Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown Review

In this episode, we're discussing Ubisoft's new metroid-style side scroller, Prince of Persia. Is it fun and is it worth your time? 

Transcript

00:00.00
tanomsak
Hi guys welcome back to another episode of good to game radio I'm your host Tony speaking I'm here with hiri and vanceson tonight we're talking about Yuvisov's new game prince of Persia the lost crown the side scroller that just came out. About a week ago and I've been playing it I've been having a great time with it. But yeah, that's our topic tonight and so welcome to the show, sit back relax and enjoy the ah the episode hiimy what's going on.

00:30.82
Jaime G
I not much not much just gaming doing the family thing doing the work routine I was actually really happy to be here today. There's a lot to talk about but let's ah, let's let's see what we have to hear on prince of Persia today.

00:42.18
tanomsak
Go vance what's going on with you.

00:47.10
sentfrmheaven
Oh everything everything I'm a egg 1 on glad to be here ready to get into some ah prince of Persia.

00:58.50
tanomsak
That's right prince of Persia from yubioft um, kind of ah, a reboot a restarting with the franchise. Ah, but this time as a side scroller. Um, and it's very stylized with ah with.

01:15.27
tanomsak
With the artwork and everything but I've been playing it I've been having a great time with it. Usually it's hit or miss with me with the sides. Scrollers. So you know I was playing a a hall nights a few days before and you know it's it's kind of starting off of. Not a lot of story. There. But with prince of persia there is a story and it's not jaep or anything. It's not award-winning but it's a solid story and ah you have your main character Sargon and he's part of. Ah, group that's called the immortals. Love that name by the way and you know it starts off, you're fighting ah like this invading army and and ah defeating them and then you're awarded the the queen of Persia is like. Awarding you with all this you know, fanfare and awards and and then something happens and then the story kicks off from there. You know it's it's a story of betrayal and and just you know, fun action and I've I've really enjoyed it. You know it's a metro style game where you know vans I know you were you were you were playing a demo. Um and you weren't really familiar with a metroid style game right? So it's like okay, you're going to play through an area and then there's going to be secret areas.

02:41.26
sentfrmheaven
Right? so.

02:46.92
tanomsak
That you won't realize are there or you might realize they're there but you just can't get to but as you play deeper and deeper into the game. You're going to acquire powers that are going to give you the ability to go back and go into those areas or finally find a way. To get to. You know some area that you weren't able to get to before so it opens up and expands areas that you've already ah traveled through So There's a lot of back and forth back and forth back and forth and they introduce a new mechanic. Not a mechanic I guess you would call a mechanic where you can take a picture. Ah. An important area that you know you might need to come back to because you can't get to a certain area or through through a certain door. You can't right? Yeah, otherwise you would just you know hit the screens.

03:30.50
Jaime G
But there's a there's a cost or there's a a catch to it right? You can't just take pictures right.

03:39.62
tanomsak
Screen saver on your on your controller right? I'm playing on ps 5 like how screen save that it's kind of funny though. It's like it has this feature and and I've seen people talk about this is a fantastic feature that all side scroller metro style games should have and I'm like well can you just take a screenshot. Like so yeah, they built it into the game and you have like a a jewel that you use and it puts it there and it shows up on the map so you can like go onto the maps. Oh. There's one of my jewels let me let me scroll ah highlight that and and Zoom in and see what's there and it'll show you the picture then okay I remember that. Maybe I mean there's so many different areas and secret areas and stuff that ah it it really is hard to keep up with that. Ah, all the the secret spots that you need to go back to? Um, even I I consider myself somebody with at least average memory. And but it I so I'm straining I'm getting to the point now where I've opened up enough of the map that it is starting to turn into a little bit of a strain trying to remember everything oh was there an opening there was there a door there I couldn't get through a trap or or something high up. But. Yeah, so it's a cool feature I haven't really used it a whole lot maybe 2 or 3 what you got Vance.

05:02.65
sentfrmheaven
Um, so when you first turn on the game and ah you know is going through the intro and stuff like that like what stood out to you like um, like just like right off the bat with this game.

