Prince of Persia: Warrior Within Review: Solid Port

App Name:	Prince of Persia: Warrior Within
Platforms:	iPhone, iPod Touch
Publisher(s):	Gameloft, Ubisoft
Version Reviewed:	1.0.7
Genre(s):	Action, adventure
Release Date:	June 17, 2010
Price:	$4.99
Download

Gameloft certainly took on an enormous challenge when they agreed to bring Prince of Persia: Warrior Within to the iPhone. Gameloft has become well known for their quality console-style games, and deservedly so. But rather than take the license and apply their successful formula to it, Gameloft has attempted to port the entire PS2 version of the game into the mobile arena. The result is a solid console experience on the iPhone, albeit one that isn’t flawless.

Prince of Persia: Warrior Within tells the tale of the titular hero attempting to navigate his way through the Island of Time, so that he might lift a curse from his shoulders and stop a malevolent demon that is chasing him. This is actually the second game in the Prince of Persia series, and I’m a bit baffled as to why they chose to port this title as opposed to the first game, the Sands of Time (especially since SoT is the game that the recently released Prince of Persia film is based on). It certainly will throw new players off a bit, when the cinematics start talking about things that happened in the prior game without explaining them. Once they get into the game play, though, it won’t matter much.

I have to give credit where credit is due: they accomplished something good here. This is, as near as possible, the entire console game in the palm of your hand. And while it is ultimately a flawed experience, it’s still an impressive achievement for Gameloft and a notable moment in the evolution of iOS gaming.

A lot of the fun of the game is in the way you move through levels and fight enemies. The Prince is not a brawler so much as a dancer, and the thing that makes the Prince of Persia series stand out is the way you must jump, run, flip, and hang your way through each level. Instead of loading levels up with enemies, each level features plenty of broken walkways, towering ruins, and devious pit traps. The challenge is often just getting from point A to point B without falling to your doom. And when you finally do make it to safer footing, there’s often an enemy waiting for you to shoulder-flip over and cleave from behind.  Simply running forward and hacking is not enough; you must master the rhythms and timing of the Prince’s fighting style to succeed.  It’s a whole lot of fun.

I don’t have access to the original anymore, but I did have to access an online walkthrough or two as I played; and as near as I can tell, this is the whole game, or darn near it. Everything from the cinematics, to the level design, to the textures and lighting have been carried over and/or recreated here. It all looks good on the iPhone screen and, with an iPhone 3GS or 4, or a 3rd generation iPod Touch, it runs pretty smoothly. Sure, they had to “cheat” a bit in the recreation, and the result of that is an annoying momentary load screen every time you enter a new room. A small price to pull off such large and expansive level design.

This also means that you’re getting a lot of game for your iTunes buck. I don’t think any Gameloft title to date has offered so much game in one download. This is a good 15-20 hour play title, for sure, punctuated with great boss battles and a full complement of plot-building cut scenes.  It’s a mobile treat for the more hardcore gamer.

With so much good game to build on, one imagines that Gameloft’s biggest challenge was trying to recreate the full range of controls available on the average PS2 controller, so that the Prince could come to the iPhone in all his jumping, slashing, wall-running glory. It’s here where the game breaks down the most. Gameloft tried–they really did–to pull it off. And it works decently. Instead of creating a ton of buttons for different actions, they went the contextual route: four primary action buttons, each of which changes in purpose depending upon where the Prince is standing, if there’s an enemy or a ledge nearby, etc.I can see exactly what they were trying to achieve with it.

The result is a bit unwieldly. Buttons can change beneath your thumbs without you realizing it, and until you remember exactly what each button’s range of actions is, you’ll likely have more than one deadly mishap as you press “drop” when you meant to press “jump,” or “jump” when you meant to “wall run,” or when the touch buttons don’t respond quite as quickly or accurately as a controller would. It’s a steep learning curve, never a good thing on a casual device like the iPhone. Once you get it, it’s not bad; but getting it will frustrate you.

If you’ll accept the limitations on controls and the annoying load moments, you’re really in for a good time.  Prince of Persia: Warrior Within looks, feels, and plays like the console game it is, and I for one have really enjoyed it. Even for its flaws, it’s a worthy title for the iPhone. Games like this represent a shift in gaming on the iPhone, and I only hope that the next step for Gameloft is to put this much robust action, complex level design, and excellent graphics quality into their own titles.

Our Score: 4/5

Prince of Persia: Warrior Within is available for $6.99 at the time of this review.

About the Author

Writer@Large Brian P. Hudson is an educator and freelance writer currently living in Dearborn, MI.

 

Free! Gem Keeper