Prince of Persia shadows Assassin' s Creed
01 Mar 2007 12:02pm

First details of Ubisoft’s original free runner...

After the Prince saved his Kingdom from the ravages of the Sands of Time across last generation’s Prince of Persia trilogy, many thought that the character and the action adventure series had finally been to rest, with Assassins Creed inheriting the mantle of Ubisoft’s platformer of choice for the new generation of consoles.
Advertisement

But Ubisoft has decided two pairs of legs are better than one and has announced development of a all-new Prince of Persia title for the Xbox 360; and while details are extremely thin on the ground artwork that has been released to coincide with the announcement indicates that this is a fresh approach to the series, building the mythology of the Prince and his battle with the Sands of Time from the ground up.

While the gestation between Sands of Time, The Warrior Within and Two Thrones saw the tone of the trilogy darken as the Prince was stripped of everything he loved and had to constantly cheat death (in the form of the Sands of Time guardian Dahaka), this new iteration will re-focus on the roots of the series, with bright vivid landscapes and a Prince that’s more about footwork than sword work.

The previous Prince touted the Dagger of Time, which allowed him to draw time-reversing sand from his enemies; this iteration is wielding a rather groovy armoured gauntlet, which is rumoured to be customisable throughout the game for different weapon configurations.

We’re still waiting for a prospective release date and in-game screensots. But as long as Ubisoft can return to the platforming purity of Sands of Time and completely ignore the connotations of a nu-metal reject from its sequels (swearing, blood-letting, crunching metal soundtrack) then we’ll welcome the revitalised Prince with open arms.

The big question remains however; how can a developer retain the foundations of the series gameplay without being flagged as a direct copy of Assassins Creed, which has become a next-gen gamers’ darling since its appearance at X06 last year? It seems criminal that its spiritual successor could somehow negatively impact on the Prince’s return, since Creed owes much of its design to its forbearer.