05:16.95
tanomsak
I would say the artwork just the style I mean it's I mean it's not going to blow your stocks off graphically you know it's not pushing new ah to new ah to new areas with the graphics but the artwork is really good and how they implement it with like. Voice acting and and the and the story how he kind of own Fas in kind of like ah you know a 3 d way like you know like you're watching an anime or a cartoon and then it when it gets into the fighting action. It will go to like the side grow the poor I really like how that's implemented. I think we talked about that when we talked about our sea of stars a month or so ago homie like how they incorporate similar stuff in their their gameplay. This is the same way set with higher I mean very high production values coming from a major studio like yubaoft.

06:10.60
sentfrmheaven
I it that was the first guy I noticed too like just how like um, if like if I had to compare it to a game um ratationche and clink like just how vibrant the colors were and like how everything's like you know, colorful and it definitely tracks you you know, like straight out the gate it in. You know, like you say like with the artwork. You can definitely tell like you know, even with different enemies and stuff like that like the detail like they put into it. You know like the time the the where geographical where it's located at everything makes sense. You know and and it's like that's just something like now I was starting to. Kind of know there's just the details of the game. But yeah, it's a very thought out artistic game though.

06:52.45
tanomsak
Yeah, and not only is ah the artwork. Great. The voice actoring has been great I mean the act some of the acting ah is from certain characters is just okay, right? like the main character Sargon like. He's very 2 dimensional. He's ah he's a I'm an action guy I'm I'm intense and I'm going to you know I'm going to go in here and nothing can stop me and he kind of like carries that through the through the story doesn't really change that I've not that I've seen like. In regard to like characterization of like the main character. Anyway, you know? yeah you know not not ah next level stuff. But it's solid, but what you would expect I guess you know ah from this type of character. Ah, the immortals. His band of you know guys that he's with like they're like they're heroes of Persia and if you don't know where Persia is Persia is modern-day Iran um, there's ah they're heroes of Persia and. I don't I can't tell if they're mercenaries or they're just you know? Ah, they're just hanging out and they're just like the elite soldiers of the persian army and that that they ah they've been handpicked because of their skills and abilities. But they're really cool. Um, you can almost say like oh man this is like.

08:20.34
tanomsak
Marvels or the avengers before the avengers right? This persian version of Avengers. Um, but that's cool I would love to see something carried on from that ah from from that group. You know in a future game. Um.

08:38.20
Jaime G
So Tot Tony did

08:39.72
tanomsak
But the mythology too another thing that stands out to you while you're playing is the mythology that is incorporated a lot of you know it's it's it's persian mythology. It's you know, ancient ah mythology from that region of the world. You know. Ah, the setting is my mount kife I think that's pro pronounceation. You know it's a mountain and it's ah you're you're fighting through the ruins of like a ancient fortress or a city that. You know King Darius of persia once he sat the throne there and while you're going through there. You're meeting different characters and you know there's you know pieces taken from ancient. You know, mythology and. That's a really intriguing aspect I love how they're able to like kind of bring that to the player where you know we don't really get anything a lot of mythology outside of norse mythology with vikings or you know. Maybe some japanese with you know, samurai and stuff like that with ah some other their mythology. We've been getting all that a lot of that lately. But it's nice to see something kind of new and um, so um, we really enjoyed just playing through the game and say oh what new mythology is going to pop up and I can see.

10:06.44
tanomsak
And I was reading a Reddit um the other day where somebody was commenting on they were from persia or they're from Iran and how they were so pleased that you know after playing many many games that you know.

10:25.87
tanomsak
Touched you know, lightly on mythology from that region. They were usually way off base and stuff that the developers at Uisoft actually took the time to get a lot of this mythology correct a lot of the the writing and stuff that's you know in the background. Ah.

