Prince of Persia

Red Orb Entertainment

The Learning Company

1999

Windows , Dreamcast

Subject

Game mode

keyboard

German

The Sultan, the Princess and the Prince are invited to a banquet by the Sultan's brother, King Assan . Rumor has it that he is a cruel ruler, but out of courtesy they accept his invitation anyway. However, this leads to the capture of the sultan and the kidnapping of the princess; the prince himself ends up in dungeon again. Assan's son Rugnor was supposed to be married to the princess, but the prince ruined this plan without knowing about it. Now the prince has to save his great love again from a terrible fate.

The third part was published by Red Orb Entertainment in 1999 and contains 3D graphics for the first time .

Sands of Time saga

This tetralogy was developed by Ubisoft with the support of Jordan Mechner. All four parts of the series were programmed with a modified version of the "Jade Engine", which was also used in Beyond Good & Evil (also from Ubisoft).

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

Ubisoft

November 11, 2003 ( Game Boy Advance )

November 18, 2003 ( PlayStation 2 )

December 2, 2003 ( Windows )

February 17, 2004 ( GameCube , Xbox )

PlayStation 2, Game Boy Advance, Windows, GameCube, Xbox, PlayStation 3 (HD Remaster)

Subject

Game mode

CD-ROM , DVD-ROM

German

In ancient times, the Persians, led by their king Sharaman and his (youngest) son, defeat the powerful Indian Maharaja . While looting the palace, the player-controlled prince discovers a mysterious dagger, while his father's men drag an oversized extravagant hourglass out of the palace. What the prince does not know, however, is that these two objects can give the owner power over time itself. Led by the vizier, who had previously betrayed his maharaja, the prince releases the sands of time .

The result is the destruction of the kingdom and the transformation of the population into cruel creatures. Only three people are spared due to three ancient objects in their possession. The prince has the dagger of time , the kidnapped daughter of the Maharajas, Princess Farah, has an amulet of time (which the prince also uses in part 2) and the vizier has a magical staff of time . Now the prince and Farah fight to restore the natural order.

Most of the game now consists of the Prince and Farah fighting their way through the palace to get to the hourglass, where they have to assert themselves against sand monsters and traps. The prince is forced to kill his father, who has become a sand demon. In the further course a love story develops with Farah until she dies too. When the prince finally reaches the hourglass, the entire storyline of the game is undone. Before the attack on the Maharaja, the prince breaks into Farah's bedroom and tells her the story. You now learn that this narration served as the framework for the whole game, which the prince commented on over and over as voice-over . Finally the vizier appears and wants to kill the prince and Farah. After he is defeated, Farah asks the prince why he told her such a fairy tale, whereupon he kisses her. But since she rejects him, he undoes the kiss with the dagger of time. Then he hands her the dagger and walks away.

Developed by Ubisoft Montreal , The Sands of Time was released for many platforms in November 2003. Unlike Prince of Persia 3D , this part meets the high standards set with the franchise .

The console version hides the first version of Prince of Persia from 1989. As soon as you have unlocked the game in the console version, you can select it in the main menu. In the PC version, only the first level of the original game is hidden. To do this, after starting a new game (while the figure is standing on the balcony) you have to hold down the x key and do this in quick succession: “Spacebar; left mouse button; E; C; E; Space bar; left mouse button; Press C “.

The Sands of Time surprised many critics mainly because of the innovative gameplay. The prince is more agile and much more agile than ever before; Wall runs, somersaults, twists, etc. are also urgently needed to traverse the intelligently designed trap-riddled levels. The prince can be controlled extremely precisely by the player, there is nothing to complain about with the automatic camera work behind the character. For demanding climbing, you can also choose between the standard camera, a more distant one for surveying a larger area and a first-person perspective. In battles you can attack the opponent directly, jump over them or jump past them and attack from behind and even from the air. However, there is one disadvantage: you can only kill the enemy with the dagger of time. Walls, railings and pillars allow for other striking possibilities, such as a torpedo-like kick with a drawn sword. And if something does not work out, the prince falls into the depths while climbing or the opponents should be too skilful: the power over time can be used universally and enables the prince to “rewind” to undo the last few seconds. Even a “slow motion function” is integrated, which slows traps and opponents down, but the prince maintains his normal speed.

