New Prince of Persia This Year

[Gorvi]

1UP (http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3167597) brings official word that we'll be seeing another game in the popular Prince of Persia series later this year.
We already knew the next Prince of Persia game was coming sometime before March 31, 2009, and last week we learned it might be called Prince of Persia Prodigy. Now yet another small trickle of information has been released, as Ubisoft announced today that the new Prince of Persia game will be released this holiday season for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. Additionally, a new Prince of Persia game is in the works for the Nintendo DS as well.

Development duties are once again being handled by Ubisoft Montreal -- makers of Assassin's Creed -- with the same team that created the trilogy of Prince of Persia games for last-gen consoles, including Sand's of Time, Warrior Within, and The Two Thrones. Not many more details were released, other than the press release promising a "new breed of gameplay" and a "brand-new illustrative art style." It's going to be pretty new, is what they're getting at.
Another game to look forward to this Fall. Good stuff.

[Baron Samedi]

I'm guessing another divide. Some will love it, others hate it; all in all, it will sell several million copies from which Ubi-soft can finance their next Prince/Assassin/Badass Acrobat from the Past knock off.

Now where's my cookie?

[Variable Gear]

Obviously, this one will have a cel-shaded or painted look.

[GigaFuzz]

More like Sands of Time please, hopefully with the quality of Assassin's Creed.

[Dr.Finger]

Hells yeah. I loved the PoP trilogy (even Warrior Within was good, although not as good as Sands)

[Spigot]

Please be more like Sands or Two Thrones and a LOT less like Warrior Within...

[H.Bogard]

More like Sands of Time please, hopefully with the quality of Assassin's Creed.

God no!

Free roaming levels without purpose ≠ Fun!
Just make a prettier Sands of Time and you have a million or two in sales.

[Mr.Green]

God no!

Free roaming levels without purpose ≠ Fun!
Just make a prettier Sands of Time and you have a million or two in sales.

AC had a lot of problems but leaving the player without a goal wasn't one of them.

[Generation ABXY]

God no!

Free roaming levels without purpose ≠ Fun!
Just make a prettier Sands of Time and you have a million or two in sales.

Isn't that what he's asking for? He said Sands of Time with the quality - which I assume to mean polish - of Assassin's Creed...

[axion]

Awesomeness, the original was one of the first games I played on PC back in the day, when I was like 3 years old. I own all the new ones as well, so I can't wait.

[Spigot]

Awesomeness, the original was one of the first games I played on PC back in the day, when I was like 3 years old. I own all the new ones as well, so I can't wait.I thought for a second that you meant Sands Of Time and I was about to ask just how old you were :)

[H.Bogard]

Isn't that what he's asking for? He said Sands of Time with the quality - which I assume to mean polish - of Assassin's Creed...

I guess I'm biased against AC here. I'll keep it to myself now.

[Switcher]

http://i25.tinypic.com/xba5fq.jpg

[Spigot]

Maybe we can have MORE chariot races :blarg:

[axion]

I thought for a second that you meant Sands Of Time and I was about to ask just how old you were :)

Yeah way back in the '03, what a good year, potty training AND a new PoP :p.

[menage]

Negative: Sigh, even more games to (maybe:P) buy. Does it ever end.

Positive: HELL YEAH.

Although a new game this year without having seen anything can only mean 2 things. Or we're finally getting rid of previews 3 years ahead of time. Or this is being put together way too fast.

[Froggy]

I love PoP and Assasin's Creed for what they are. But I can't say I haven't tried to wall run in AC a few times. Um, why can't the badass assasin swim?
Maybe PoP has a bit more engaging combat. But I could be wrong? What do you think? I keep feeling like I'm just doig it wrong in AC.

[GigaFuzz]

Isn't that what he's asking for? He said Sands of Time with the quality - which I assume to mean polish - of Assassin's Creed...

Indeed, that's what I meant. Sands of Time gameplay, with the graphical quality, animation, polish and probably free-running aspect of AC. Not the open-city, mini-mission gameplay of AC.

[Wackman3000]

To me I thought that AC was the spiritual successor to the PoP games but I would be all for another trek as the prince.

[axion]

I love PoP and Assasin's Creed for what they are. But I can't say I haven't tried to wall run in AC a few times. Um, why can't the badass assasin swim?
Maybe PoP has a bit more engaging combat. But I could be wrong? What do you think? I keep feeling like I'm just doig it wrong in AC.
As for the swimming, I'd imagine chain mail (I'm guessing he wears some underneath), robes, swords, and knives end up weighing you down quite a bit which would make it hard to swim.

[Spigot]

Um, why can't the badass assasin swim?
Adding the ability to swim was what made San Andreas my favourite GTA game. Why more games keep giving you these badass protagonists and have them insta-die if they so much as get their big toe wet drives me nuts.

[axion]

Adding the ability to swim was what made San Andreas my favourite GTA game. Why more games keep giving you these badass protagonists and have them insta-die if they so much as get their big toe wet drives me nuts.
But it sucked to fall into the water in GTA only to have to spend minutes swimming back to shore...

