1. Prince of Persia. Oh…my…god. Really, I don’t want to write anything more about this game because words can not possibly describe how beautiful it is. The game’s narrative director took me through an early part of the game, saying that the point was to try to capture the Prince of Persia artwork perfectly. Well, mission accomplished, this game looks like someone has made a painting come to life. It’s beyond anything you have ever seen.

Let me start with an example. As we started playing the game, he was showing off the characters while standing on a ledge in a ravine. In the background was what appeared to be a hand painted stone bridge running over some water. I thought it was just background and looking at it I turned and asked, “Is that rendered background or just a painting.” My guide gave me a quizzical look so I pointed where I meant. He laughed and then proceeded to jump, swing and wall run over to the exact place I had just pointed. It wasn’t a background at all, it was part of the gameworld. The world is gorgeous and it’s all free roaming. You can run anywhere and it all looks like someone just drew you some concept art. I sat there slack jawed for the rest of the demo, unable to grasp how the guys at Ubisoft had done it.

The point of the game is to pretty much enjoy the world. Of course, there is a story and a plot but what Ubisoft really wanted to do here was to make a game and a gameworld that gamers could just stare at in awe and enjoy running around in. This means some changes to the Prince of Persia gameplay though.

First off, there are no life bars, no health, nothing on the screen whatsoever, allowing for full appreciation of the game’s visuals. There is however an added character in the form of Elika who follows you around helping you in battle, and with the gameworld’s more challenging acrobatic needs. She also doesn’t let you die - you can’t die at all, you can only mess up and start over from the last safe point. There is absolutely no way to die, even when you’re defeated by one of the game’s sparse enemy battles you’ll just start that over. The guys at Ubisoft wanted to make sure that you didn’t have to trudge through the same stuff over and over because of a tricky part, or that you weren’t getting bored with a section because you had to keep getting back to it. The point is to explore, not die.

Exploration is the same as it has ever been with wall running and tricky platforming, though the Prince has learned some new tricks like sliding down any flat surface with his claw, or double jumping with the help of Elika. However, battles have changed drastically. Instead of taking on multiple guys and clearing out the room, battles will consist of one bad guys versus the Prince and Elika. They’re hard. Fights require you to know the right attacks to perform at the right times, blocking and dodging, and the ability to use your weapons appropriately. With all this, the game sounds like the controls should be a bit confusing, but, much like the simplicity of the non-existent HUD, all the controls are context sensitive, meaning you rarely need to be using anything other than the joystick and basic four buttons.

The game’s plot revolves around a darkness which is taking over the world, and Elika is the only one who can save it. Thus she and the Prince take off to bring life back to the world by defeating enemies and finding certain areas where Elika can release the energy back into the world. Once she does this, the area becomes full of life and light (much like Okami) and ditches the dark gray scheme, meaning you literally have two great looking worlds to explore, which you are prompted to do by collecting glowing luminous balls which are the worlds currency and only pop up after you’ve restored life to the world. These things are scattered all over the place and can be used to buy upgrades and other items that will help you out. Most importantly though, they make you look around and see where you can get to. The idea is beyond brilliant and I can only applaud Ubisoft for forcing gamers to actually stop and look at the truly majestic world they have created in Prince of Persia.

[See also: Prince of Persia gallery]