Prince of Persia, The Two Thrones

Published on 30 Jun, 2006 @ 16h15
by X-Shutter

Category:
Jeu PC | test

Briefly

The +:

The difference in gameplay in comparison with past episodes.
The beauty of the game
The riddles
The numerous checkpoints

The -:

Strong graphic card required
Only one way to finish the game
Not too immersive

The Prince of Persia... a not-too-known before his tangle with The Sands of Time; a World celebrity ever since... is back with a new thrilling adventure in The Two Thrones.

New life is breathed into an already lively series by the "two" main characters (the Prince and his double). Expect a lot of 'butt-whooping' action scenes including some very realistic acrobatics and bodyspins.

The system requirements are a little heavy going for casual gamers; only the highest graphic level assures a fluid game, which of course requires a decent graphics card to achieve.

A slight downside; the Prince's path is very rigid, set objectives must be reached in a certain order, allowing little room for creative thinking. But the desire to continue leaves little time for complaint.

Final Mark: 8.5/10

The background to the game is, in itself, enthralling, although does remain secondary to the action.

In short: The Prince escorts Kaileena, the Empress of Time, to Babylon, discovering on arrival that the city has been invaded by the Vizier. When Kaileena is captured, the Prince attempts to rescue her. Close to success, he fails at the last obstacle and survives only with the help of his 'other'. (The 'other' was created as a result of the Prince's corruption by the sands of time.)

The Prince finds himself battling not only with the might of the Vizier, as he expected, but also with himself. (Of extra note would be the fact that Kaileena is the person narrating the Prince's journey. Also the continued quarrels between the Prince's twin spirits provide an increased awarenesss and insight into the game's characters.)

Riddles are also present in this latest episode, although vigilant players will be sure to spot the answers in the game itself. (Example, an extra passageway, an unnecessarily low rooftop)

The 'Quick Kill' option allows the player to execute a kill without being

spotted or to execute a 'combo' without being hurt.

The 'quick kill' option is a new addition to the Prince of Persia gameplay. It enables the player to attack without being seen or damaged by his opponent. However, if you manually interfere with the action at any time during a quick kill, the enemy will spot you and counter-attack. As with many thing; executing a perfect quick kill is a question of timing. (Extra tip: usuing the quick kill option is often the best way to attack the big uglies in the game.)

The Prince's double has the ability to possess the Prince's body in order to move him or save him during a hopeless situation. Physically, he is more powerful the the 'real' Prince, but he can only occupy the Prince's body for a short time. To gain extra time, you must find the 'sands of time' located in some objects or retrieve them from the corpses of slaughtered enemies. The double does not appear in the game until the end of the tutorial.

One of the few ways (I am not going to give away the whole game) to exorcise the double from the Prince's body is to locate water. Although, thanks to the developers cunning foresight you should not have too much trouble: water is located practically everywhere throughout the whole game. (Which again gives a clue to the rigidity of the game plot.)

During fights, the Prince can use his dagger (with the addition of a chain in 'double' mode), plus one weapon which can be retreived from the corpse of an enemy or weapons cabinet.

Only the 'real' Prince can retreive extra weapons but they can be especially useful and fun to use. (Especially the dagger/flail combo!)

Big uglies - or Bosses - are obligatory to any SP game and can represent a real challenge. Fortunately, there aren't too many of them around, but the urge to wipe them out will drive you ever-forwards on your quest.

As I said, the quick kill is often the most effective way to bump them off. However since they are usually heavily guarded and waiting for you, it might be better to save your quick kill for an unexpected combo mid-fight. (Example: for a really important Big Boss, try jumping on his head before executing a quick kill.. and watch his head roll. Fun, if a little gory.)
A small disapointment would be the repatitiveness of fights, having to repeat the same action many times to deliver a fatal blow to an enemy can rob you of a small ammount of excitement.

Enemies are many and varied throughout the game and part of the game's attraction is in finding the right way to kill them all. (For example, basic guardians must be fought face to face; bowmen must be attacked from behind or you will risk the threat of an arrow to the head; dogs should just be kicked as soon as they open their mouths) It keeps the game interesting and even if you do not immediately succeed in finding the right way to bring death to all attackers, perseverance will usually win in the end.

Above, the first boss. Below, a checkpoint.

Checkpoints are numerous and often well located (not always, but often) Another slight downside to the game would be the absence of checkpoints after long periods of progression.

Invisible checkpoints - which automatically save your progress in the event of death - are usually present. But if you leave the game for some reason, you will begin once more from the last physically-activated checkpoint.

Another amusing feature in the game worthy of attention is the Chariot Race, which is actually less like a race and more a level to be completed. Part of the objective is to lead your horses through cities and valleys, racing against an jostling your enemies as you go.

Unfortunately, it wasn't completely integrated into the game as much as players may wish; but may be something to watch out for in future PoP episodes.

There are two kinds of bonus system integrated into the game.

The first, the ingame bonuses which will help you to progress. They are optional, however is you want the 'jackpot' at the game's completion, you will have to find them all. This is not an easy task, some of them are very well hidden. This bonus system works in a smilar way to the checkpoints: leading you onward in the game. However, unlike the checkpoints, rather than being given glimpses of attractive, de-stressing graphics, the bonuses lead to trap-lined paths which you must navigate in order to increse your life 'bar'.

The second bonus system can be found in the game's principal menu. The more Sands Credits (which can be collected along with the sands of tims ingame) you collect, the more bonus points you will recieve. These bonuses could be extra videos (some of these are very amusing) , increased ingame cinematics features or concept art (illuatrations, wallpapers, etc).

If you can collect a certain number of credits, you will even be able to view a picture of F... (oops, I almost revealed smething I shouldn't have. Just play the game and see!)

Below, the end of an in-game bonus

The Prince possesses three main powers; Turning Back Time (which is usefull if you find yourself hurtling downwards through space), Slowing (useful to reach closing doors before they slam in your face) and the Wind of Sands (which will blow over even powerful enemies and may kill weaker uglies.. but will do nothing to the Big Boss.)

With each use, one or both Sands tanks become empty and must be refilled by once again collecting Sands of Time.

Graphically, the game is attractive enough to compete with any modern game. The graphics are impressive (most especially a certain ingame scene which closely resembled "The Lord Of The Rings"). Unfortunately, many objects and textures in the game are sloppy. (most notably, the Prince's first dagger and some character limbs.)

This game requires a high standard video card, although does not ask too much from the rest of your system.

Ingame sound effects are nice, but not awesome and unfortunately the soundtrack can become very annoying. (Not enough variety.)

The most interesting aspect of this game is possibly the Prince's ability to access all game areas. Although there is only one path which can be followed if you hope to progress, he must find it first. Quite often finding this 'one true path' can involve some interesting acrobatics and a lot of guesswork.

Don't be afraid to rely on your powers, they are there to help you!

Below is a list of ingame videos to give you some indication of the fun you could be having if you bought this game too! Don't forget to make your own!

-fight with the Dark Prince (8,72 MB)

-fight with the Prince (11,6 MB)

-chariots-race (16,1 MB)

-one time with the Dark Prince (5,95 MB)

-first quick kill (18,1 MB) (no too visible, but it is there)

-second quick kill (11,3 MB) (very visible this time)

-Turning Back Time power (5,98 MB)

And some more screenshots..