[Spigot]

But it sucked to fall into the water in GTA only to have to spend minutes swimming back to shore...I humbly disagree. At least I had a chance to survive if I accidentally missed getting in to a boat or drove off a cliff or something. Sometimes I'd use the fact that I could swim as a tactic.

I can understand that it doesn't fit for every situation in every game, but touching water should not instantly kill you. We're rarely playing as the Wicked Witch Of The West.

At least have something like the way it works in Viking, where you can wade out a bit and then your health starts to sap if you can't make it back to shore in time. In the one mission in AC where you're out on the docks, I should have been able to at least snag the side of one of those pilings and pulled myself up. I understand that Altair probably had a bunch of junk on him but give him a few seconds to try to stay afloat!

[axion]

Well maybe they could have compromised, put you back on the land where you fell off with slightly less health or something (in GTA and AC). I understand the usefulness in GTA because you'd fail the mission in VC if you fell in the water, but I still found it sometimes annoying in SA.

[T-Rex Commando]

More story-telling like in Sands of Time and Two Thrones, and I'm happy. Warrior Within and AC were so awful, I couldn't even believe they were made by the same team that did SoT and TT.

[axion]

What did you find so awful about AC? Just curious. I know it isn't perfect, but it does a lot of stuff really well.

[Froggy]

This is anecdotal, but oh well. In water polo, we had to drain a five gallon jug of water while treading water. At any rate, I'd like to consider myself less hardcore than Altair. I mean, he seems to climb and kill alright in his gear, maybe he could pickpocket some water wings.

[mister_slim]

Hire Jordan Mechner.

[Euclid]

I like to think AC was a test bed to build an advanced locomotion/animation system that would fuel the next PoP game. I played AC only for a few hours and the whole time all I was thinking is how well this engine will work to make PoP kickass.

[Wedge]

other than the press release promising a "new breed of gameplay"

New breed?! Moar liek new creed!!!1

[Earth Djinn]

I absolutely adored the original trilogy, particularly Sands of Time.

I'm totally ready for a new PoP game, and I just hope they don't feel the need to radically change the formula, though in the end all I really demand of it is excellent platforming. If that is in there, I can probably deal with anything else they put in.

[sflufan]

Here are some details from a translation in the French magazine Joypad kindly translated by Ether_Snake at NeoGaf:

- Prince feels Amano-inspired. Looks like a celluloid/animated character (a bit like SFIV). The style itself is still in progress.
- Corrupted world needs to be healed.
- Story is much more "1001 Nights"-like, more fantasy, less grounded in reality but instead more magical yet still credible, more poetic.
- Player must unleash light-wells to heal the corrupted world, which shoots light into the sky, reminiscent of SotC and Okami.
- The transformation of the world is in real-time, with plants growing back to life as the world heals back and as the player can still move, instead of a mere cutscene, sky changes back to its normal color, etc., to give a strong sense of control and success to the player.
- No more time rewind and such.
- They are no making a second Assassin's Creed, they are making a new PoP.
- Art style was difficult pass through the management, but they never refused it, and eventually loved it.
- Story specifically: Orhmaz and Arhiman, twin gods, one good one evil, celestial battle, Orhmaz locks Arhiman away in a box which he hides into an faraway oasis deep within a desert. Centuries pass, and comes a troublesome thief (the prince) and Arhiman is freed somehow (not deep explanation given). Prince must undo his mistake. This is what they refer to as a more "1001 Nights" kind of story, like a fable.
- More open/organic environments. Has a Zelda-esque feel, old-school in themes.
- Bosses/player use backgrounds during fights (one shot shows an enemy pushing the prince against a wall as if trying to choke him, or another throwing him in the air).
- Game went through a few iterations; originally too open (felt big but not enough to do), at one point it was more like Assassin as far as open world (going where you want), but players would get lost and wander aimlessly and dynamism suffered as a result. Now instead it is more focussed with a clear road, but multiple paths can be taken (free to move from one map to another, back and forth, etc., more open than previous PoPs).
- The demo map shown to the journalist, old of a few months, has been scrapped design-wise because it was too Assassin-like, now it's more fantasy design-wise.
- Game world is made of nodes connected by paths, and you can go from one node to another as you wish (this is what they mean by less open, but non-linear; you can see the paths, but you don't have to going from A to B to C). The game adapts as a result (enemies from later visited locations might be more difficult, etc., for example zone A might be more difficult if you access it at the end, but if you accessed it at the beginning then it is easier, even bosses, depending on what order you fight them, adapt as such).
- Prince can slide along any walls using his glove. Game is as much vertical as horizontal.
- Prince has more possibilities of movement.
- Bosses inspired by MGS' boss quality; they are fewer but they have a story, a reason to be, they leave more of an impression on the player. Some are former nobles, sometimes acting against their will.
- They wondered if they should make just more enemies and try to do a God of War game and try to beat it on its own ground, or go for something different. They went with fewer enemies instead and a new combat style. Combats are duels. You can see the expression on the faces of the characters/bosses. Movement/action in fights is more like Advent Children, more cinematic in presentation.
- 140 people working on it, more to come, people from many projects.

