| Platform | OVERALL |
|---|---|
| PC | 9.40 |
| Overall | 9.40 |
|
I write this review angry at the current news that the team behind The Lost Crown has been disbanded due to poor sales. I admit I did not buy this game at launch, $40 for a metroidvania seemed steep and I didn’t realize just how special it was. I played this during a month sub of Ubi +, it left such an impression that I bought it and it’s DLC outright because it’s so incredible. I felt I did not get the message that this was one of the greatest metroidvanias ever made, well I want to make sure others get that message. The Lost Crown is far more Metroid than Castlevania, there isn’t any leveling up, no stats, the only upgrades are to your weapons and amulets. This being a Prince of Persia game expect an emphasis on platforming as you avoid devious traps, pitfalls and many spinning blades. Its fluid movement and slower paced combat focused more on combos reminds me most of Guacamelee, which if you played you have a good idea of how this controls. Lost Crown is not trying to reinvent the wheel, it’s making sure to polish that wheel with superb level design and gameplay. You play as Sargon, not the Prince of Persia but a member of an elite group of warriors called the Immortals. What unfolds is an adventure through Persian mythology dealing with kings and gods. The story is really good with some twists and turns and some good side characters. Care was clearly put into the mythology and story as there is a lot of optional lore to find and read about which fleshed out every area and character. Honestly it’s one of the better stories in one of these games; above all I believed in Sargon and loved to watch him gain power as you explore this magical mountain of the gods. The more mythical approach to this Prince of Persia game opens it up to some great creatures to have boss fights against and gives the developers a reason to bestow wild abilities. While this story does deal with time in really interesting ways you don’t control time like the Sands of Time trilogy, instead Sargon acquires a multitude unique powers which is where this game shines most. The upgrades Sargon gains keep adding layers to the platforming and combat, I was blown away every time I gained a new power because of just how perfectly they fit into the game world. It begins with simple things, a double jump, a dash that allows you to dodge and cross longer distances in the air. Those two alone leads to wild platforming challenges that are Celeste level in complexity, the dash and double jump can only be used once in air unless you touch a wall or ground to reset the counter, this means you will be jumping and dashing through entire gauntlets of traps with only walls to bounce off of to keep using a dash and double jump. But that’s just the start, add the ability to create a save state of yourself which lets you teleport back to that point with the push of a button. Now there are platforming puzzles where you need to jump to a certain height, save a spot in air, land, activate a switch that lets out a platform under where you saved and return to the spot. The devious ways this skill is used is brilliant. Another skill gives Sargon the power to see a different version of the world which can activate and deactivate objects in the world. There are even more abilities to find, all building on the next to create some of the best platforming challenges in this genre. The way these abilities slowly open up the game world is absolutely BRILLIANT. It’s not just use X skill to get to new area, many times they are combining all these skills to navigate all kinds of challenges. Each new area in this massive game presents some new element and trials to complete . There is a temple of time with puzzles that add another gameplay element where you can create different runs of yourself for a certain time, basically recording a run of yourself performing an action like opening a gate so the next version of you can go through the gate. Go down into the depths of a sand filled cavern with huge centipedes which actively tear through walls as you jump and dash through sand falls through these new open routes while avoiding the creatures. Solve puzzles involving a new power that allows you to suck an enemy or item into a pocket dimension and launch them whenever you want. Absorb an explosive thrown by an enemy and use it to blow up a cracked wall. Scale a frozen mountain with grapple hook points and challenging cliffs to ascend. One of my favorite areas was a giant sea storm frozen in time, jumping from shattered boat to boat battling enemies. This game is constantly evolving, constantly throwing so many great new areas and abilities to mess around with. When I play certain games, especially those made by Nintendo, I talk about how they don’t push the gameplay hard enough, they keep it at a basic level. This game does not have that issue, this game goes HARD, extremely hard. The main quest is quite difficult but still mostly manageable. It’s the optional content where your skills will be tested to the max. Trying to get 100% leads to a multitude of optional platform or combat challenges. The rewards are usually a life upgrade, an amulet, or a slab needed to upgrade weapons, so I generally found exploration to be worth it. The map is fantastic allowing you to snap a picture of whatever obstacle might be in your way and stamping that picture anywhere in the map, this made it very easy to remember where you saw a route you couldn’t reach yet. On top of this massive game world (25+ hours) there are optional challenges with its own rewards (usually just basic currency, not worth it for the prize but for the feeling of accomplishment ). These challenges are insane, you know how in many platformers there is some ultimate final level that unlocks which represents the hardest challenge in the game. Imagine that level of challenge for EVERY SINGLE CHALLEGE! There are like 30 of them, each one feels like it could be the hardest challenge of any other game. I am talking about 3+ minutes straight of non stop platforming, never touching the ground, mixing and matching every skill you got, die and start from a checkpoint but you only get enough tries as your life lasts which is decent amount of time but never enough the first few times through. I died over and over and over and over and over, each one took me well over half an hour to complete…. But I loved it! They are so diverse to, many of them focus on just two or so skills. Some are combat challenges. My favorites are puzzle challenges which make you use all the powers to find your way out of a room. I was screaming at the game to just relax! Just when I thought I was finishing a challenge I would