Prince of Persia Classic Review

Instead of recapping the same old news that probably bombards all of you gamers out there as it is, today I will be reviewing a game that I recently had the time to complete. That game is Prince of Persia Classic from XBOX Live Arcade, by Gameloft. When comparing the XBLA version of the game against the classic PC version, there has been some obvious improvements in terms of graphics, sound, animation, and even the physics of the gameplay.




The top image is from POP the original PC version, and the screenshot below is from POP Classic on XBLA.

Graphically, the new version of the game is intense. The backgrounds are well-designed and balanced throughout the game. The color palette chosen for the game varies just enough to keep the scenery interesting throughout the whole game.

The animations throughout the game are smooth and consistently accurate to the physics of the game's world. The Prince transitions well from walking to running to jumping to rolling. Swordplay is varied as the Prince attacks with a variety of different moves despite being a single attack button.

Speaking of the controls, the control design for this game is redundant but efficient. After playing a couple of levels in the game, I began entrusting my jumping and rolling to the same left analog stick that I was using to move the Prince left and right across the levels. This provided much better control and transitions than using the A button for jumping and the B button for diving rolls or descending platforms. While platforming, I tended to use R as a brake for the Prince, as it works well to stop him almost immediately from a full run to a dead stop. Holding R will allow him to creep along, offering more control for those right-next-to-the-deadly-drop moments common in this game. During combat, the L- and R-triggers gave me finer control over the Prince's blocks and attacks, respectively, than the X- and A-buttons. I could react faster with the triggers than with the buttons.

The sound, while not of Hollywood blockbuster quality, suffices and even excels for an XBLA title. The surround sound provides subtle and ominous undertones throughout the game. Details are there, including the sound of the waterfalls on certain levels and the subtle tapping of the Prince's footsteps as you race through the levels.

The addition of the Time Attack and Survival modes add replayability to a game that seems so one-off-ish. POP Classic sets a time goal of one hour to save the princess. It is possible to do so beyond the hour time limit, as I have yet to beat the game in one hour, although I foresee it in the near future.

Overall, I suggest this game to any fan of action/adventure games. The production quality is excellent, especially for a $10 game (excuse me, 800 MS-point game) off of XBLA. It is on par with the quality of Assault Heroes, of which I have yet to play the sequel. It is far beyond many of the other rehashes of classic games available on XBLA.

AMD Game! Initiative

AMD has partnered up with some other major players (Logitech, Microsoft, Alienware, Dell, HP, and others) in the PC gaming hardware arena to simplify the consumers' search for gaming-compatible PCs. Essentially, they're arguing that 2/3rds of all PCs that were sold last year were not capable of running current-generation games and that this travesty has to stop. I blame their choices of video cards. Yes, it keeps the pricing of computers down, but when you go to Best Buy a lot of gamers want to buy a PC capable of running current and upcoming games at least decently well. A choice would be nice, as well. Meaning, the stores and brands have to offer AT LEAST two models capable of playing games. I applaud this initiative and I hope it builds upon the PC gaming experiences in the near and far future. See this article for more information.

New ZeroPunctuation Review: GTAIV

Watch the new Zero Punctuation review of GTA IV!

GRID demo online

For those of you that don't know, the GRID demo is now available for download via Playstation Network and XBL. I got my hands on the PS3 version of the demo, and I must say, for someone that loves racing games and plays them quite a bit, this demo is difficult on the regular difficulty. Despite the steep learning curve, the game shows a ton of promise. The physics constantly keep the player in check. On the BMW touring level, damage plays a huge role in how your car handles. Also, once your car slides off the track into the dirt, it is likely you will completely lose control and spin out in a plethora of unintended directions, with beautiful clouds of dirt swirling around your vehicle. Yes, the screenshots that we have all seen from this game (some below) really show some beautiful images. And yes, the game looks even better in motion! If you haven't yet, download the demo now and play it a couple of times. It's worth it!

Gears of War 2!!!

For all you game fanatics, I'm sure you are aware that Epic is planning to release GOW2 for this holiday season, chock full of fantastic new technology that allows all sorts of cool gameplay. Check out some gameplay footage below:

Metal Gear Solid 4

It's been a couple of weeks, but I'm back and ready to keep you all up to date on all of the gaming goodness that interests me. Right now, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is looking better than any other MGS to date. According to Kojima, the camera issues have been eliminated for this installment. My major gripe with the series is the unrelenting stress that the camera angles would induce upon the player. Instead of having a free-flowing third-person camera behind the avatar, the previous MGS games had a much less user-friendly camera setup. If that issue is fixed, I bet this game is the best out on the PS3 this year (with some stiff competition from SOCOM and Resistance 2).

Check out the video, courtesy of Gamespot:

Sierra's on a roll!

Sierra appears to be on a roll with the new games! Prototype looks fantastic, and hopefully it will provide hours of open-world fun and superhuman abilities that I enjoyed with Crackdown on the 360. Here's a couple of links to previews: at Gamespot, at 1up, and at IGN.

Bad news is that Prototype is scheduled to release on June 15th, which is three days after Metal Gear Solid 4.

Who YOU gonna call?

Despite all of the GTAIV mayhem that's occurring nationwide this week, I'm still looking at other games that interest me and I've found a great video of an interview with the president of Terminal Reality, Mark Randall. Terminal Reality, as it turns out, is developing the new Ghostbusters game for Sierra.