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Is the Prince's first outing on the Wii a royal success?
April 9, 2007 | 8:04 PM PSTby: Sud Koushik
A Prince deep in thought is seen on his boat sailing for Babylon while witnessing flashbacks. As he approaches his destination he is shocked to see the sacking of a city with countless flaming arrows blotting out the sky. The beginning of Prince of Persia: Rival Swords is epic and draws you in, but what keeps it from being just a touched-up remake of a game that already debuted over a year ago under the name of “The Two Thrones”? Obviously, the Wii-enhanced control scheme would be just the trick, but the question now becomes, “Does it add anything notable to the experience?”
Prince of Persia: Rival Swords starts off with a bang – there’s everything you’ve come to expect from the franchise. You’ve got your poles to cling onto, walls to run on, things to swing from, and incredible gaps to leap over. Most importantly, you’ve got the ability to rewind time. Being able to “take back” that previous move that killed you was definitely a neat feature in the series, and in Rival Swords that mechanic stays. The Dagger of Time will be the primary tool for many of your actions, including the aforementioned rewinding of time. However, the dagger has more tricks enabling the Prince to execute a series of dozen fatalities and bringing time to a screeching halt. Now what most people may be wondering is how you control the dark, mysterious Prince. To be frank, it isn’t anything truly “revolutionary”. You move the Prince around with the analog stick, and the Wii-mote controls all the basic functions of attacking, jumping, and so forth.
Don’t assume this is bad -- really the game controls just as well as it did on the GameCube, the only problem with this is that the Wii’s unique control scheme isn’t used for moving the Prince around in a particularly new way. Although “new” doesn’t always mean better.
Where the control scheme does provide a new, fresh way to play is when you are in battle. Fighting enemies in Prince of Persia is almost like fighting enemies in Zelda. You just flail your arms around and eventually you’ll have hacked your way through hordes of enemies. Both the nunchuck and the Wii-mote are used for slashing, with the dagger being controlled by the Wii-mote. In addition, a feature that was greatly implemented was the stealth kill. It provides a new way to kill an enemy when he is unaware of your presence, plus it makes you smile as you carry out the move. The move is easy to perform, with a quick swipe of the nunchuck downward, and the Wii-remote corresponds to whatever image comes on the screen. In previous versions of the game these moves could all be done with a simple press of a button, but it is much more rewarding using the Wii’s controls.
Possibly the only part of the game where the controls actually hinder its performance is the operability of the camera. What used to be a simple task with a regular GameCube pad is now a tedious and painful process. The camera is mapped to the tilt functionality of the Wii-mote. By tilting the controlling right or left the camera will move in that direction. However, sometimes it will overshoot or be delayed in its movement which is not only annoying but can prove detrimental to your success in some situations. Another option to control the camera is the D-Pad. This is not exactly a good alternative given its awkward placement on the Wii-mote. After everything is said and done, the camera controls are poor no matter which way you try and use them.
This guy won’t know what hit him
The visuals in Rival Swords look surprisingly similar to graphics on what was on the GameCube over a year ago, which is to say, this isn’t a surprise at all. It seems developers aren’t really taking advantage of the Wii’s increased power over the Cube. Fortunately, the game does run in 480p and widescreen, and the framerate does not slow down at all. The animations are also fluid and the environment and scenery beautiful. The graphics aren’t anything at all like what we’re spoiled by with 360 and PS3, but even in by today’s standards they aren’t bad. The audio is the exact same from The Two Thrones -- everything down to the soundtrack and sound effects. For those who haven’t played The Two Thrones, the soundtrack is very fitting to the mood of the game and the sound effects superb.
Overall
Prince of Persia: Rival Swords is a good game that doesn’t disappoint. Unfortunately the only real draw it has is the specifically Wii-tailored controls and even those are only good for when in combat. In addition the graphics aren’t improved, even though the Wii has more power and Ubisoft has had over a year to make enhancements. It doesn’t help that the game costs $50, when you can get more or less the same game on the GameCube for less than half the price. It really depends on whether you want to spend more money just to play the game using the Wii’s controls.
Prince of Persia: Rival Swords starts off with a bang – there’s everything you’ve come to expect from the franchise. You’ve got your poles to cling onto, walls to run on, things to swing from, and incredible gaps to leap over. Most importantly, you’ve got the ability to rewind time. Being able to “take back” that previous move that killed you was definitely a neat feature in the series, and in Rival Swords that mechanic stays. The Dagger of Time will be the primary tool for many of your actions, including the aforementioned rewinding of time. However, the dagger has more tricks enabling the Prince to execute a series of dozen fatalities and bringing time to a screeching halt. Now what most people may be wondering is how you control the dark, mysterious Prince. To be frank, it isn’t anything truly “revolutionary”. You move the Prince around with the analog stick, and the Wii-mote controls all the basic functions of attacking, jumping, and so forth.
Don’t assume this is bad -- really the game controls just as well as it did on the GameCube, the only problem with this is that the Wii’s unique control scheme isn’t used for moving the Prince around in a particularly new way. Although “new” doesn’t always mean better.
Where the control scheme does provide a new, fresh way to play is when you are in battle. Fighting enemies in Prince of Persia is almost like fighting enemies in Zelda. You just flail your arms around and eventually you’ll have hacked your way through hordes of enemies. Both the nunchuck and the Wii-mote are used for slashing, with the dagger being controlled by the Wii-mote. In addition, a feature that was greatly implemented was the stealth kill. It provides a new way to kill an enemy when he is unaware of your presence, plus it makes you smile as you carry out the move. The move is easy to perform, with a quick swipe of the nunchuck downward, and the Wii-remote corresponds to whatever image comes on the screen. In previous versions of the game these moves could all be done with a simple press of a button, but it is much more rewarding using the Wii’s controls.
Possibly the only part of the game where the controls actually hinder its performance is the operability of the camera. What used to be a simple task with a regular GameCube pad is now a tedious and painful process. The camera is mapped to the tilt functionality of the Wii-mote. By tilting the controlling right or left the camera will move in that direction. However, sometimes it will overshoot or be delayed in its movement which is not only annoying but can prove detrimental to your success in some situations. Another option to control the camera is the D-Pad. This is not exactly a good alternative given its awkward placement on the Wii-mote. After everything is said and done, the camera controls are poor no matter which way you try and use them.
This guy won’t know what hit him
The visuals in Rival Swords look surprisingly similar to graphics on what was on the GameCube over a year ago, which is to say, this isn’t a surprise at all. It seems developers aren’t really taking advantage of the Wii’s increased power over the Cube. Fortunately, the game does run in 480p and widescreen, and the framerate does not slow down at all. The animations are also fluid and the environment and scenery beautiful. The graphics aren’t anything at all like what we’re spoiled by with 360 and PS3, but even in by today’s standards they aren’t bad. The audio is the exact same from The Two Thrones -- everything down to the soundtrack and sound effects. For those who haven’t played The Two Thrones, the soundtrack is very fitting to the mood of the game and the sound effects superb.
Overall
Prince of Persia: Rival Swords is a good game that doesn’t disappoint. Unfortunately the only real draw it has is the specifically Wii-tailored controls and even those are only good for when in combat. In addition the graphics aren’t improved, even though the Wii has more power and Ubisoft has had over a year to make enhancements. It doesn’t help that the game costs $50, when you can get more or less the same game on the GameCube for less than half the price. It really depends on whether you want to spend more money just to play the game using the Wii’s controls.
November 20, 2009
