So Prince of Persia sounds like a Ubisoft game/ Official EB POP thread

[patrickula]

I will get this eventually, if only for the prettiness.  I don't mind an easy game as long as it's not boring... I'd rather have it be easy than frustrating.

[Positive Touch]

And yeah the game is pretty easy.

Whatever, bitch.

*yawn* i'll pick it up when it's under 20

[y2kev]

And yeah the game is pretty easy.

Whatever, bitch.

*yawn* i'll pick it up when it's under 20

so next week

[Positive Touch]

i love winter bombs

[Van Cruncheon]

i'll pop (lol) it in here

[y2kev]

-It's beautiful
-It sounds amazing
-The platforming feels a little disconnected from the player--pressing A once results in the prince scurrying up a wall even if that requires him to "grab" twice
-The level design seems to be fuk brilliant
-Performance is great
-The CE is garbage
-Combat is boring but very cinematic
-The no dying thing works well
-The writing is not as snappy
-The prince is voiced by Nathan Drake
-It's impossible to get lost because the game tells you where to go
-There are no puzzles so far of any kind

[cool breeze]

the le has a faux leather case to it, so, yeah

[Van Cruncheon]

naruto tbb > this

this is pretty, but man the tag team of bad nathan drake wisecracking plus HOLD A TO WIN gaming hurts

[TVC15]

This is a HUGE downgrade over the previous 3 games.  Hopefully they realize they fucked up when they plan the sequel.

[cool breeze]

does he actually wisecrack? I mean the same voice actor was whatever that guy's name was from Assassin's Creed who was Altair's bitchy descendant.

[Eel O'Brian]

cool, maybe we'll get an Outrageous Amazon Deal™ on this before christmas

[Van Cruncheon]

it's nate drake's voice. man, camera aside, tomb raider underworld is way better than this game. still, it's an easy couple hundred achievement points, i guess. combat seemed fun at first, but it's really just challenge-free trial and error until you find the WIN COMBO for the battle

don't get me wrong, i love easy pretty "tourist" games, but this isn't just EASY, it is ENTIRELY WITHOUT ANY SENSE OF THREAT.

[cool breeze]

btw, I'm 99% sure Ubisoft paid a great deal of money to IGN to up the score

you go to IGNs website, they have a flash ad that covers the entire screen for Prince of Persia; you go check their review, they gave it a 9.3/10 and probably the highest in the last; you go check the box for the game, you see IGN impressions on the box.

[TVC15]

does he actually wisecrack? I mean the same voice actor was whatever that guy's name was from Assassin's Creed who was Altair's bitchy descendant.

Oh no, the Prince in this game is Nathan Drake.  It's like they brought him in to the studio and said, "Now do exactly what you did for that Uncharted game.  Say, actually, do you have any shitty lines that you didn't use in Uncharted, because they'd fit in fine here."

[Van Cruncheon]

also, button presses feel seriously laggy, especially after playing tomb raider and the naruto sequel. then again, it doesn't matter, because you just point the prince and hold a -- when the rare time comes to press b or rt instead, the game actually PAUSES ITSELF BRIEFLY

[Van Cruncheon]

and why the fuck doesn't elika just do this whole quest herself

she can fly, teleport, hit monsters with magic and no fear of reprisal

why is she dragging your useless uncharted ass along

[Eel O'Brian]

"tourist games" is awesome, gonna use that from now on

[Van Cruncheon]

does he actually wisecrack? I mean the same voice actor was whatever that guy's name was from Assassin's Creed who was Altair's bitchy descendant.

Oh no, the Prince in this game is Nathan Drake.  It's like they brought him in to the studio and said, "Now do exactly what you did for that Uncharted game.  Say, actually, do you have any shitty lines that you didn't use in Uncharted, because they'd fit in fine here."

that's pretty much it to a tee. after the "carpet" chatter in the prologue, i was PRAYING to hear nate babble innuendo about porking whores in curacao

[TVC15]

Man, he SO DOES NOT fit this game.  The only reason I could think of them casting Nathan Drake is to make the casting of Jake Gyllenhal in the movie seem less terrible.  The Prince of Persia is not supposed to be some lame American action movie castoff.