Battles of Prince of Persia

Ubisoft

December 8, 2005

Nintendo DS

genre

Turn-based strategy game

Subject

Game mode

German

Battles of Prince of Persia is the Nintendo DS offshoot of the Prince of Persia series. It tells the story of the seven years between Sands of Time and Warrior Within , which closes a large story gap in the Prince of Persia universe.

After the events of The Sands of Time, the prince returns to his homeland, where he is ambushed by a black beast. He decides to find the "Box of a Thousand Shackles" to lock the beast in.

In contrast to the previous Prince of Persia games, this is not a platform game, but a round strategy title. The two parties on the battlefield take turns drawing their troops, to which they give orders using playing cards. These cards can be used for simple movement commands, but sometimes also have magical abilities that can improve units' stats.

Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Times

Original title

Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands

Ubisoft

May 20, 2010

PlayStation 3 , Windows , Xbox 360 , PSP

Subject

Game mode

DVD-ROM , Blu-ray

German

Prince of Persia: the forgotten time ( English Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands ) was released in Europe on May 20, 2010 for Xbox 360, PS3 and on June 11 for Windows. With this part, the developer Ubisoft returns to the Sands-of-Time series. The action takes place between Sands of Time and Warrior Within . In Warrior Within , a major battle has already been hinted at, most of which can be found in the new game.

action

The prince goes to his brother's kingdom in order to learn of his abilities as ruler. But upon his arrival, his brother Malik is attacked by a huge army. The prince rushes to help and ultimately meets his brother retreating into the inner areas of the fortress. In the face of certain defeat, Malik wants to summon the sand army of the mighty ruler Solomon to save his kingdom. The prince wants to stop him because he sees too great an uncontrollable danger in her. But Malik does not let himself be stopped and conjures up a catastrophe in good faith. The enemy forces are withdrawing, but only out of fear, since the summoned army also turns against its summoner and transforms all allied soldiers into sand statues by touching them. Protected by a fragment half of the summoning key, the prince must now go to his brother in order to close the army's prison again and to prevent it from spreading. But at the outbreak, the brothers were separated and the prince now has to fight his way through the palace. He receives support from a genie queen named Razia, who gives him special powers and is at his side with advice and action. But the sand army is also led by a genie, an Ifrit named Ratash. Malik is gradually pulled under Ratash's spell and the prince must fight his own brother to save the kingdom, break the sand curse and seal the army again.

Gameplay

In addition to rewinding time, the prince can master the elements of fire, water, earth and air. Thanks to a new game engine , up to 50 enemies can gather on the screen in this part. This is how real battles can be represented.

Prince of Persia: Warrior Within

Ubisoft

November 30, 2004

PlayStation 2 , Windows , GameCube , Xbox , PlayStation 3 (HD Remaster)

Subject

Game mode

German

Warrior Within begins seven years after the plot of The Sands of Time . The prince has returned to his homeland Babylon and has to discover that a supernatural creature is trying to kill him. He visits an old man with mystical powers who revealed to him that his previous actions (releasing the Sands of Time in The Sands of Time ) the Dahaka , an immortal incarnation of Fate (the guardian of the time) have called into action, to correct his interference in the course of time, that is to say: kill the prince and remove him from the timeline. In order not to have to be on the run for the rest of his life, he only has one option: he has to travel back in time and prevent the sand from forming. So the prince sets off with a ship to the island of time in order to achieve this goal there with the help of the ruler of time . Off the coast of the island, however, his ship is attacked and destroyed by Shadee, a servant of the ruler of time. The prince is the only survivor washed up on the island's beach, where an uncertain fate awaits him. There he meets Kaileena without knowing that she is the ruler of time . Later, however, the prince learns Kaileena's true identity and kills her in the fight. However, since there are still problems in the temporal structure, the Dahaka continues to seek his life.