And a screenshot:

http://media.insidegamer.nl/dump/1209461691.jpg

[menage]

That pic doesn't look like I hoped it would. Although the duel aspect could be interesting.

I really don't want to fight that much in a PoP. I just want to scale, climb and plummet. Enjoy the view.

[Variable Gear]

Is that a screenshot, though? Looks more like the official art if you ask me...

Well, if that is a screenie it looks like this came true.
Obviously, this one will have a cel-shaded or painted look.

[menage]

You used the sands of time I suppose:p

[sflufan]

From what I understand, it's a screenshot from the Joypad article.

[Variable Gear]

- Prince feels Amano-inspired. Looks like a celluloid/animated character (a bit like SFIV). The style itself is still in progress.
- Corrupted world needs to be healed.
- Story is much more "1001 Nights"-like, more fantasy, less grounded in reality but instead more magical yet still credible, more poetic.
- Player must unleash light-wells to heal the corrupted world, which shoots light into the sky, reminiscent of SotC and Okami.
- The transformation of the world is in real-time, with plants growing back to life as the world heals back and as the player can still move, instead of a mere cutscene, sky changes back to its normal color, etc., to give a strong sense of control and success to the player.
- Art style was difficult pass through the management, but they never refused it, and eventually loved it.
- More open/organic environments. Has a Zelda-esque feel, old-school in themes.
Honestly, all of that makes it sound like this is going to be the PoP version of Okami. Which I could get behind.

I liked the platforming elements of Sands of Time (the only modern PoP I've played), but the fights were just so uninteresting. I'm hoping that the new duel elements give a great deal of depth to each fight. I'd like to see more games (like Ninja Gaiden and God of War, for example) walk down this path instead of rushing the player with tons of enemies.

[Spigot]

So this won't really have anything to do with the Time trilogy then, eh? Interesting...

[Dukefrukem]

More like Sands of Time please, hopefully with the quality of Assassin's Creed.

don't you mean, "more like Two Thrones"?

[menage]

don't you mean, "more like Two Thrones"?

Why would he. Sands has gotten the most respect from virtually anyone. Well, maybe not the consumer:P

[GigaFuzz]

don't you mean, "more like Two Thrones"?

PoP games I've finished:
Sands of Time

PoP games I've not finished:
Warrior Within
The Two Thrones

That should say something. Not that TTT is a bad game, far from it. I just never got around to finishing it. I think I'm pretty near the end though. Funnily enough, Sands of Time is also the only one I didn't pay for. It came with my graphics card.

[DaXIthR]

Overall, I'd have to say Two Thrones was the best of the trilogy. The platforming was close to Sands of Time, and the combat was far and away the best in the series, especially the implementation of the one-hit kills. Also, sneaking upon enemies was fun.

I don't mind the art style at all.

Multiple paths is fine, but I hope it doesn't get to a point where they have to give you a map. Too often, maps break flow, and fluidity is a big deal in PoP games.

[Spigot]

I loved Sands but I agree that The Two Thrones is my favourite... aside from the chariot races... blarg

[H.Bogard]

I loved Sands but I agree that The Two Thrones is my favourite... aside from the chariot races... blarg

... why!?

Two Thrones was nothing more than an Apology from UbiSoft for Warrior Within. It was nowhere near as blissful an experience to me as SoT was when I first played it.

[Sir Kodiak]

- They are no making a second Assassin's Creed, they are making a new PoP.

I assume this is saying that this game is not a sequel to Assassin's Creed, not that they're never making a sequel to Assassin's Creed. I thought AC sold really well, and they clearly set themselves up for a sequel, so I'd be very surprised - and pretty disappointed - if we didn't get one eventually. There were definitely some problems with AC, but nothing that couldn't be easily fixed in a sequel.

[Baron Samedi]

... why!?

Two Thrones was nothing more than an Apology from UbiSoft for Warrior Within. It was nowhere near as blissful an experience to me as SoT was when I first played it.

SoT = win. Playing TT reminded me of how much better GoW is at combat.

[Spigot]

... why!?

Two Thrones was nothing more than an Apology from UbiSoft for Warrior Within. It was nowhere near as blissful an experience to me as SoT was when I first played it.While Sands of Time was charming, The Two Thrones just felt more epic. They're both great games but I liked the Dark Prince and the crazy chain swinging levels in Two Thrones and, as I said before, it just felt more epic.

My hatred for Warrior Within knows no bounds though. It had a few really cool ideas and if done VERY differently might have been a good natural progression of the series. Instead it was... well, words fail me.

For me, The Two Thrones WAS the game that Warrior Within should have been and that's also why I enjoyed it so much.