“Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown” developed by Ubisoft Montpellier Studio will be launched on January 18th. 4Gamers was invited to try it out. This article will share the author’s gaming experience with 20 hours of official version of the game. .
Although the production of the original “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remastered” is still full of twists and turns, Ubisoft will bring this Metroidvania-like spin-off “Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown” this winter.
This game can almost be said to be the most heavily promoted game by Ubisoft in the past year. Not only has it been exposed many times at exhibitions and media, but the refreshing and gorgeous combat performance in the trailer is indeed quite attractive. As a Metroidvania-like game, how does “Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown” perform?
The protagonist of “Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown” this time is not a prince again. Players will play the role of Sargon, a young warrior from Persia. In order to save Prince Ghassan who was kidnapped by his mentor, he will go to Kaf Mountain to collect the power of Simog’s Feather and embark on an unprecedented adventure.
To be honest, the performance style of the plot is more like the early “God of War” than Prince of Persia… But this part is not shown in order to prevent thunder.
Unexpectedly hardcore platform jumping, all resources must be exhausted
So first let’s talk about how the game is played. In addition to combat, the most important element of this game is platform jumping.
The movement-related mechanisms in the game alone are quite complex. In addition to the conventional air sprints, wall kicks, and double jumps, there are even many different abilities such as switching dimensions, even hooks, or using war wheels to activate mechanisms. .
The most critical one is an ability called “Shadow of Simog”. Similar to Prince of Persia’s signature time ability, Simog’s Shadow is a retrospective ability that can leave an afterimage somewhere. Press the corresponding button again to return to the location where the afterimage was set.
So why mention this ability in particular? Because although this ability is fun to use in the combat mechanics, it becomes very confusing when used in the platform jumping part.
There are many delayed traps and mechanisms in the level. In order to achieve the correct jumping path, you must use this ability to quickly transfer your position.
In most challenge rooms, it is difficult enough to combine this move while jumping. In addition, although the map can be slightly dragged left and right by analogy, the visual range is very limited, resulting in many places needing to be viewed through It takes trial and error to pass.
This part also has the same problem on the big map. It is impossible to see whether there are actually roads in places that have not been traveled. This is a place that I think is poorly designed.
Imagine that you have died several times and finally found the right path. Then you have to carefully control the force of your jump, use air sprint to get through the narrow gap of the trap, and finally climb to the temporary foothold. You also have to be quick-sighted. Press Simog’s Shadow to leave an afterimage to ensure that you can retain your foothold in the future. And as you unlock more moves, the jumping test of level design will become more abnormal.
Although the platform jumping in the entire clearance process does not really emphasize long series of continuous inputs, so the pressure on the fingers itself is not too high; but not only is the fault tolerance rate low, but there is also a considerable demand for observation, just to get an enhancement The props have to calculate the distance and time of each jump and backtracking, which is quite energy-consuming to play.
Regardless of the puzzle-solving and path-finding aspects of this type of game, which are the most troublesome, in terms of the difficulty of platform jumping alone, I personally think it is comparable to the painful path of “Celeste” or “Cave Knight” to some extent.
As an aside, the puzzle-solving part actually has a Prince of Persia style. For example, there is a section where the puzzle must be divided into three timelines. In order to pass the level, you must touch the mechanism and set up the Shadow of Simog in the correct order. In this type of puzzle, The ingenuity in the mechanism is very good, but it is a pity that there are not many.
A combat experience centered on “blocking” and “retrospection”
How about the combat part? In this part, we also start with the system. In addition to the Shadow of Seymourg mentioned earlier, the most important part of the battle in this game is the “blocking” system that is similar to a perfect block.
The enemy’s normal attacks can be interrupted directly by using block. The “Reckless Attack” with both eyes glowing yellow can also be blocked, and if successful, a “Revenge Counterattack” with a special animation will be rewarded; only the attack with red eyes glowing cannot be blocked, and one can only rely on gliding or other methods. Means avoidance.
To be honest, this system is actually designed to be quite intuitive, and the operation feels very good. The animations when revenge is successful are also very rich. Coupled with various methods such as knock-up attacks, charged attacks, bows and arrows in the air, reflective projectiles, and the equivalent of the special move “Atla Burst”, the actual combat and combo experience is comparable to Metroid. It is indeed the best side in Castlevania.
But what is a pity is that although the methods are rich, the battle should theoretically be very gorgeous, but it may be a bit too difficult for ordinary players.
For example, blocking is indeed very practical, but if the timing of blocking is wrong, you may even suffer heavy punitive damage due to the flaw being exposed. Therefore, for some players, it is better to jump up or use backtracking to avoid it. .
Furthermore, blocking and sliding to dodge are not exclusive to players. Even if your combo is extremely smooth, your opponent may interrupt your move in the middle of the combo. Even in the later stage, many large monsters or BOSS will not be hit at all.
The most typical example is the war wheel. Although it is a projectile weapon similar to a boomerang that can bounce back to increase damage, most later bosses do not use this weapon at all, and some even launch it behind the boss, because the boss is immune to projectiles. An example of how the battle wheel bounced wildly and couldn’t come back…
Therefore, although the game has designed a variety of combos of moves, and even added more move-changing abilities to the “talisman” as an equipment, there are not many abilities that can actually be used, which is a bit of a pity. .
Summarize
If the author were asked to give an overall review of “Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown”, perhaps it would be most appropriate to describe it as “interesting, but the threshold is high.”
The level and system design of the game are indeed excellent. Not only does it have well-designed platform jumping levels, but the combat gameplay itself is also very good. In particular, the design of the BOSS battles is almost all very exquisite. I can say that I am quite satisfied with this part.
But on the other hand, this game may be a bit too targeted at hard-core action players, and the pressure to play is too high. Even with the option to reduce the difficulty, it may still deter ordinary players. In this regard, it is indeed quite good. The taste of early Prince of Persia is there.
“Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown” is expected to be officially released on January 18. It is recommended for players who prefer hard-core action and have strong psychological tolerance. I believe that these 30 hours of game time will definitely give you enough challenges.