As the game progresses, the prince must solve puzzles again and fight his way through various opponents, climbing passages and traps in order to advance on his way. He kills Shadee in a second encounter and also encounters supernatural beings such as a giant stone golem or a griffin . In addition, he is constantly pursued by the Dahaka and has to flee from it. In the end he either kills Kaileena and sails back to Babylon alone, or he fights with her against the Dahaka and then takes her with him to his homeland.

Warrior Within was released in December 2004 and has a much darker mood than its predecessor. The scenery is mostly dreary and bleak, buildings are derelict and half destroyed. The soundtrack is interspersed with heavy and aggressive guitar riffs instead of oriental music. It also focuses more on action elements, recognizable by the increased display of violence, which can, however, be deactivated: blood splatters, opponents can be divided. A revised and greatly expanded combat system called the Free Form Fighting System provides a solid basis for the many fights. The possibility of fighting with two weapons opens up a variety of attacks and combos to the player. The player is no longer forced to attack and defeat every enemy as in the first part of the trilogy. It is now mostly possible to leave the area without a fight. Only the bosses and mini bosses cannot be bypassed.

Mechner did not agree with the direction of the game and publicly criticized Ubisoft's design decisions:

“I'm not a fan of the artistic direction, or the violence that earned it an M rating. The story, character, dialog, voice acting, and visual style were not to my taste. "

“I'm not a fan of the artistic direction or the violence that earned the game an M age rating . The plot, character, dialogue, synchronization and visual style did not meet my taste. "

The Sands of Time was not originally intended to be a trilogy. Warrior Within got a completely different setting than its predecessor. In addition, the two different endings caused confusion, as the real, lesser known ending was used to complete the trilogy. For the mentioned ending sequence you need all nine life upgrades, which are hard to get. This gives the prince the water sword, the only weapon that can injure the dahaka.

A port of the game called Prince of Persia - Revelations was released for Sony's PlayStation Portable .

Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones

Ubisoft

November 30, 2005 ( PlayStation 2 ) December 6, 2005 ( GameCube , Xbox , Windows )

PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox , Windows , PSP and Wii under the name Rival Swords, PlayStation 3 (HD Remaster)

Subject

Game mode

German

The last part of the trilogy about the sands of time ties in with the real ending of Warrior Within . The Prince and Kaileena return to Babylon from the Isle of Time . However, it is a burning Babylon awaiting the two, almost entirely devastated by war. The vizier (because the prince reverses the actions from Sands of Time , the vizier is still alive) attacked Babylon. Immediately after their arrival, Kaileena is kidnapped and murdered in the palace. This unleashes the sands of time again, with terrible effects on the prince and his kingdom. Thrown into the streets and chased as a refugee, the prince must fight his deadliest enemy to save his homeland.

The Two Thrones not only features new game elements such as: B. the speed kills, with which you can kill an enemy unnoticed and relatively safely, and tried and tested such as the free combat system, with which you can not only develop your own fighting style, but also a second playable character, the Dark Prince . This dark version of the prince was created through infection with the sands of time . In addition to the prince's normal weapons such as a dagger and sword, the player with the figure of the Dark Prince also has a chain of blades that seems to have grown together with the prince. This is not only an effective weapon, but also absolutely necessary to get through the winding streets and buildings of Babylon.

The game was released in German-speaking countries on December 8, 2005 and closes the sands of time trilogy. The development studio Ubisoft Montreal announced that the best elements from the two predecessors had been combined. That means more puzzles and a much more thought-out story than in Warrior Within , but also more and more challenging fights than in The Sands of Time . After many players and some specialist magazines had expressed themselves negatively about the unusually bloody battles in Warrior Within , the third part of the series turned out a little less brutal. The dark tone of the predecessor was partly retained, partly brighter scenes like in The Sands of Time please the eye of the player.

A port called Rival Swords was released for PlayStation Portable and Nintendo Wii . This was essentially identical to The Two Thrones, but was adapted to the motion control and the less powerful hardware of the Wii and PSP.

