Developer Ubisoft Montpellier, best known for developing the Rayman series of video games, has taken over the Prince of Persia franchise and their latest release is now available for the masses. Does Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown live up to the storied franchise, or should this game be lost in the sands of time?
Read on to find out
For those folks lucky enough to have owned a version of an Apple II computer back in 1989, the original Prince of Persia was a groundbreaking video game. It introduced the world to a cinematic, side scrolling, 2D platforming adventure unlike anything else on the market. The game didn’t do well in sales originally, but not many people could afford a fancy Apple II PC to play it on.
By 1993 the game had been ported to multiple other platforms and it finally took off in sales. Quite a few sequels have been published since then, and even a reboot and some remakes of those games have made it to this century. Ubisoft Montpellier has now released their latest creation in the series, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, and they have done the franchise justice.
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown Review – Brand New Story
The Lost Crown isn’t a remake or a reboot, but more of a stand alone story with brand new characters. We are introduced to our protagonist, Sargon, who is a young member of the Persian Immortals, and find that Persia has been in a thirty year drought that has brought on a famine. The neighboring Kusham Empire has begun invading the country and it is up to Sargon and the Immortals to repel them. We are introduced to the fighting abilities of Sargon as we successfully repel the invasion.
The Queen commends us for our valiant efforts, but the real enemy quickly shows their face by kidnapping her son, the prince. The real story begins as we make our way through what seems like miles of dungeons, learning new tricks, attacks, and gathering amulets along the way. The story is full of twists and turns, along with cinematic cut scenes and hidden collectibles that help tell the deep and rich story.
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown Review – Old School Controls
The Lost Crown is a throwback to the original Prince of Persia, with its somewhat simple control schemes, which can get a little more complex once all of your abilities have been unlocked. It is more of a 2D side scrolling game, but the layout of the levels give the game more of a 3D feel. That’s not a bad thing, as the game is gorgeous to look at and play. Early on in the game you’ll come across areas that you can’t reach due to not having the proper ability unlocked, but you can take a snapshot and leave a bookmark in that area for future reference. You’ll also unlock a few fast travel points for easier navigation, but having more would have been nice.
The Lost Crown definitely has an RPG feel to it, and finding and equipping a variety of amulets adds to that feel. These amulets can do things like make you stronger, or even help you find hidden items. You can also upgrade your amulet holder to enable the addition of more amulets you can carry at once. You can also upgrade your weapons to increase their damage.
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown Review – Conclusion
The Prince of Persia franchise is one of the longest running video game franchises in history. When it started it was a groundbreaking cinematic adventure. What we now have in Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is a new addition that takes a lot of those ground breaking elements, and improves on them with outstanding graphics, newer controls schemes, and a soundtrack that will keep your heart pumping or bring you down to the emotional level the developer wants.
Luckily this game isn’t being released only on the Apple II again, or we would all be missing out on this masterpiece.
9
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown review code provided by publisher and reviewed on a PS5. For more information on scoring, please read What our review scores really mean.
