things then it's better to have not made a soundtrack at all. Just think about it: soundless game. ๐ฎ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-i_XkuJgjr8
I played this game for a total of 2 hours before dropping it in disgust. While the years have made the previous Prince of Persia more tolerable and even enjoyable to me, this one just... has become worse in my mind. ๐
Let's explore what led to the making of such a title, and why nobody should've expected anything from it in the first place.
https://images.ecency.com/DQmVGHD6Xb9X9NeNCjhcDXptYxepp13qc3CR5ZeaTu3Vvd3/elegant_up.png
๐ท MARKETING ๐ถ
Let's reiterate: This game had no business seeing the light of day. Plain and simple. ๐ฏ As to the why, let's do a mid-dive into the whole affair. // A mid-dive is somewhere between a deep dive and a glance. You're welcome.
This game wasn't Ubisoft's return to a loving franchise as I so naively thought. The story and placement of it might make you think so, but then you look at the release schedule and everything starts to make sense. This game was a cash grab for the Prince of Persia movie, and it wasn't the only one. ๐ญ
There were 4 Prince of Persia games released with the same name around the same time. These are 4 completely different types of games for different systems (PSP, Wii, DS, PC). They are all called Forgotten Sands, and they are all vastly different from one another. Who thought this was a good idea I'm sure has been fired by now... because yikes! ๐ฌ
Every Prince of Persia release from 2010 served nothing but to hurt the overall brand of the franchise. Nothing good came out of 2010, all my homies hate 2010. ๐ค
https://images.ecency.com/DQmVGHD6Xb9X9NeNCjhcDXptYxepp13qc3CR5ZeaTu3Vvd3/elegant_up.png
๐ท HALF BAKED ๐ถ
The big wigs said we want 4 Prince of Persia games of the same name released around the time of our very mid-movie (it was definitely mid, and not outright bad, the PoP movie that is, at least IMHO). How do you think the executive decision was met? Well, obviously by 4 unfinished titles.
It's clear this required more time in the oven to bake. This game has some cool ideas in it, but none of them get to shine because none of them are fully implemented. And that's a shame. It is also clear, that some design decisions were made to save on time and cost, because, well, there 4 other titles in development. // That will never stop being a dumb idea.
One of said mechanics was the untold amount of enemies on the screen. Skeletal, boring, lifeless enemies. Generic and uninteresting. I remember Ubisoft using this in their marketing campaign as if they have perfected their engine and can now have an ungodly amount of enemies on the screen. In truth, this served to dumb down the combat system and physics engine requirements.
Not that there's anything wrong with Dynasty Warriors, but it's a franchise on an entirely different sphere than Prince of Persia.
https://images.ecency.com/DQmVGHD6Xb9X9NeNCjhcDXptYxepp13qc3CR5ZeaTu3Vvd3/elegant_up.png
๐ท UNINSPIRED ๐ถ
You can apply the chapter heading to every element of this game. The prince suddenly has a long-lost brother that we've never known about throughout the lifecycle of the trilogy. Moreover, this brother is ruling a kingdom(?) and he releases an evil curse that turns everyone into sand demons(???) hello? what are we doing here?
But that aside, the story is not the only uninspired element. The maps went from vivid and interesting to spacious and boring. The most interesting part of Prince of Persia was the combat sequences, and now those are just button-mashing nonexperiences. ๐ฐ
The most interesting element of the new mechanics is the element's manipulation. Where you can turn water into ice to run over areas of the wall for instance. But even that is used more as a catch than an inspiring element; it is used more as a way to excuse the bland level design than to enhance it. By the by, I have no idea how such an interesting gameplay concept was used so blandly.
Oh well...
https://images.ecency.com/DQmVGHD6Xb9X9NeNCjhcDXptYxepp13qc3CR5ZeaTu3Vvd3/elegant_up.png
๐ท LEGACY ๐ถ
Another one of those titles that is highly forgettable in every way, An executive made this game, and while there certainly were hard-working passionate developers working on it, they never had a chance to stretch their wings...
For a lot of people, me included, this game is not in the official Prince of Persia canon,. And by the fan outrage, I highly suspect Ubisoft will just retcon it, or act as if it never existed.
It's sad because there were good ideas here, but most of it was just uninspired junk. A quick cash-in for the minuscule return to the public spotlight of the franchise during the release cycle of the movie.
If anything, this game's legacy is ruining the franchise's legacy. ๐
Shout-out to the ๐PIZZA๐ gang, ๐ค gang. ๐ค
Maaaannn, I hate doing articles like this so much. I wish I could just write gush pieces all the time, but this one was inevitable. Maybe it hurts more because I was anticipating it - same voice actor, same timeline. I thought we were seeing a return to form! When in fact we saw an even bigger divide... oh well...
๐ Follow me on my HIVE blog ๐
I hope you are having an amazing week! ๐
Return from Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands ๐ฝ Through the Lens to ะะพัะบะพ's Web3 Blog