All European versions of the game are censored. Blood effects have been reduced and the ability to sever limbs and slice enemies has been removed. The representation of naked, female breasts of some statues has also been retouched or alienated. The predecessor was released uncensored despite the identical depiction of violence and is also released from the age of 16. Only with the appearance of the HD Trilogy was the censorship reversed in Europe.

Prince of Persia: Kindred Blades

Kindred Blades was actually intended as the third part of the "Sands of Time" trilogy . There was an open world, the dark prince shone more, there were many more speedkill options and the story was different: Kaileena was not killed, but killed herself and thus released the sands of time, so that the prince also had a chance against the overpowering ones Has enemies. But due to criticism in the press and among fans, this version of the game has been changed. So the game was converted to The Two Thrones .

Prince of Persia Trilogy HD

As part of the HD Classics series that appeared in 2010, Prince of Persia Trilogy HD exclusively for the PlayStation 3. This collection includes the three main games of the Sands of Time trilogy ( The Sands of Time, Warrior Within and The Two Thrones ) which have been revised in terms of graphics and are now available in native HD resolution. A 3D option has also been added so that all three games can now be played in stereoscopic 3D (3D-capable TV required). The entire collection was on a single data carrier; the respective games could be started from a start menu on the disc.

The fact that the sound was apparently not remixed accordingly was criticized by players and the press and the sound problems already known with the original version of the game (voices were sometimes too soft or were completely lost in the background noise, sound effects too loud, music too soft) were not remedied, and the possibilities of the HD medium would not have been used nearly enough.

Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands (Wii)

(in German: The forgotten time)

Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands

Ubisoft

May 20, 2010

Wii , Nintendo DS

Subject

Game mode

German

In addition to the release of the game Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands for Windows, Play Station 3 and Xbox 360, another game was released for the Nintendo Wii under the same name, which, however, has a different design and a different plot. In this story, the prince acquires a little genie, who then has to grant him a wish. The prince wants his own kingdom and the jinn actually leads him to an abandoned royal palace. But of course there is a catch. The great palace is infested with a gigantic plant, the haoma. The walls are overgrown with poisonous shoots and the inhabitants have turned into disfigured plant creatures. So, to get his own kingdom, the prince must defeat the magical plant and its outgrowths and uncover the kingdom's ancient secret ...

The plot is self-contained and takes up some aspects from The Sands of Time . The journey through time plays a role, the prince repeatedly leads z. Sometimes amusing discussions with his companion, the Djinn, and finally, here too, it is important to save a princess.

The game mechanics are also similar to the other parts of the Sands-of-Time series. As usual, it is divided into climbing sections, fights and puzzles. As a novelty, the prince himself can set magical breakpoints and platforms at any location in the game world in the climbing passages. The respective level section cannot be crossed on a given path as usual, but the player chooses his own path. Often there are also secret shortcuts or hiding places that can only be reached by skillfully setting the climbing points.

Aside from the main story, there are other game modes as well as the original "Prince of Persia" as free-playable content and an achievement system that the player u. a. for the perfect solution of a section of a puzzle or for finding a special abbreviation.

filming

The fantasy adventure Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time takes place in the sixth century and is about a young Persian prince named "Dastan", who is tricked by the villain Nizam and accused of regicide. The princess of Alamut and guardian of the dagger Tamina joins him, with whom he flees into the desert.

The film was originally scheduled to hit theaters in 2009, but was postponed due to delays in post-production. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time was shown in German cinemas on May 20, 2010. The launch date in Great Britain and the USA has been postponed to May 28, 2010, the Friday before Memorial Day Weekend, in order to achieve a higher audience rate on the opening weekend.

The film was planned as the first part of a trilogy about the prince. However, there will be no sequels in the foreseeable future. The role of Prince Dastan is played by Jake Gyllenhaal , and Princess Tamina is played by Gemma Arterton (Bond girl Quantum of Solace ). Ben Kingsley and Alfred Molina also play in other roles. The producer is Jerry Bruckheimer , who has already gained experience with similar films through Pirates of the Caribbean . The shooting took place in Morocco under the direction of Mike Newell . Prince of Persia creators Jordan Mechner and Jeffrey Nachmanoff are responsible for the script .

