Prince of Persia: Revelations Review

Prince of Persia: Revelations is the first installment of the PoP franchise to come to the PSP. Based on the popular console game Prince of Persia: Warrior Within, Revelations features some new levels and challenges absent from Warrior Within. Unfortunately with the port came some existing problems that troubled the original.

Gameplay has been transferred over from the console version fairly successfully, but unfortunately loading can occur at any point in the game, which can cause problems in navigating deadly mazes and puzzles — that, and the fact that the load times are excruciatingly long. The controls don’t suffer much from the lack of the extra analog stick, and keep the action running smoothly, when the framerate isn’t stuttering from the amount of enemies on the screen.

Graphically, the game suffers from some of the same strange chopping problems as the console version, but overall it is a very beautiful game. That said, the art direction of the game gives it an overly dark tone, which can be a problem when playing it in bright environments — important items and puzzle elements can be missed fairly easily.

None of these problems can even compare to those that plague the game’s audio. Simply put, the audio is a disaster. At times it sounds as if it is reading music meant for a different part of the game, and that’s if it is playing at all. Strange chopping, artifacting, and just flat out failure of the audio really hamper the overall game experience.

Overall, Revelations simply feels like it was shipped about 60% of the way through the development process. There are bugs, problems, and issues that could have been taken care of or at least minimized by another month or two of development. The game isn’t terrible, but we certainly wouldn’t recommend purchasing it — if you need a Persian action fix, rent, don’t buy.

Review Round-Up

IGN: 6.0
“In the process of porting over a complex title such as Warrior Within to the PSP, almost every facet of the game has been adversely affected. And not in a small way, either.”

GameSpot: 7.4
“The game does lack the battle challenges from the original Warrior Within, but that’s no great loss. Revelations is a very nice overall translation, but some serious sound quirks and other bugs keep it from being easily recommendable.”

GameSpy: 6.0
“We can’t deny the appeal, even amongst the flaws, but when you’re left imagining how much better a version of Sands of Time or Two Thrones would have been, it doesn’t matter how faithful the port is.”

Modojo: 8.0
“Bottom line is, if you’re a fan of the Prince of Persia brand and don’t mind doing a little work to get the pleasures out of this game, then Revelations should definitely find a place in your library.”

Aggregate Rating: 6.7