Prince of Persia (2008)

If you've played the Prince trilogy, then you shouldn't expect similar elements, a similar combat system, or even references (except for the donkey's name) when playing this part. I'll try in more detail next.

- The first thing that catches your eye is the graphics. It is very different from the previous parts, but only for the better. Detailed depiction of even small elements, lush landscapes of the kingdom will easily make you believe that we are in a beautiful cartoon.

- Battles. There are few of them. All battles take place in 1v1 mode, and focus on quick reactions and choosing a combination, but given that the player cannot die, the battles are easy. It doesn't take long to get used to the combat, but the colorful battles can't help but delight.

- Partner. There is more acrobatics, including thanks to the abilities of the pretty princess Elika, an NPC sorceress partner. It's cool to watch the interactions and chemistry between the characters (there are quite a few of them) even when, for example, you're climbing along a ledge. Most information can be learned from their non-plot conversations, which can be conducted at almost any time. The only thing is that at this time they are standing, and it will not be possible to do this while walking.

- Collect many glowing balls. This is tiring, and you have to go through some locations 3-4 times to collect previously inaccessible balls. It's a matter of taste, of course, but over time I started to give up on them.

- There are difficult puzzles, sometimes even victory in battle is achieved not by simply waving a sword, but by using your wits, and for each of the 4 bosses it should be different.

- They write on the Internet that the concept of the battle of two Gods was borrowed from Persian mythology. I’m not familiar with the mythology itself, but I still lacked the epicness in the storyline. Ahriman - the main antagonist, indeed seems to be a powerful enemy who is still regaining his strength, with whom the Prince is no match. But what prevented Ormuzd from throwing out all his power is unclear. In the game, his power is reflected in Elika’s abilities, but this, for me personally, was not enough.

- Also, the cutting down of the tree by Elika’s father, which restrained the ancient evil, remained incomprehensible to me. For what? That is, your daughter does not listen to you, and you release evil into the world that can destroy everything, is it logical? Okay, or, let’s say, the release of Ahriman is the worst thing in the world that can happen, so why was the protection made in the form of a tree that even a simple person with a sword can break? And why is he guarded by a crazy... cough, cough, irresponsible person? Yes, no one lives in the city during the game, except for a couple of people, but from Elika’s stories we understand that the city was once inhabited. Why then didn’t someone cut down this tree for a more significant purpose (Ahriman is good at luring people away)?

I think I’ll finish here. It turned out to be verbose, but I don’t know how to do it any other way.