Game Analysis of Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones - Essay Example

Name: xxxxxxxxxxx Course: xxxxxxxxxxx Institution: xxxxxxxxxxx Title: Computer Game Analysis and Critique: Genre. Game: Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones Developer: Ubisoft Montreal Release: December 2005 Date: 29 July, 2011 Game Analysis of Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones Game Overview Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones is the third and final part of the Sands of Time series in the Prince of Persia video game franchise. It is an action adventure game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and first released in December 2005 in North America on various video game platforms such as Xbox, PlayStation 2 and for Microsoft Windows PC (Bueno 2005). Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones is a continuation and conclusion to the storyline in the two previous games in The Sands of Time trilogy- Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and Prince of Persia: The Warrior Within. Genre Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones is an action adventure game. Action adventure games have evolved as a sort of hybrid between action games and adventure games. They incorporate the exploration, puzzle solving and navigation aspect of adventure game with the combat and violence of action games (Vorderer and Bryant 2006). The player is often required to assume the role of a protagonist in form of the main character that is often in pursuit of a particular goal with an antagonist standing in his way. Typically, the game includes action fighting scenes. The protagonist encounters various challenges and obstacles and the game usually concludes with a showdown or epic battle between protagonist and antagonist. In Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones, the Prince is on a quest for revenge against the Vizier and seeks to destroy him and bring his love interest back from the dead (Vorderer and Bryant 2006). Promotional advertisement for Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones showing the main character and his alter-ego. Gameplay Description Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones is a game that incorporates adventure with hand to hand to combat. For a majority of the game, the player is supposed to navigate the game’s main character, only known as the Prince, through unorthodox routes in the ancient city of Babylon. In exploration, the game accentuates and utilizes the acrobatic skills, balance, speed, endurance, grip, strength and agility of the Prince in navigating through what is left of Babylon. The apparently physically fit and nimble Prince is supposed to navigate the city in pursuit of the game’s main antagonist, the Vizier, by jumping on ledges, scaling ladders, using chain ropes, running along walls, hopping from column to column, sliding down chutes and curtains, making precision-coordinated leaps from platform to platform, hanging from stab points and bounding of switches, swinging from pole to pole and going down steep chasms (Bueno 2005, IGN 2005). These maneuvers are of varying difficulty according to whether the player selects the easy, normal or hard difficulty setting. In the progression from scene to scene and level to level, the Prince is meant to discover the weapons to be used in combat such as the dagger of time, and a sword which are the primary weapons used in combat. The Prince is meant to skillfully avoid obstacles and deathly traps in his mission. The Prince also collects sand which is the currency of health and of strategic importance in the game as it can be used to reverse fatal sequences such as falling to death off a chasm or ledge or being fatally wounded by enemies. At predetermined stops, the player can save their progress by drinking water or replenish their health using sand. From left to right: The Prince walking a beam, hanging from a ledge, latching onto stab-point and running along walls. At the start of the game, on-screen text tutorials and suggestive camera views direct the player while exploring or during combat but as the game progresses the textual hints are limited. During combat, the Prince uses a primary weapon- the dagger, or a secondary weapon which includes either a sword or a bow and arrow extracted from slain combatants. The game includes a novel combat system known as the speed-kill which allows the player to execute rapid executions of enemy combatants to avoid lengthy battles. The speed-kill is activated as the Prince sneaks up on an enemy combatant. This stealth execution is only possible if the player activates a time sensitive and pre-scripted sequence of button presses and is possible whether the Prince is on level ground, above the enemy or even airborne. The Prince battles enemy soldiers wielding swords and spears on foot, expert archers and several “bosses” or characters with enhanced abilities such as monsters and the immortal Vizier who are comparably difficult to wound or kill. The difficulty of combat is also determined by the difficulty level selected at the start. During scripted sequences of the game, the Prince develops an alter ego after being wounded during an encounter with the main protagonist. The alter ego is a “darker”, evil, vengeful, sarcastic, sadistic and more aggressive side of the Prince which takes over him in a transformation and enhances his combat ability while simultaneously depleting his health. While in the transformed state, the Prince has only one weapon-the daggertail, which is a bladed whip fused into his arm. During this state, the Prince appears visibly enraged and violent. The alter ego engages him in a battle for control over his self which takes the form of an inner debate. Story and Historical Setting The game is set against the background of the Prince’s, King Sharaman’s son return to the city of Babylon from his adventures in Azad in a previous version of Prince of Persia: The Warrior Within (Bueno 2005). As he returns from the Island of Time where he reversed his own fate of death, defeated the Dahaka and brought Princess Kaileena back to life, he finds Babylon ravaged by war. Their boat is attacked, they are shipwrecked and Kaileena is captured and killed by the Vizier, the primary antagonist, who the Prince now discovers, is not dead as a result of his actions to reverse time while in Azad. The Vizier immortalizes himself using the dagger of time by impaling himself with it but the Prince manages to escape the confrontation albeit wounded and infected by the sands of time. This sets the tone for the rest of the game as the Prince traverses treacherous Babylon in pursuit of the Vizier (Bueno 2005). However, he experiences