Alongside the PC and console rebirth of the Prince of Persia series comes a complimentary spin-off for the DS called Prince of Persia: The Fallen King. Given how little Ubisoft promoted this title (it doesn’t even have a listing on their official website that I can find), you’d probably think it’s a dud. But au contraire, it’s actually a surprisingly remarkable portable adventure that if not for glaring polish issues could’ve been something very special.
The Fallen King actually picks up off of the ending events of the PC and console game with the Prince continuing his fight against Ahriman and his Corruption plague. But don’t worry, you really don’t need to have played the main game to know what’s going on, nor do you necessarily have to play this to gain greater understanding of the main game. The story functions independently, and is fairly engaging. Not nearly as much without the interactions between Prince and Elika of course, but still enough to keep you striving forward to see how the tale unfolds.
As a 2D side-scrolling action/platformer, The Fallen King carries on the proud tradition of the original Prince of Persia and greatly expands upon it with an intriguing new control concept. Everything in the game is controlled with the stylus. You tap and hold on the touch screen to make Prince run or walk, double tap to roll, tap a wall to run up it and then tap back and forth between adjacent walls to wall jump, point to the opposite side of a pit to hop across, et cetera et cetera.
The Prince also has a new companion in the form of the magus Zal. By holding down any button on the DS – I found the d-pad most comfortable for me – you swap control to Zal and are able to use his magic abilities. Zal is partially corrupted, you see, so he can manipulate Corruption within the environment to aid in the Prince’s quest. This manipulation takes many forms, from pulling on gooey strands of Corruption to use as grabbers that can pick up impeding obstacles, to carefully lifting balls of explosive Corruption and slamming them to break through cracked walls, to rubbing on corrupted surfaces to freeze the Corruption for a short time so the Prince can proceed unscathed. The game’s 50+ levels are designed quite creatively around all of these abilities too, and new puzzle and platforming wrinkles are always being introduced all the way through to the final stage.
Some inconsistencies do exist, such as stylus input not registering properly, thus sending the Prince plummeting to his death through no fault of your own. But for or the most part these touch-screen controls are amazingly intuitive, and the Prince’s corresponding movements are as fluid and graceful as they’ve always been in the main console/PC titles. There’s a minor learning curve for the first couple stages, but that’s to be expected when a game tries something new.
But sadly, all of the good The Fallen King accomplishes is crippled by some severe technical problems, including crashes, glitches and brutal slowdown. The former problems are pretty rare – the game only locked up on me once, and a couple of times I went to wall run and the Prince sort of warped through the wall – but the latter issue, the slowdown, is prevalent throughout the entire game and really drags the experience down. The frame rate chugs the most during combat. When two enemies pop up on screen at the same time the game literally slows to a crawl. The combat is so simple that it doesn’t really matter too much, but still, it’s not fun playing a game that at times moves in slow motion. I don’t quite understand how these issues exist either because the graphics aren’t that spectacular. The art style and overall look of the game is excellent – I actually liked the cutesy look of the Prince more than I thought I would — but the actual 3D rendering is pretty mediocre, even for a DS game. So if the graphics aren’t exactly pushing the hardware it doesn’t make sense that the frame rate is so inconsistent. Chalk it up to a rushed development cycle and poor optimization I suppose.
All in all, The Fallen King is a good companion piece to the new Prince of Persia and a solid side-scrolling platform game on its own. The technical shortcomings are, however, far too prominent for me to honestly recommend this game as much as I really would’ve liked and as much as the bulk of the game deserves. But if you can cope with the buggy performance The Fallen King is very much worth checking out.