Prince of Persia (2008)

Prince of Persia

Ubisoft

December 4th, 2008 (Xbox 360 and PS3), December 11th, 2008 (Win), March 24th, 2009 (MacOS X)

Windows , Mac OS X, Xbox 360 and PS3

genre

Action-Adventure , Jump 'n' Run

Subject

Game mode

Multilingual

The title Prince of Persia , released in December 2008 for PC, Xbox 360 and PS3, is based on the scimitar engine that was used in Assassin's Creed and most recently in Shaun White Snowboarding . According to producer Ben Mattes, the game is presented in the so-called "Illustrative Art Style", which creates a comic-like image that is reminiscent of artwork.

The developers call the graphic style because it is the goal to make the game look like an artwork in motion. This graphic style is created using the cel shading technique.

The game world is mostly open. Which areas you get to is decided by the power plates , which the companion Elika gradually unlocks. This allows the duo to fling their way through the respective level, promote them, etc. The sand of time known from the previous trilogy no longer exists. The prince cannot die, he is always saved by Elika's magic. Elika supports the player with acrobatics or in combat by pressing a button.

The story is based on Persian mythology and tells of the battle between the two gods Ormazd and Ahriman . After a long battle between the evil god Ahriman, who wants to exterminate humanity, and the good god Ormazd, Ormazd wins. With the help of the Ahura Ahriman, he banishes ahriman to the tree of life and then has it guarded. At the beginning of the game, Ahriman is freed from the tree of life by Elika's father and begins to cover the world in darkness. Of all the Guardians of the Tree of Life , Elika is the only survivor. The prince meets her on his return from another adventure, he lost his gold-laden donkey, which was named Farah (based on the princess from The Sands Of Time and The Two Thrones ). At the end of each game section, the level is cleared of darkness, creating new paths and light seeds. The latter can be collected to unlock new powers and locations. The dialogues between the two protagonists, who get their voices from well-known voice actors, add to the atmosphere. The Prince is set to music by Simon Jäger , Elika by Katja Liebing . In the opening credits you can also hear the voice of Claudia Urbschat-Mingues , known as the spokeswoman for Angelina Jolie, among others .

The game moves away from major fights like those that were common in the predecessors. You are only facing individual opponents. There is a distinction between normal opponents and final bosses. While you always face the former in a simple fight, the latter always require a special tactic in order to be defeated. In addition, you face each boss six times. The four final bosses are the hunter, a fast creature that can jump very far, the warrior, a large creature made of rocks and darkness that can usually only be defeated if you push it into an abyss, the alchemist, the one nimble master of magic is, as well as the concubine. She also has magic and can z. B. teleport. You also often face Elika's father during the game.

Similar to Assassin's Creed, the controls are very simple. The various actions are carried out using four buttons. The A key is responsible for acrobatics, Y for Elika, X for the sword hand and B for the clawed glove (XBOX layout). This allocation does not change in the battles. While the Elika button while standing, for example, causes her to use the compass (a pioneering beam of light), while jumping it ensures that the prince jumps further with its help. Ultimately, in combat, Elika attacks the enemy when you press this button. With these four buttons, however, you can carry out a lot of combination attacks that are reminiscent of martial arts or wuxia films and still support the magical atmosphere.

Epilogue

Epilogue logo

In Prince of Persia: Epilogue (dt. Epilogue ) is it is a add-on for the main game. It was released in the form of downloadable content , i.e. as a paid add-on via the online distribution platforms of Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 .

Epilogue contains a new level, a new power for Elika, a new attack for the prince and the prototype skins for the prince and Elika already known from the PC version. The action of the add-on is directly linked to the open end of the main game.

After it became known that the Downloadable Content would not be released for Windows, a wave of indignation broke out among buyers of the Windows version.

The explosiveness of withholding the downloadable content from buyers of the PC version comes about because Epilogue is not just a simple additional content, but an immediate continuation of the story. Buyers of the PC version practically missed the end.

Prince of Persia: The Fallen King