Brutal Gamer

Prince of Persia: The Fallen King (DS) Review

By Zeth - February 3, 2009 - 12:18 UTC

So, I have just got through finishing Prince of Persia on the PS3 and, not wanting to start a fight with Viatrophy, I was left unimpressed. The art direction and music where spot on, the premise was promising but the fiddly control scheme and the broken combat left me feeling cheated of a great game. So, it was with 1 part fear and 1 part hope that I slipped the DS version in to the console.

The DS version follows a different story arc than it’s big brothers and as such acts as a “next chapter” of sorts. The prince is seeking the City of the New Dawn’s king to aid him in summoning Ormazd, which he is doing for Elika. As you progress you unleash the said King but your informed that the king has become corrupted by Ahriman. The magus, named Zal, then flees as well. As you continue your search for the king, you encounter Zal again. Zal agrees to join with the you in search of four pieces to a seal that will keep Ahriman at bay.

The graphics are a very pleasing aspect of the title. Like the large console cousins the art style has been re-worked and it seems to suit the game well enough. I would say that the look is a little “kiddie” but works in a Anime kinda-way. The characters and enemies are well animated and everything moves along smoothly and cleanly. there is the odd “chug” if you move further than the game anticipated you would be ie if you fall down a long way or a large gap. If this happens the screen pauses for a fraction to update the visual data below which is a little jarring but otherwise the visuals are top notch for a DS title. Character models and enemies are all suitably appropriate but never stretch to the weird creations of the PS3 and Xbox titles. You also only have a small number of enemies which repeat throughout the games, but hey, this is only DS title and for the medium the graphics worked well.

Gameplay is your standard Prince of Persia fare with a touch of “touch” This title reminds me more of the original Prince of Persia’s to play. Lots of chasm jumps, stilted sword fights with blocking and parrying. Spikes a plenty to deal with as well – in fact the only thing missing was the razor edged doors LOL. The game mechanics are the oddity though. instead of using the traditional D-Pad you use the touch interface instead. You touch the screen to move left and right, and move correspondingly. Speed of movement depends on distance from the character. To jump you tap the area you wish to jump too. This also allows you to scale walls etc. To do wall climbs you tap one side of the wall then the other. To fight you tap the enemy and you slash with the sword. A power hit is invoked my drawing a line across the enemy your trying to hit but it takes time to charge up. To block you hold the stylus over your character. It all works well enough but can lead to some seriously frustrating elements. You find yourself leaping for no reason or walking off the edge of something. Like wise you can spend a minute trying to make a simple jump. It can be a real joyous experience chaining moves together with the stylus but at other times it can be pure hell. The games plays well enough and boasts over 50 levels. With that said I finished the title in around 5 or so hours. Not bad for a DS game but unfortunately the game starts to get a little “old” long before the final curtain falls.

Sounds design, as on most DS titles, is limited. The title theme and in game music is appropriately middle eastern with a hint of the mystical. Sounds are used well with-in the game and each are clearly sampled and represented. What’s there is well used and of a suitably good quality. There is obviously no voice acting in the title but the story is conveyed well via static text cut scenes.

As mentioned before longevity is not too much of an issue as the 50 levels will keep you going for some times, but at 5 hours is it worth the asking price? Well Play.com have it for only £15 at the moment so I would say yes. I had some good fun playing the game and it is reasonable addictive and non-taxing that you will slip in to it for a few hours before you realize the time. I would say that you might not get along with the control scheme as I am sure many will find it too frustrating to deal with over time. I, personally got more Prince of Persia enjoyment out of this title than I did the full blown Prince of Persia on the PS3, but I think that was mainly down to nostalgic influences from the past titles. I will say that the collision detection verges on the broken at times but mostly it happens in your favor. There are the odd few moments where enemies of spinning blades will suddenly appear from nowhere next to you as you run and spell out instant death. This is not really an issue as you get multiple restart flags, several health points and infinite lives.

My suggestion, if you like Price of Persia titles in general and are open to trying the new control scheme then pick this up for sure. If your a little more cautious then it’s a rent at least.

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