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 gaming: prince of persia 2 preview
Producer Yannis Mallat gives us a tour of Prince Of Persia 2. When UbiSoft's Montreal studio created Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time last year, they not only succeeded in reinvigorating a classic franchise, they also produced one of the best action adventure games of late (even if it didn't achieve the chart-topping success it deserved).With Prince Of Persia 2, the development team was adamant they'd improve on the first game (using the same engine). “We're pretty harsh about ourselves and our games,” says producer Yannis Mallat. “The fighting system was close to boring, repetitive, redundant…” He felt there was “no variety”, you just pushed the buttons and watched the Prince do his fancy thang – something Mallat criticizes as being “more voyeurism or spectating” than playing. POP2 features combos (“though I hate to use the word”) but Mallat is keen to point out it will retain the “intuitive control system”, which he rightly considers a trademark of the licence. Other areas Mallat thinks were weak were the difficulty and replay value. He says, “POP2 brings opportunities for hardcore gamers to play hardcore, but also offers the same accessibility for casual gamers.” The game will have four difficulty levels. It will also feature bosses. Plus, there are also huge new foes, including a beast somewhat reminiscent of the LOTR trolls. And the ever agile Prince has an idiosyncratic way of dealing with them.  As for the story, well POP2 takes place some 5-8 years later. As he “screwed up the timeline” it's a foregone conclusion that “the prince will die”. Why? You may ask. Well, because of Dahaka, a “creature that cannot be killed” that’s closely linked to the sands and the flow of time. Knowing he's fated to die, the Prince sets out to try and reach the sands themselves. If he can destroy them, maybe he can live. His adventures also involve moving across time, and one fascinating element of the new game is how the Prince's actions in the past result in a “new present”. What this means in practice, according to Mallat, is that the “Prince is altering level design”. It also adds to the game length. “In terms of pure original gameplay, we expect it to be as long as Sands of Time,” he says. “But because he's altering play and level design, that adds at least another 3-4 hours.” Then there's the challenge of higher difficulty settings… Of course, The Sands Of Time was perhaps most defined by the Prince's smooth moves. These are enhanced and elaborated upon. What Mallat calls the “Prince's signature movement”, where he could run up onto an enemy’s shoulders, can now be exploited to bring about decapitation. “We have to admit violence is fun,” says Mallat. In this context, very much so. The Prince now has a strangulation move and a shockwave. He can now also fight with two swords. And his ability to slow down time has been improved markedly by the implementation of “asynchronous functions” in the PS2: now the Prince remains in ordinary motion, giving him an edge on his slowed-down opponents. The result is a very lively “freeform fighting system”.  What's more, the “scripted events” have become what Mallat calls “interactive cinematics”, where you remain an active participant. “We strongly think videogames are to be played, not watched,” says Mallat succinctly. “I used to say Sands Of Time was 50 per cent fighting and 50 per cent exploring and puzzles,” says Mallat. “In this game it's 100 per cent both.” Who could resist such a maths-mangling promise?
Daniel Etherington
Prince Of Persia 2 will be available on Xbox, PS2, PC and GC in November 04.
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