I still can't believe they dumbed down the game this much.  This is a fucking shame.

[TVC15]

AHHHHH HES WISECRACKING AGAIN!

[Van Cruncheon]

beat first boss, did a bunch of "guess the contact point and hold A" quasi-platforming, now gonna play the vastly better naruto game instead

[Van Cruncheon]

not even sure it's artsy

the visuals look better in screens, in my opinion

[cool breeze]

you guys are making me excited to play it for all the wrong reasons

[Greatness Gone]

4 hours in. I'm going back to playing Kingdom Hearts.

[WrikaWrek]

I kept making him talk when i played it. I kinda like wisecracks as main characters.

[Van Cruncheon]

ICO EXTREME

[TVC15]

Yeah, I'd have to say skipping this until it's 20 bucks is probably the best decision.  This is an Ubi-flopza.

[Eel O'Brian]

so it's basically dragon's lair minus the bad choice cut scenes

[Van Cruncheon]

yeah, it's a 20 buck "i am bored and want 500+ stress-free achievement points in 10 hours" ubi-light special

please support ubi's better games like naruto and far cry 2

[brawndolicious]

this thread makes me want Assassin's Creed 2.

[MrAngryFace]

People bitch so much here about Assassin's Creed these days, so sad. Great game. Yet Uncharted gets more lip service CUZ HES A DOUCHE LIKE ME! I CAN RELATE!

[Fragamemnon]

Really glad I passed up the $30 preorder for the PC, even though I really dug the last three PoP games immensely. Instead I will enjoy Far Cry 2, which so far three hours in completely rocks.

A shame they backed off on the challenge and brain-teasing nature of the games. It was never intense or anything, but at least the spatial puzzles always kept your mind engaged in the game, this sounds like some sort of ICO-esque cheap theme park ride game.

[maxy]

Been playing it a bit and i think that this is the most casual oriented game that i have ever played.

If you want a relaxing game,get this.

It looks beautiful,  assasins creed engine

[Fragamemnon]

HoMMV:TotE is great, best HoMM release since HoMM3 in 1999 IMO. Ubisoft has managed that license just fine in my book.

[demi]

How did UbiShit destroy Splinter Cell? Chaos Theory was one of the best, it's the Shanghai studio you should be scolding (Double Agent / Pandora Tomorrow)

[demi]

And Rainbow Six Vegas

God I should just put Borys on everyones ignore list

[demi]

But at least you read my post

Which you didn't

[WrikaWrek]

EB definition of shit games is increasingly off.

[dark1x]

People bitch so much here about Assassin's Creed these days, so sad. Great game. Yet Uncharted gets more lip service CUZ HES A DOUCHE LIKE ME! I CAN RELATE!

Err, no.  Assassin's Creed receives hate simply because it's an ultra repetitive, simplified attempt at a stealth action game.  They created a bunch of gameplay systems and basically allow the software to manage itself.  There is such little design present within the various tasks you perform.  I can appreciate what they attempted to do and don't actually hate the game, but I completely understand why many people do.

Uncharted, however, is basically a Gears of War clone with a different setting.  I love Gears of War and, as a result, also enjoyed Uncharted.  I don't really think it's worthy of the insane praise it has received, but at the same time, it isn't really deserving of the constant hate it seems to catch around here.

[Himu]

-It's beautiful
-It sounds amazing
-The platforming feels a little disconnected from the player--pressing A once results in the prince scurrying up a wall even if that requires him to "grab" twice
-The level design seems to be fuk brilliant
-Performance is great
-The CE is garbage
-Combat is boring but very cinematic
-The no dying thing works well
-The writing is not as snappy
-The prince is voiced by Nathan Drake
-It's impossible to get lost because the game tells you where to go
-There are no puzzles so far of any kind

Bail out.

