Mixed feelings about the new Prince of Persia

Hi everyone,

Now that the work it's over and I got my holidays, it's the time to recap and think about what went good and what went wrong about the game.

For one side, I really like the look of the game while playing it, the models, the animations, how fluid is the movement, it's almost hipnotic. Also, I think it is the first time I play with one NPC on my side that actually I feel it's helping me to progress rather than being an obstacle most of the time.

On the other hand, I think we went too far on making it easy for the casual player (so all the hardcore fans hate us with the heat of two hundred suns) and I can almost play with just one hand, both the acrobatics and the fight. I think that a bit less of autotargetting and limiting the amount of times that Elika is able to save you would have added that bit of challenge that I feel is missing while playing (but I'm an old guy that played too many crazy difficult games).
Being one of the creators of the first first Commandos games (some of the most difficult games on the market but with great success) I think that PoP missed it just by few inches, but anyway, we feel that we made a good game, maybe not one for the hardcore audience, but one that you can play and enjoy.

So, what's the final score for the game?
The metacritics got us an 82% on 360 and 85% on PS3, with a mix of really high and few really low scores (I think that the game doesn't deserve a 100%, nor a 60%, as some magazines reviewed after the launch).

Now, we'll have to wait and see how well it sells over the next few months, as PoP always have a longer sales life than the average game. In the meantime, I will start on January on my new assignment, that will be another challenging project.

Take care all, and see you around.

Jaime