10:44.82
tanomsak
Sanscri I guess I would call it. Ah, it's how it's accurate like they really dove deep into making sure that they were providing a quality ah product that respected some allow the source materials that they were using to to make the game. So. Yeah, it's ah it's a solid game. It's it's you know and and you know just playing through a solid story. Great voice acting beautiful artwork, great action. The side scrolling action. We haven't really talked about the side scrolling action yet. But it's you know the combat is smooth. And you know you just like any other metroid style game. You're going to have like you know you're going to start off very basic and you're going to acquire powers and then again like I said you're going to use those powers to expand the areas that you can get to and then hopefully. Ah, you know you're gonna be able to combine all that into like this artistic combat as you're you as you're going through the more difficult situations where they start throwing a whole bunch of enemies at you. Um, and you know it's got the boss bows I yeah. You start off with some basic boss battles where you know you know, let me jump over you get behind you and I'll hit you in the heel even though you're 20 times bigger than me I'll just keep sticking in the ankle and eventually you'll bleed out right? That's your like your basic boss battle. We've seen those.

12:13.33
sentfrmheaven
Hey that achilles is dangerous. Yeah.

12:18.56
tanomsak
Yeah,, that's typically like an eldin ring like man. That's if that isn't your go to strategy coming out a gate you know combat role behind the enemy then hack and so hack their ankle until they turn around or they so they try to attack you and then you roll away right? same same thinking here when the initial. Bosses you Encounter. You know it's not the it's not that complex of a strategy you just got to figure you know figure to use the walls and everything to help your maneuverability in any given situation. But um, ah they there's.

12:54.78
tanomsak
1 of the more intriguing aspects of this one is like there's some puzzles to the platforming that's involved so like you have special moves and stuff you acquire that you're going to have to use those to solve puzzles. To unlock areas right? So it's not that it's like whoa that sounds difficult or that sounds like you know a little bit more than I could probably a handle and I thought that I'm like I don't know do I wanted I'm like I'm not a puzzle guy like I don't like puzzles like star wars. Ah, the new star wars a survivor and fall in order. They're having a lot of puzzles man those are the least liked aspects of those games for me, but this is it's not those type of puzzles. It's just like you trying you kind of like using your intuition and. Skills that you've that you've gotten to like a kind of maneuver through some areas. So. It's not like oh do I need to answer a a question or something. No, it's just maneuvering puzzles. Basically how how could I best maneuver through this.

14:07.68
sentfrmheaven
I' you see in and that was gonna be like my next question for is like how do you for the mcchanics are um from somebody who has played those type type of games and then if you were new newcomer like myself. What would you would tell like the audience or tell somebody. Ah, you would talk about the game like to expect from like you said like the maneuvers of jumping on the wallliding you know, hit r two where you could dash in the air. You know, um, like shooting the pedals to open up another pedal to jump on like what would you. 1 how did you feel about that far as mechanics and the 2 what you know? would you tell somebody else like to kind of get ready for and.

14:45.78
tanomsak
Well like I said they kind of spoon feed you like they throw you in action to begin the game but the action is basically you know jumping an attack right? It's like it's not that complex. You know it's that it's 2 button combinations. But as you progress to the game they did ah they do a pretty good job of really spoon feeding you right before you're getting to new areas like they introduced the concept that you're going to be using in the upcoming. You're not throwing all kinds of concepts at you at once. So it's like. They're spooning feeding you ah and then then letting you have the opportunity to use that concept you know for a level or you know a love word 2 and then they're gonna oh well, here's another concept that will add on top of that concept right? that movement. Um and interesting enough I actually found. But I was going through. There was ah one of the immortals I think he was your captain. Um, when you find him in one of the levels. He's like in an arena and he's like oh I'm glad you showed up. We're gonna we're gonna do some training and it's a whole training level. It's a free training level so you can train against enemies and it it shows you like he he walks you through every combination that you can do right? and then he has you do the combination until you get it right? right? And then you can quit any time.

