This review contains spoilers
This game is so...
It's pretty. Absolutely lovely to look at. Colours, cel shading, environments changing to become healthy and healed, animations. Genuinely smiled when I saw the animation of Prince and Elika having to hold hands to switch positions on a beam. Music is great, very cinematic and sweeping.
I just have four issues:
Issue 1: Prince's movement. Holy shit is this man rigid and stiff. I just want to move and be able to adjust my jump in midair. I want to be able to grab onto a vine without stopping for a second to grab Elika. I want to feel fluid whilst maintaining control, not feeling funneled down annoying corridors. So often I wanted to jump at something and got totally redirected by the game towards what it wanted me to go to. So annoying. His actual moveset was really cool though, really liked the ceiling clamber move. Just wish it wasn't so strict and stiff.
Issue 2: the level design. Now. I like the hub and spokes model, I like the non-linearity, I like that it's secretly a collectathon. I don't like that the spaces just become automatic at a certain point, there's no creativity in the path you take, no thought put into how you get from point A to B. It's achingly linear for a game mostly about parkour, which should really make you feel like you master the space. I liked the level elements you interacted with, and the spaces where you'd chain lots together, but I felt like I was just pressing X at the right time and the game was playing itself. Contrasting this to Mirror's Edge, where the level was one massive puzzle of "how do I even find the path to that point?" and it was sick.
Issue 3: the combat. Stinks. Boring, repetitive, that big guardian boss STINKS, generally unfun. Brings the game to a grinding halt and is something to suffer through to get to the less unfun platforming.
Issue 4: the story. Prince was jarring, Elika was less jarring, they were both boring, the story was boring, the bosses were borrriiiiinnnngggg. I was sleep until the very ending where the Prince chooses to unseal the evil big bad after all the suffering we went through, for the sake of "love". I get it, I really do. He's selfish and apparently didn't grow at all during the game. He's the same as her father, bringing her to life against her will. But come on now, I didn't sanction that shit. I wish there had been some choice of what to do after she died, either leave her or revive her. I will way that it was very effective having the Prince shut up and the player carry out the evil bits themselves.
So yeah. Will not be playing this again. This game has movement but it does NOT have shmovement. There's no looseness, no self-expression, no mastery of the space. Just stiffness and constant interruptions. And surprisingly no growth in the Prince's moveset, I'd hoped the powers you unlocked would help you get around in some fun way but they're all glorified Sonic springs.
It's pretty. Absolutely lovely to look at. Colours, cel shading, environments changing to become healthy and healed, animations. Genuinely smiled when I saw the animation of Prince and Elika having to hold hands to switch positions on a beam. Music is great, very cinematic and sweeping.
I just have four issues:
Issue 1: Prince's movement. Holy shit is this man rigid and stiff. I just want to move and be able to adjust my jump in midair. I want to be able to grab onto a vine without stopping for a second to grab Elika. I want to feel fluid whilst maintaining control, not feeling funneled down annoying corridors. So often I wanted to jump at something and got totally redirected by the game towards what it wanted me to go to. So annoying. His actual moveset was really cool though, really liked the ceiling clamber move. Just wish it wasn't so strict and stiff.
Issue 2: the level design. Now. I like the hub and spokes model, I like the non-linearity, I like that it's secretly a collectathon. I don't like that the spaces just become automatic at a certain point, there's no creativity in the path you take, no thought put into how you get from point A to B. It's achingly linear for a game mostly about parkour, which should really make you feel like you master the space. I liked the level elements you interacted with, and the spaces where you'd chain lots together, but I felt like I was just pressing X at the right time and the game was playing itself. Contrasting this to Mirror's Edge, where the level was one massive puzzle of "how do I even find the path to that point?" and it was sick.
Issue 3: the combat. Stinks. Boring, repetitive, that big guardian boss STINKS, generally unfun. Brings the game to a grinding halt and is something to suffer through to get to the less unfun platforming.
Issue 4: the story. Prince was jarring, Elika was less jarring, they were both boring, the story was boring, the bosses were borrriiiiinnnngggg. I was sleep until the very ending where the Prince chooses to unseal the evil big bad after all the suffering we went through, for the sake of "love". I get it, I really do. He's selfish and apparently didn't grow at all during the game. He's the same as her father, bringing her to life against her will. But come on now, I didn't sanction that shit. I wish there had been some choice of what to do after she died, either leave her or revive her. I will way that it was very effective having the Prince shut up and the player carry out the evil bits themselves.
So yeah. Will not be playing this again. This game has movement but it does NOT have shmovement. There's no looseness, no self-expression, no mastery of the space. Just stiffness and constant interruptions. And surprisingly no growth in the Prince's moveset, I'd hoped the powers you unlocked would help you get around in some fun way but they're all glorified Sonic springs.