What made SoT great were the puzzles.

[Himu]

This is a HUGE downgrade over the previous 3 games.  Hopefully they realize they fucked up when they plan the sequel.

lmao

is every next gen iteration of last gen popular games downgrades?

[dark1x]

People bitch so much here about Assassin's Creed these days, so sad. Great game. Yet Uncharted gets more lip service CUZ HES A DOUCHE LIKE ME! I CAN RELATE!

Err, no.  Assassin's Creed receives hate simply because it's an ultra repetitive, simplified attempt at a stealth action game.

sounds like uncharted, except for the stealth part. or should i say: sounds like uncharted 2. lulz

Ah, by their nature, most videogames are extremely repetitive.  The difference here lies in the mechanics and scenario design.  Uncharted uses a well designed gameplay system that is fun (clearly attempts to capture "30 seconds of fun").  They then allow the player to use this well defined system in a wide variety of scenarios.  This is how virtually all modern shooters are designed, really.  Gears, Halo 3, etc. all rely on the same type of design.

Assassin's Creed, however, is very different in its repetitive nature.  If you've played the game that should be obvious.  Again, I don't think it's a bad game, but surely you can see the difference.

[dammitmattt]

is every next gen iteration of last gen popular games downgrades?

Not all of them:

Call of Duty
Burnout
Rock Band (from Guitar Hero)
Ghost Recon
Rainbow Six

[Himu]

burnout's not a downgrade? I haven't played Paradise, but I played the demo and....barf.

[dammitmattt]

burnout's not a downgrade? I haven't played Paradise, but I played the demo and....barf.

Worst demo ever.  Not really indicative at all of the actual experience.

I think it's a big upgrade in most ways, but the ironic thing is that everything it does well doesn't align with previous games in the series.  It's a GREAT open-world exploration game, the co-op challenges are some of the most fun gaming I did in 2008, and putting together a perfect stunt line is extremely addictive.  However, it's missing well-designed courses with perfectly placed shortcuts, and there are a number of small annoyances that can wear on you over time like having to always go to the garage to switch cars and obviously no quick retry.

I spent around 60-80 hours with it back in January and loved every minute of it.  It's definitely worth trying if you're into open world games.

[tiesto]

Get Espgaluda Himu.  It might be the best bullet hell shooter EVER

Absolutely... I have no idea how one would beat the final stage without continuing though...

I can make it to level 4 before having to continue, then I continue like 5 times on the final boss rush.

[MrAngryFace]

People bitch so much here about Assassin's Creed these days, so sad. Great game. Yet Uncharted gets more lip service CUZ HES A DOUCHE LIKE ME! I CAN RELATE!

Err, no.  Assassin's Creed receives hate simply because it's an ultra repetitive, simplified attempt at a stealth action game.

sounds like uncharted, except for the stealth part. or should i say: sounds like uncharted 2. lulz

Ah, by their nature, most videogames are extremely repetitive.  The difference here lies in the mechanics and scenario design.  Uncharted uses a well designed gameplay system that is fun (clearly attempts to capture "30 seconds of fun").  They then allow the player to use this well defined system in a wide variety of scenarios.  This is how virtually all modern shooters are designed, really.  Gears, Halo 3, etc. all rely on the same type of design.

Assassin's Creed, however, is very different in its repetitive nature.  If you've played the game that should be obvious.  Again, I don't think it's a bad game, but surely you can see the difference.

Hahahhaha oh WOW. You are insane.

[dark1x]

I can see your points, but I somewhat disagree.  I think Uncharted was a solid "B" game.  I am a HUGE Gears of War fan, however, so I was smiply pleased to experience another similar game.  I do think the AI was generally better than what is presented in Gears as they are very active and force you to keep moving.  I would agree that it needed more variety in its enemy types, but I do think the presented "battlegrounds" were varied enough to allow for varied shootouts.  The lack of exploration was certainly a disappointment, considering the theme, but again, this is basically a Gears clone without bullet sponge enemies (which was a nice change of pace).  I do feel that Uncharted has received a lot of unfair flack around here simply because a few vocal supporters claim it to be the best game ever (which it is most certainly NOT).  This naturally feeds the hate and, as such, I feel there are now more detractors than supporters out there.