16:19.12
tanomsak
But it it actually walks you through all the different different combat techniques and stuff that you you can employ and how best you use them and he'll tell you too. He's like oh you want to use this against guys that are you know have a shield you know or um. Use this one if you want to get up to a certain level and then strike down on somebody and I'll let me show you an example, right? It's like like they show you and there's you just got to get there if you spend time in that level. So I spend a little bit of time in that level just to get some some combos down and they're like oh. Yeah I would have never a thought because when you're Playing. You're just button mashing and it's like oh let me just hit Square 3 times forever you know and I would use that same combo. But it's like oh but wait if I just slow my button mashing down just a little bit.

17:00.92
sentfrmheaven
Absolutely.

17:15.92
tanomsak
You know I can incorporate like some more you know style or some more ah other combo combinations within that but by slowing down instead of just mashmash mash mashmash right? So yeah, has it had a training level there. It's not that far in so I was I was pleasantly surprised when I came across it I'm like oh okay, cool I can spend time here when when I beat the game I can come back and like really hone those skills and like see if I can do some speed running so it's it's a. It's a really good combination and the fact that they I don't think they developed this game I don't think they spent a lot of time developing this game I think they cranked this game I think the original project was taken away from another developer and then hand it over to Yubioft and they. Ah, with a lot of yubioft games. You know they're they're very alike or they're just not that great right? Sometimes I'll hit the home run like a sassist Creed Val Hollow Home run right ah black flag home run. But then you have all these other assassin creeds in there. That's just okay, um.

18:24.32
tanomsak
And interestingly I I did not know this but ah that Prince Persia and it's been around for a while that assassin's creed was born kind of out of Prince Persia so I did not realize that that that was ah that was the origins of their assassin's creed.

18:43.39
tanomsak
Series they took a lot from Prince Persia so ah but yeah, this ah this game prince persia wonderful game I I got PS 5 edition physical disc I've mentioned that physical disc physical disc physical disc the way to go um, and.

18:55.92
sentfrmheaven
This this good this.

19:03.00
tanomsak
And I'm loving it. It's ah it's an excellent combination to our um, an excellent ah addition to my collection and hopefully you know, ah it doesn't drag me down too much in the ah in the our game draft game drafting that we did earlier in a year

19:17.75
sentfrmheaven
I.

19:19.73
Jaime G
And.

19:21.60
tanomsak
But to score ah, the scores that are coming on like meta critictic you're of they're like 86 or so that's like solid that's a good fair score I think um and I yeah I'm giving this ah you know a thumbs up play it or you know bar it from somebody play. It. It's worth playing. Especially if you like sides growing metro video style games I do ah and I would like to see more of this style game come out from ah either from us software or other developers ah take aquee from ah from what they've done with this game and I'm really ah I really excited to see like. Ah, a side scroller metro game that can has a really deep story. Ah I'm waiting for that to stop game to come. But yeah, Prince Persia lost crown great game give it a try.

20:15.80
Jaime G
I actually great. Great conversation here because I was going to ask several things around that but Vance actually addressed some of the questions I had I only had just 1 round question Tony I know that we're that we're trying to you know you you get a good summary but did you ever come across that controversial. AiGeneratedNpc character the voice that where they record to they forgot to record some npc's voice and they made like made it with Ai.

20:42.73
tanomsak
No I have not come to Cro I haven't finished the game yet. But I have not come across that character yet I don't know if bill would take away from me though I mean I'm not I'm not against a lot a I per se in a situation like that I mean I don't I don't I don't know how it's being used there. But.

20:48.94
Jaime G
I cool.

21:02.34
tanomsak
Um, a I I mean yeah, it's kind of getting this label as like future villain I don't know I mean we're taking away from artists. Maybe I don't know there again I don't know but I have not come across that. But yeah.

21:17.11
Jaime G
You cool. Thanks man.

21:19.27
sentfrmheaven
So we appreciate it appreciate it appreciate it.

21:21.27
tanomsak
Awesome! All right? Thanks for joining us here in good to game radio. Get your other episodes dropping where you got a new format and we'll be dropping you know couple more episodes a week with a bill a bit more regular and this is our our in 20 format. But we're topping talking specific games. So thanks for joining us and we'll get you on next episode all right I'm gonna stop this.