Pros:
+ Intuitive touch-screen control scheme
+ Excellent level designs
+ Charming art style
Cons:
– Terrible slowdown bogs the gameplay down far too often
– Overall lack of polish is extremely disappointing
Game Info:
Platform: DS
Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Ubisoft
Release Date: 12/2/08
Genre: 2D Action/Platform
ESRB Rating: Everyone
Players: 1
Another major holiday game release has been given an official street date today. Ubisoft has announced that the new Prince of Persia will launch on December 2nd for all platforms. That includes PC, PS3, Xbox 360 and the Nintendo DS offshoot Prince of Persia: The Fallen King. Hit the jump should you need a quick story refresher.
About Prince of Persia:
Set in a land rooted in ancient Persian mythology, the Prince finds himself caught in an epic battle between the primal forces of light and darkness: the God of Light, Ormazd versus his brother Ahriman, the destructive God of Darkness. The Prince arrives just in time to witness the destruction of the legendary Tree of Life – an act which threatens to plunge the entire world into eternal darkness. Manifested in the form of the Corruption, a dark substance that physically contaminates the land and the skies, the Prince must partner with Elika, a deadly companion, to heal the world from the evil Corruption.
About Prince of Persia: The Fallen King:
Facing imminent danger, the Prince flees to a deserted kingdom that seemingly offers sanctuary. Already touched by the evil Corruption, a dark substance that physically contaminates the land and the skies, the kingdom is filled with adventure, challenge and intrigue. As the Prince seeks a way to fight the spreading Corruption destroying the land, he encounters a partially infected creature that promises salvation. But is the creature truly an ally or merely an enemy in disguise? It seems this perilous alliance may be the only way for the Prince to face the forces of darkness and save the Persian kingdom from the Corruption once and for all.
Awww… mini-Prince is so cute and cuddly! Even with that deadly claw and nasty scar over his eye he’s still one of the most adorable little action/adventure heroes you’re ever going to see.
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See that image of a cutesy Prince up above? That’s an actual piece of concept art from a new Prince of Persia DS game Ubisoft just announced. It’s called Prince of Persia: The Fallen King and it’s being developed by Ubisoft’s Casablanca studio to compliment the forthcoming console and PC Prince of Persia that’s due out this fall/winter and expand the PoP universe with an “independent storyline.” Over more than 50 maps, you’ll control the adorable Prince and some new character named Magus using the stylus to attack and perform various acrobatic maneuvers. Nothing too fancy.
Already there’s been a lot of backlash over the “kiddy” new look, but personally, I don’t mind it at all. The new console/PC PoP too is changing things up with cel-shaded graphics, and to me this seems like an obvious way to compliment the new art direction for the DS crowd. Ultimately, it won’t be the art and graphics that make or break the game anyway, the only thing that’ll matter is if the game is any good or not. We’ll find out this holiday season.
Hit the jump for the first screenshot, another piece of concept art and an outline of story details and game features.
About Prince of Persia: The Fallen King:
Facing imminent danger, the Prince flees to a deserted kingdom that seemingly offers sanctuary. Already touched by the evil Corruption, a dark substance that physically contaminates the land and the skies, the kingdom is filled with adventure, challenge and intrigue. As the Prince seeks a way to fight the spreading Corruption destroying the land, he encounters a partially infected creature that promises salvation. But is the creature truly an ally or merely an enemy in disguise? It seems this perilous alliance may be the only way for the Prince to face the forces of darkness and save the Persian kingdom from the Corruption once and for all.
Game features include:
* The award-winning Prince of Persia franchise, built exclusively for Nintendo DS: Use the DS stylus to master the acrobatics, strategy and fighting tactics of the most agile warrior of all time.
* The epic journey continues in an all-new adventure: Immerse yourself in the captivating Prince of Persia universe with an original and independent story that closely coincides with the action of the console & PC editions of the game.
* Unique visual style: Brand-new art design delivers incredible environments in over 50+ maps. Explore deserted cities, dark labyrinths and forbidding jungles to battle the evil Corruption.
* Play as the all-new character: the Magus: Switch between the Prince and this mysterious new ally to fight, solve puzzles and utilize his magical powers to make your way through the corrupted land.