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Jan 03 2006
Prince of Persia: Revelations Review
PSP Game Review | Adventure
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| Summary: Disappointment
61
I ordered this game directly from UbiSoft UK just because of the ratings people were giving it on 411. It was backordered, and it turns out my local video store got it first - so I rented it. To sum up, it was a major disappointment.
Lets start with what it had going for it. Revelations has excellent graphics, probably the best I have seen on the PSP to date. The character graphics are crisp, clean, and well-designed. The environment is highly detailed, showing a lot of work being done to make it look breathtaking. Add various alpha and fog based effects and it looks amazing. This game has serious eye candy.
The sound effects and the music are amazing as well. The characters have clear voices and the music has a distinctive personality, changing to suit your current situation in-game. Ambient environmental sounds combine with the stunning visuals to heighten the "experience" of the game.
The controls are pretty cool. There are quite a large amount of combos that you can do, everything from slicing the victim up the torso to strangling them, to using them as a human shield. Very good system, and at first impression, the controls make the game seem very limitless. After playing for a while, you realize it becomes hard to get the exact move that you want to execute every time, and you find your poor prince suffering for the controls shortcomings. I recall in one stage you had to jump up, and spring between two pillars so you can get to the top. I did this move perfectly the first time, and after I had to repeat it I just could not get the jumps correct. This was mostly due to the lack of precision of the PSP analog stick combined with the camera system (see below). In my honest opinion, the controls could have been designed in such a way that you 'lock out erroneous movements'. That being said, while I was not amoricable to the controls, they were not terrible.
The load times are a lot less than other games (such as ATV Offroad for example), but I find it still annoying. Everytime you die, instead of starting you over again instantly, you have to wait for the death sequence and/or the "Game Over" animation, click Retry, then wait for it to load. Very annoying. Furthermore, when you cross over certain areas of the game, it seemlessly loads the next level which results in a very noticeable pause in the game play. For me, the worst is when you die and retry, spawn at the save point, move two steps and them have to wait again because its loading the next zone. Poor design and placement of the save fountains, yes, but annoying nevertheless.
I have heard a lot of bad things about PSP games and the clunky camera systems. I've seen a few of these games, but this game is probably the worst. Instead of allowing you to control the camera freely, the game has an 'intelligent' camera system, that changes camera views depending on where you are. Furthermore, when you move the camera on your own, the camera moves slowly and collides with obstacles in the environment. So if you want to look over that ledge you are standing on, and look down - you just can't do it. This puts a lot of 'guessing' when doing jumps, etc for the first time - usually ending up in the poor prince's demise.
Because of the 'intelligent' camera system I found myself very confused many times as to where I was after a camera change. Imagine running through a corridor, pressing up on the analog stick, having a view of the prince from behind. Then suddenly the camera angle changes and you are looking at the prince from the front, and you need to suddenly hit down to get him to continue running in the same direction. In trying to control the camera, it is very easy to lose your bearing on where you are exactly, making any movements or jumps dangerous. The camera system severely impedes your ability to control your character accurately.
When I first played, I selected the 'Normal' difficulty. I played perfectly fine through the first level, killing the bad dudes without giving things a second thought. I tried the various moves, loved the slow-motion kill sequences. It was very enjoyable until the end boss game. I must have had to try that boss about fifty times. Finally I managed to beat her and when I did I was thinking to myself, "Oh! That wasn't ME that died?". Subsequent 'bosses' were the same deal to an extent. Instead of the game getting harder gradually, you have this great imbalance between foe difficulty. I changed the difficulty to 'Easy' and suprisingly it was not noticeably easier at all. It was like swatting flies for 10 minutes, then being expected to take on a bird. little bit too much of a leap.
I think one of the biggest reasons I found the end bosses so much harder is because you actually need to use the prince's arsenal of moves to beat them -- and because the controls are not very precise, it is hard to ensure you are doing the correct moves every time. I also noticed that there is very little clarity (for lack of a better word) as to what is required of you, not only while fighting the bosses, but also while navigating the terrain. Yes, I know the prince of persia series is all about this, but in Revelations it was different: because of the camera and control shortcomings, you find that you know HOW to beat the boss, the problem was doing it. Or you would have known WHERE to jump next, had you seen the ledge. Lack of clarity.