a fierce inner battle for control between his personality and a darker alter ego as a result of infection by the sands of time. As he makes his way through Babylon, he encounters Farah, an acquaintance from the previous game titles who aids him in his quest. After battling several monsters and evading deathly traps such as spiked floors, rotating blades, crumbling ruins, arrows and grinders with blades, he eventually finds and kills the Vizier, brings Kaileena back to life and silences his darker personality. From left to right: The Prince faces rotating blades obstacle/trap, performing an aerial speed-kill, escaping from chamber of fire Characters The game’s main character is the Prince, son of King Sharaman. His love interest is the character Princess Kaileena who he has apparently brought back from the dead. The main protagonist in the story is the Vizier, a former traitor of the Indian army to Persia seeking immortality through the sands of time. Farah is a princess of India who has a love-hate relationship with the Prince. The other main characters in the game are the Vizier’s main generals or the bosses who he fights who are the jawless monster Klompa, Mahasti and the tandem fighting duo of Axe and Sword (Bueno 2005). From left to right: The Prince confronts the jawless monster, Kaileena, the Prince battles the Vizier Game Playing Strategies The primary controller used in the game is a console-specific gamepad or Windows compatible analog gamepad. The player controls the Prince using the game pad and uses the analog stick to navigate the Prince through Babylon. At the beginning of the game, on screen text tutorials take the player through a basic orientation of the maneuvers and combat. The player picks up objects and performs navigation and combat tasks through implicit feedback as prompted using button presses. During combat, the player uses a combination of buttons and the analog or direction (movement) keys. Examples of explicit feedback provided include pressing the square button on a PlayStation gamepad which throws the weapon, performs primary strikes using the X button or using the R1 button to block attacks. The game controls the player through explicit feedback by guiding them to cut scenes such as Kaileena’s death over which the player has no control but which determine which tasks the player will perform next. Critique of the Game The most interesting and positive features of the game is the absorbing and involving environmental navigation, puzzle solving and speed-kill feature. These features make the game more interactive and intellectually engaging as opposed to emphasis on mindless violence. Particularly, the speed-kill enables one to bypass unnecessary violence which is a positive experience for advanced gamers. The rich graphics and wide range of camera angles as the Prince swings from platform to platform, engages in a chariot race or attacks an archer from above also enrich the game experience. The cut scenes and maps also enable more balanced and strategic approaches which help the player avoid going round in circles and communicate the direction to be taken in an interesting way. The use of the analog control system also makes for a smoother experience in navigation. However, the game has certain “glitches” or breaks in sound (audio) which is interruptive and impedes the game experience. A major drawback is also the preordained transformation of the Prince to the Dark Prince which in my opinion should be a product of the player’s gameplay rather than as part of explicit feedback. The game also has a limited range of weapons which limits the excitement of an otherwise very interesting combat system. Completing the story line also takes a long time (a minimum of eight playing hours) which may cause a player to easily lose interest and look for cheat codes to wind up to the end of the story. Other Reviews of the Game Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones has received favorable reviews from most popular gaming websites. The game received an 8.8 out of 10 rating from IGN who referred to it as “a terrific end to a satisfying series” and lauded its game play features such as the speed-kill and the story line (IGN 2005). However, the site criticized the game for its “bugs” and sound glitches. Equally popular website gamespot.com gave the game an 8.4 rating similarly lauding its improved gameplay and challenging puzzles and also criticizing its sound and graphic flaws (Gamespot 2005). Gamespy.com, also gave the game a satisfactory rating of 4 out 5 stars with an average press rating of 8.5 (Rausch 2005). Summary Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones is an action adventure game set in ancient Babylon. The game is the final part in the Prince of Persia’s Sands of Time trilogy with the main protagonist as the Prince and the antagonist as his long time enemy the Vizier. The game play is characterized by high intensity acrobatic scenes and a new combat system- the speed-kill- which has received favourable ratings from many gaming reviews. The game’s storyline is based on the Prince’s pursuit of the Vizier to avenge his love interest Kaileena’s death and engages the player in solving puzzles and dodging deadly obstacles. The game has received a good rating averaging 8.5 out of 10 for its absorbing storyline, graphics and combat system but has been criticized for poor audio quality and a tedious storyline. Personal Rating: Despite minor technical flaws, the game has an innovative combat system and absorbing storyline enhanced by good graphics. It is stimulating, intellectual and balanced in terms of action versus strategy and provides a good challenge for novel and advanced users alike. 9 out of 10 is a fair score. References Bueno, F., 2005, Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones, Prima Games, Roseville California. Gamespot, 2005, Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones Review, Retrieved on 28 July, 2011 from < http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/princeofpersia3/review.html?page=2> IGN, 2005, Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones Review, Retrieved on 28 July, 2011 from < http://pc.ign.com/objects/736/736199.html> Rausch, A., 2005, Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones Review: Our nameless hero returns to Babylon and his former glory in the satisfying conclusion to the Sands of Time trilogy, Retrieved on 28 July, 2011 from < http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/prince-of-persia- 3/675172p1.html> Ubisoft Montreal, 2005, Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones. Vorderer, P., Bryant, J., 2006, Playing video games: Motives, Responses and Consequences, London, Routledge. Read More