Aspirations, thoughts, and Operator overloading

Well, I did it (mostly without help): I beat Prince of Persia 2008, aka PoP 4.

I first heard about the game and wasn’t too interested as I hadn’t played any of the PoP games before and didn’t think I was into the Action Adventure genre. Then I heard about the DRM – word was there wasn’t any in the retail copy.

So I bought it to support Ubisoft’s efforts at publishing DRM-free games and was amazed at the production value: The sound, the art, the experience, I didn’t realize what I had been missing from the series.

The things that really stood out for me about this game:

• The art style. I had no idea cell shading could be so gorgeous.
• The level design. The areas where you face off against the alchemist were amazing.
• The “Elika, save me!” ability. This struck me as cheap to start with, but i was impressed after a while at how much this kept the game flowing.
• How intuitive the controls were with an XBox360 controller.

There are some things I’d have to critique though:

SPOILER WARNING!

• Conversations between the price and Elika. When cleansing the Concubine’s tower, the two begin to grow close, but in another general’s area they seem to be really distant, as if the previous time spent together didn’t happen. It’s almost like you were given the freedom to go anywhere you wished, but the storyline expects you to go a particular direction. This was jarring at times.
• Timing for some areas, such as when you’re running from Ahriman and trying to make it to a plate before he drowns you with corruption. The first one and later ones are easy enough, but there is one that even if you’re a little off, you’ll be forced to start over back at the last platform. I had to do that one almost 20 times to get it right. Just one second more leeway and it would have never stood out.
• The ending. Just like the remarks Sean had, the prince did not appear to be devastated enough to make the choice that he ends up making. He really should have been depicted as losing his mind before it happened.
• The timing required for some counter attacks, and how the buttons didn’t relate to the action needed. One example would be your enemy has you pinned to the ground with a sword pushing towards your face. You have your own sword against his and are pushing back. To successfully push him back you’d think maybe using your glove, or maybe the sword button would be needed. Yeah, maybe sometimes, but sometimes it’s the jump button or the Elika button. This could be unintuitive at times.

With all that said, I really enjoyed it and don’t regret being a early buyer at all. I don’t recall having any technical issues and once it was installed, I could put my disc away without any worries it would get messed up. I highly recommend this game to anyone who is a fan of the action adventure genre, and at the current price, even to those that haven’t given it a shot. At it’s current price of $15, you really can’t go wrong.

I just finished the demo for Defense Grid; that was yet another awesome game I’ve played lately. After playing beating the demo Friday night I bought it for $9.99 + shipping from Amazon. The demo was reason enough, but finding out the non-Steam copy doesn’t have DRM was a decision maker for me.

Prince of Persia might be a new release, it might be hyped as a NODRM game, and going by the reactions from anti-DRM proponents it could be a great seller, but where is it? I see it online at Amazon, Toys”R”Us and other online retailers (such as NewEgg.com), but I couldn’t find it locally at Walmart, Target or Toys “R” Us over the weekend.

If you don’t see it in the retail stores, you’re really hurting sales. I saw Assassins’s Creed and Far Cry 2 though (two other Ubisoft titles), so I know Ubisoft sells through those stores.

Weird. It’s almost like they want this experiment to fail? I wouldn’t think so, but it does seem a little odd.

Edit: I also found it for $30 or less at CD Universe.

Edit #2: Perhaps the hold up is due to the game just being released last week? I’ll check those stores again late this week to see if they’ve arrived yet. In the meantime, I may go ahead and order through CD Universe; the Target option via Amazon.com seems to have disappeared.

Edit #3: Found it on Walmart.com and GoGamer.com for $30 or less.

I had some uplifting news come across my feed reader today. Now granted it wasn’t anything as spectacular as a war ending, the economy righting itself (mine might be worsened by $30-$50 actually) or other dancing in the street worthy celebration.

Instead, it was a somewhat quiet revelation that a new retail release (digital download copy still has DRM) in a popular franchise is DRM free. What’s the game?

Prince of Persia, from Ubisoft. Yeah, that’s right. The same Ubisoft that DRM’d the hell out of Far Cry 2. I had no idea this was coming.

That’s right, if you buy the retail copy, you’ll get a DRM-free game and likely at a good price. Amazon (via Target) and Toys”R”Us currently have it priced at $30 USD. Other online retailers (such as NewEgg.com) are $40 and up, but they may also come down once they take a look around.

Metacritic.com currently has it rated at 86/100 and with only 2 days since the release, Ubisoft’s goal of PoP reaching a score in the 9s seems feasible.

From Metacritic.com:

Set in a land rooted in ancient Persian mythology, the Prince finds himself caught in an epic battle between the primal forces of light and darkness: the God of Light, Ormazd versus his brother Ahriman, the destructive God of Darkness. The Prince arrives just in time to witness the destruction of the legendary Tree of Life – an act which threatens to plunge the entire world into eternal darkness. Manifested in the form of the Corruption, a dark substance that physically contaminates the land and the skies, the Prince must partner with Elika, a deadly companion, to heal the world from the evil Corruption.

I don’t think I’ve ever played the Prince of Persia series before, but I’m off to download a bunch of trailers to make my mind up. I’m almost 90% sure I’m going to get this to support Ubisoft in this decision.

The system requirements don’t look too crazy; they’re pretty standard for recent releases. If your system is several years old though …

Edit: Shacknews just stumbled across the news.