I never could really get into the single player portion of R6V, however.  I've tried so many times, but it just doesn't click.  I enjoyed terrorist hunt, however.

That said, Assassin's Creed is the game I take more issue with.  That truly redefines repetition.  There were some redeeming values, but it became old pretty quickly.

[dammitmattt]

Ah, by their nature, most videogames are extremely repetitive.  The difference here lies in the mechanics and scenario design.  Uncharted uses a well designed gameplay system that is fun (clearly attempts to capture "30 seconds of fun").  They then allow the player to use this well defined system in a wide variety of scenarios.

i disagree with the bolded parts.

uncharted's shooting mechanics are solid, yes, but oh so boring and unexciting in the long run. and there's absolutely ZERO variety in the scenarios. they all play out the same way. they might look a little different, but they're all essentially the same shoot-out arenas with several entrances for scripted, spawning enemies over and over and over again. there's no variety in the enemy designs either. later on there's a bunch of special guys with special weapons but the difference in how you approach them in combat is marginal at best. and they all behave pretty much the same.

in most combat situations there's nothing else to do besides SHOOTING GUYS, there's not even any real movement, progression or acrobatics inside the individual set pieces; the combat never slows down, the enemies never come at unexpected times or from unexpected places, they never hide for a long time or change up their tactics. shoot guys until they stop respawning, wait for the next rush of enemies from another entrance or proceed to next area, rinse and repeat.

the overall (physical) progress in the game and the progress in a combat situation are completely separate and disconnected. there's a huge disconnect between the framework, the story, the progression, all the window dressing and the actual gameplay. scenarios are just enemy dumping grounds instead of combat SITUATIONS that derive from unique locations, story points, setups etc. even if they do drop you into an interesting locale, it all gets destroyed once the place gets rushed by the same lame enemies with their predictable patterns in convenient groups of 4 or 5 at a time.

and considering the themes of the game - treasure hunting, exploration, adventure - it fails to deliver any sense of wonder, amazement or excitement. there's nothing mysterious or awe-inspiring or anything even remotely clever about the plot or the way the story is told. the characters and the writing are entirely forgettable c-grade trash. there are no puzzles. no, none. the "climbing" and platforming is ridiculous; lame, barely interactive filler material, again completely disconnected from the rest of the gameplay.

for the record: i didn't like gears of war very much. but it least it had more variety than uncharted.

now, take rainbow six vegas: a shooter that creates ACTUAL scenarios for its combat situations that are almost all unique in their setup and approach. plus it has the superior cover mechanic 

I mostly agree with what you're saying.  There's not many shooters that create a battleground and then just let you go.  Halo and Half-Life are almost always the best examples, but Gears also does a pretty good job of this during its set pieces (and Horde, of course).  And Far Cry 2, which I'm just scratching the surface on.

However, I'm surprised that you chose Rainbow Six Vegas as a shining example because I thought it was almost as scripted as Call of Duty 4 in how you tackle the single-player.  There are a few set pieces where you have more options, but there's usually just one good way to handle a situation.  Maybe you meant Terrorist Hunt, which does a much better job of placing you in varied combat scenarios (though the enemy spawning in Vegas 2 kinda ruined the mode).

I liked Uncharted a lot, but I still felt it could've been SO much better with some tweaks in the areas you mentioned.

[Don Flamenco]

PC version of this is only $30 at some places....will probably drop faster than the console versions.  After all my bitching here, I'll pick the game up to play.

[MrAngryFace]

Uncharted is the sad sacred cow of Ps3 fans, when more attention should be given to MLB The Show 2008 and Valkyria Chronicles

[y2kev]

I think you guys are being harsh on this one. Sure, it's easy, but the graphics and music are such that I enjoy going to new places. And the old Prince was a wisecracker too, you know. True, he was more high brow and princely...and his jokes had like high-culture referents sometimes, but he still was Nathan Drake's educated cousin.

