Given the way the story of the new Prince of Persia panned out on the consoles, its difficult to see where exactly The Fallen King ought to be placed. It still uses the ‘new’ Prince, the Princess of Ahura, Elika and the God of Darkness, Ahriman. The story here starts with Ahriman’s release, and the Prince is sent to find a King with the ability to summon the God of Light, Ormazd. Unfortunately, the King has fallen to Ahriman’s corruption and it’s up to the Prince to team up with a local mage named Zal. Together, they are out to save the Kingdom and drive out Ahriman’s dark influence.
Zal isn't as charismatic as the Prince... or Elika.
The story is weaker than the console counterpart, particularly in terms of delivery and depth. Told through a few intermittent 2D sequences, there isn’t too much more to be learned about the world that has been created for this Prince of Persia saga. However, fans of the console game would be glad to hear that the Prince retains his newfound ‘spunk’ and attitude, even if it has been toned down due to system limitations. Unfortunately, the Prince and Zal aren’t as dynamic a pairing as the Prince and Elika in terms of character interaction.
Ubisoft had quite the brain wave when thinking about how to bring this game to the DS. Most recognise that The Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass managed to pull off touch screen only controls really well, so it seems that Ubi used this as inspiration. That is, Prince of Persia: The Fallen King is almost solely controlled by using the stylus, while on a 2D plane. The reason we say almost is that Zal’s abilities that help the Prince progress are triggered by holding down any direction on the d-pad then following this up with some stylus moves.
As a throw back to the traditional Prince of Persia games with a modern twist, the idea is actually a good one that works, on paper. Virtually everything that you would have liked to do to get the Prince from point A to point B can be done. So, you’ll be jumping across bottomless pits, wall-jumping and sliding, climbing ropes, swinging, fighting the corruption and manipulating the environment and laws of physics with the help of Zal. Best of all, the actual level design is strong enough while still being suitably varied to make this work, and the levels aren’t too long so it’s a good game to pick up and play. So what happened?
The Prince would rather be anything but lonely.
The idea of using the touch screen to move the Prince is fine. Unfortunately, the idea doesn’t work as well as it was intended. Don’t get us wrong, you can still do everything that the game intended for you. However, there is too much inconsistency in the touch screen recognition for the game to be comfortable. Basically, you’ll tap or move the stylus with the intention of doing a particular action, only for there to be no response. So while you'll finish the level or the game, there will be several unnecessary trips to the checkpoints along the way.
This would be all good if it weren’t for the fact that the game relies on proficiency in your moves to progress. There are instances where you need to move quickly or accurately, such as trying to avoid massive spinning gears, and you will then be forced to restart because the game won’t respond to your inputs. This is slightly alleviated by some very generous checkpoints, but at the same time, we would have preferred the game to be more accurate with the input recognition or at least tell us if we were doing something wrong.
This is a real shame, because as we mentioned, the input idea is a good one. Furthermore, the design team seemed to have taken this idea into account when constructing the game several dozen levels. There is a suitable amount of variety and challenges within each of the levels, while you’ll steadily gain more abilities that keep things fresh and interesting. Unfortunately, it’s the frustration with the game’s controls that keep these good aspects from being as enjoyable as they ought to be. It seems that this game could have benefited from more time in QA.
Well that's hardly fair.
Prince of Persia: The Fallen King retains a similar style to what was introduced in the console games. However, the look has gone for a kid-friendly adaptation with big head, hands and feet. While not as endearing as the console games, it certainly fits the DS. Thankfully, the environments look as good as they are put together and the Prince’s movements are very well animated. It’s a shame that the frame rate is so inconsistent and there is a need for an extra coat of polish, otherwise is would have been on par with Phantom Hourglass. There is not much to say about the sound, other than the more traditional Arabian Nights type themes seem to be here to stay, along with some passable sound effects but there are no recorded voices.
For a game that seemed to be put together rather hastily, Prince of Persia: The Fallen King had all the elements it need to be good, if not great. We can forgive the lacklustre story and presentation, as there have been far worse on the DS. We can’t forgive however, the fact that the input recognition is just not up to scratch. You’ll get through the game and you’ll be able to everything that you are supposed to do. Unfortunately, this will only be after you’ve been back to the checkpoint several times.
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