realize I only reached the half way point. This is all optional, I don’t think most people have the patience to do even one of these, much less around 30 of them. I haven’t finished them all but I plan to, these are the kinds of optional high level challenges I want in every game, where the devs push the player to the max. Combat comprises the other major component and like the platforming it builds in complexity at a steady pace. Sargon begins with a simple three hit combo, the ability to dodge roll and parry with a well time button press. You also have limited arrows which can be refilled at various points and a chakram which can be thrown. Enemies have color coded attacks, any normal attack can be blocked, yellow can be parried for a super attack and red must be dodged. Air combos allow you to keep enemies in a stunned lock, you can chain moves like do a raising attack to get them in the air, hit them twice and before ending the combo use your bow attack to reset the combo so it doesn’t end the combo string. Or end the combo with a large hit the sends the enemy flying but dash toward them to continue the attack. Later you can use the grapple hook in the air to either go to them or have them come to you. Every ability you learn is not just useful for traversal but can be used in combat, it’s pretty impressive to see the versatility these powers have. The most unique is the ability to suck an object into a pocket dimension, allowing you to spit them out as a projectile. You can absorb entire enemies and when they come out they attack the enemies for a short time. Having trouble with a quick moving enemy, suck them up, walk to the nearest deadly trap and launch them to their doom. At the difficulty I played enemies were aggressive and dangerous right from the start. They will dodge your attacks, mix and match their attack types to throw you off and many rooms will have range enemies pecking at you while you deal with the brutes. Combat is repetitive at the start but once all the abilities come into play I was able to get creative and most fights felt great. That said toward the end the enemies hit a plateau while you raise to near god hood and outside of designed challenges navigating the game world wasn’t dangerous because of the enemies at all, they became fodder. I never felt the danger from the enemies the way I did in say Hollow Knight. There is an incentive to kill enemies as they give the currency needed to upgrade items, so I did kill most enemies in my way, but running past them is very easy to do. It’s still a very good combat system considering the genre but I would say it’s a weaker component.m compared to the platforming. The boss battles are spectacular at least, I just wish there were more of them. I feel like the first half of the game only has like two or three bosses and the last half has like 5 of them. Compared to a Castlevania game it has way fewer bosses, especially considering the length. At least when you do fight them they live up to being showcase moments. These battles are usually against gigantic creatures or other super powered warriors that use all kinds of abilities against you (abilities you learn afterwards). They all are multi stage battles with small cinematics between them that frames the fight almost like a dragon ball Z battle. Each boss has a super attack which can be parried, if you fail you watch a small cinematic of the boss absolutely pummeling Sargon. If you successfully parry you get to see Sargon turn the tables and go super nova on the boss. I loved how these small super attack animations give so much life to battles. These bosses will test your skills in every way, many will be weak to a specific ability meaning learning how to fight them is key component. Sargon also has a power bar which can level up as you chain attacks, you can store two different super attacks, managing when to use these attacks is part of the strategy with this battles and again looks extremely flashy. The bosses also tie in great with the story creating maximum drama for every fight. While this game doesn’t let you level up your character with stats it does allow some customization through the use of amulets which can be found all over the game world. These can activate new abilities or enhance attacks or defense. Some of the more interesting ones adds attack powers to other wise harmless abilities like the ability to create a laser between you and your clone when you summon yourself back to saved state clone. I loved using this during boss battles, make a clone on one side, dash through the boss to get to the other side, right as he is about to attack me return to my clone with the laser cutting through them. Some amulets allow for longer combos, some give you more arrows, some do more attack damage in the air. For more defensive oriented players you get a special evade that can be used to counter, take less damage from certain attacks or status changes. It’s no where near as deep as any of the Castlevania games but at least it allows some player input into what Sargon can do. Of course this mirrors the charms of Hollow Knight, once again highlighting that this game borrowing elements from many of the greats. The art style looks good but I am not so sure it really stands out. It’s 3D models on a 2D plane, the models look kind of mobile phone like. At least the backgrounds have some nice artwork with some really beautiful backdrops as you scale the mythical mountain. It runs at a smooth 60fps on my main PC but I did have a few odd crashes, not many but enough to restart the game a few times. I can’t say I remember much of the music, the main theme sounds like a generic Prince of Persia theme, just imagine what you think a theme for this setting sounds like, yeah that’s what it’s like. It won’t be winning any awards for music, an area other Metroidvanias excel at. It is fully voice acted and I generally loved all of the characters and their acting, it’s a colorful cast of heroes, villains and oddities; captures a cartoon feel. Prince of Persia The Lost Crown is the best Prince of Persia game ever made. It’s the best Ubisoft game in a long time. It’s a top tier Metroidvania title that every fan of the genre should play. It may not be the most original game, instead building on many of the best elements of other standouts of this genre. Where it excels is in its platforming, level design, exploration and sheer amount of quality ever changing challenging gameplay scenarios. I made the mistake of underestimating this game at launch, don’t, this is one of the all time greats. |
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Posted by Dvader Sat, 26 Oct 2024 11:21:39
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