In the end, I found that I liked the game for its quality, but I just could not live with the problems. To me, the underlining goal of any game is to entertain. This game was hard, frustrating, and stressful to me - not fun at all. I've seen games that were hard and frustrating, but you just couldn't walk away from them. This game is not one of them - I walked away easily from this game, and I cancelled my order with UbiSoft. Not a fun game.
As far as whether to get it or not, I know that the Prince of Persia series appeal to very specific tastes - I've played almost every Prince of Persia going all the way back to the C-64. For me, I wouldn't recommend buying it, I would recommend renting/borrowing it first if you can.
REVIEW IT
PRODUCT INFO
BUY IT
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Comments
01/07/06
24 
overachiever
| Maryland USA
Wow, great review (even if the game wasn't).
+
01/07/06
30
Ikaickkaids
| New Jersey USA | XBC: pwn493 | KAI: No KAI | SOCOM: Wont fit!
So the graphics are astounding, sound is amazing, gameplay is excellent, and control scheme is worlable, but you couldn't get around a clunky camera system? You know you can control it, right?
+
01/07/06
10
yesurbius
| Alberta Canada
Yeah, the camera movement was too slow, and switched automatically. To me it really affected the game, and was made the game cumbersome to play, sapping out the fun.
Remember that you can have great graphics, great sound, and even great game mechanics but the overall experience will be horrible. Conversely, you can have poor graphics, sounds and mechanics but have a great overall experience.
+
01/09/06
1
evilcabbages
| Australia
awww, i was thinkin about gettin this game...
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01/09/06
30
Ikaickkaids
| New Jersey USA | XBC: pwn493 | KAI: No KAI | SOCOM: Wont fit!
I thought it was excellent...maybe I should write a review.
+
01/13/06
1
ICDragon
| California USA
Your score confuses me a little, after you initial high praise of the visuals, the sound, and the gameplay. While difficult controls and a bad camera are something quite frustrating, it still doesn't seem like it deserves a score that low. Anywho its your review...
+
01/13/06
30
Ikaickkaids
| New Jersey USA | XBC: pwn493 | KAI: No KAI | SOCOM: Wont fit!
I thought the review was excellent and extremely fair, but the score confused me, too. At least a 75 with all that praise at the beginning, I would think.
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01/15/06
30
Chance
| 
| Florida USA | XBC: Chance | KAI: Chance | SOCOM: Chance2
Enjoyed your review. Well thought out and written. I'll take your advice on renting vs. buying. I too am kinda confused about your low score, but of course..I haven't played the game. I agree with you some of the BEST games have horrible graphics, but are just plain addictive, and some of the worst have beautiful graphics, but no gameplay. Guess I'll have to try this one for myself. Thanks!
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01/16/06
10
yesurbius
| Alberta Canada
Just to clarify for all. I wrote:
In the end, I found that I liked the game for its quality, but I just could not live with the problems. To me, the underlining goal of any game is to entertain. This game was hard, frustrating, and stressful to me - not fun at all.
My rating for a game is overall, but it is weighted. If the graphics had been horrible, sound was bad, and controls unusable, the game would have gotten a 10. The fact is, the graphics were great, the sound was excellent, and the controls were quite usable. Those factors however are not all that contribute to a great game. The game was not fun in my eyes because a number of problems in different areas of the game converged and ruined the game. I have seen games that have bad controls, mediocre graphics / sound, long load times and clunky cameras - but the game is still fun to play .. for me, the bottom line is "is it entertaining?"
+
01/16/06
10
yesurbius
| Alberta Canada
Sorry for a second post. As it stands, Ubisoft shipped my game before they received my cancellation request, so I got the game anyhow. Instead of sending it back, I kept it. That was over two weeks ago and I played the game once since.
+
04/26/06
9
sodium
| Ontario Canada | SOCOM: takanuvanathan
What's the framerate on the game like???
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04/27/06
72
Panther
| California USA
Frame rate drops down quite a bit at times (but almost more like an intentional slow motion effect during fights - I am sure it probably is not really intentional but it works ok).
I think people are too hard on this game. Despite some long load times and slow down it's a fun and beautiful game for the psp. I don't regret owning it at all.edited: Apr 27 2006
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