Does he fit? Probably not. But I don't think it ruins the game.

The lack of puzzles is...puzzling.

[Himu]

But puzzles are the bread and butter of PoP.

It seems that many are using damage control in this case. It's like saying,"Oh yeah, the new Mario is good but the absence of platforming is pretty puzzling. But the graphics are great so whatever."

[y2kev]

I think the platforming is the bread and butter of PoP. So yeah, it's strange they left out all environmental obstacles and focused more on motion and the really shit combat system.

I win though--Lara beats both Nathan Drake and Miso Horny for platorming supremacy

queen

[dammitmattt]

But puzzles are the bread and butter of PoP.

It seems that many are using damage control in this case. It's like saying,"Oh yeah, the new Mario is good but the absence of platforming is pretty puzzling. But the graphics are great so whatever."

Platforming is the bread and butter of PoP

[Himu]

But puzzles are the bread and butter of PoP.

It seems that many are using damage control in this case. It's like saying,"Oh yeah, the new Mario is good but the absence of platforming is pretty puzzling. But the graphics are great so whatever."

Platforming is the bread and butter of PoP

But it's platforming blended into puzzle solving in many cases. I especially remember in the first game - not Sands of Time - where I said many a occasion,"How the hell do I get down there without dying?"

So if they've downgraded the platforming and took out puzzles entirely, then how the hell is this Prince of Persia aside from name?

[dammitmattt]

But it's platforming blended into puzzle solving in many cases. I especially remember in the first game - not Sands of Time - where I said many a occasion,"How the hell do I get down there without dying?"

So if they've downgraded the platforming and took out puzzles entirely, then how the hell is this Prince of Persia aside from name?

The platforming still looks uniquely PoP to me based on the videos I've seen.  I haven't played it yet, but why not open yourself up to new experiences instead of dismissing them outright before trying?  We had three full games of basically the same thing, so I'm glad that they tried something different.  It might or might not work, but at least they can't be blamed for wrapping the same game in a new shell.

[y2kev]

But puzzles are the bread and butter of PoP.

It seems that many are using damage control in this case. It's like saying,"Oh yeah, the new Mario is good but the absence of platforming is pretty puzzling. But the graphics are great so whatever."

Platforming is the bread and butter of PoP

But it's platforming blended into puzzle solving in many cases. I especially remember in the first game - not Sands of Time - where I said many a occasion,"How the hell do I get down there without dying?"

So if they've downgraded the platforming and took out puzzles entirely, then how the hell is this Prince of Persia aside from name?

SoT showed you exactly what you would be doing before you did it. I don't think I ever got stuck in that game-- the challenge was managing your five "lives" with the environmental obstacles.

[Himu]

I'm not dismissing it, I'm just curious. I mean, I haven't fully dismissed it at all, I still want to play it. It's just that it seems like every single one of my favorite series is starting to go down the toilet and it's starting to make me one jaded gamer.

But puzzles are the bread and butter of PoP.

It seems that many are using damage control in this case. It's like saying,"Oh yeah, the new Mario is good but the absence of platforming is pretty puzzling. But the graphics are great so whatever."

Platforming is the bread and butter of PoP

But it's platforming blended into puzzle solving in many cases. I especially remember in the first game - not Sands of Time - where I said many a occasion,"How the hell do I get down there without dying?"

So if they've downgraded the platforming and took out puzzles entirely, then how the hell is this Prince of Persia aside from name?

SoT showed you exactly what you would be doing before you did it. I don't think I ever got stuck in that game-- the challenge was managing your five "lives" with the environmental obstacles.

Yes, I didn't say it was hard though did I? It was still fun because it kept your brain active. From the descriptions I hear about the new PoP it doesn't sound too fun. But I'll be the judge of that when I play it.

[demi]

(which is never)