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Prince of Persia Battles DS
Battles of Prince Persia is the latest game
of the franchise that is tentatively set between Prince of Persia Sands
of Time and the Warrior Within. Once again gamers get to control their
beloved prince in the Prince of Persia universe but unlike the other
games in the series, this current incarnation has become a turn-based
battle card game.
Prince of
Persia Battles features:
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Collect and trade
cards: By advancing in the single player mode, collect money and
purchase new cards to trade and make more powerful decks. Don’t like
your cards? Trade them with your friends.
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Intricate storyline:
Follow the story from the point of view of any of the participants
and learn what happens to the Prince and his land between the
stories of Prince of Persia Sands of Time and Prince of Persia
Warrior Within.
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Nine different
characters: Play any of the nine Generals in single player or in
multiplayer. Create the army you want from any of the three factions
and 27 units.
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Multiplayer mode:
Fully customizable multiplayer mode ensures replay value. Challenge
someone who has the game or someone who doesn’t in either Multiboot
mode or Hotseat.
Although I was a little awestruck that this
current version of the game threw all the old school fun out of the window,
the title was actually a little reminiscent of Advance Wars. Fortunately
for those not too familiar with battle card games, the first stage in
the game is a tutorial that aptly teachers the player the ins and outs
of the title but as they say in the classics, "practice makes perfect"
and that is the only way to truly master this title.
Before starting the game, the player is
awarded a stack of 30 cards from a possible 200 that have been randomly
selected. Each of these cards have specific features that must be
deployed at appropriate times in the game in order to succeed. Each turn
in the game is called an hour and when the turn is over, the player can
replenish his cards with other randomly chosen ones.
Of course the main aspect of the game are
the battles themselves that has the player navigating on a checkered
game board, moving his units and conquering enemy units. As with Advance
Wars, there are a variety of different character cards with Generals
being the most powerful card in the game and similar to chess, if you
loose these characters (such as a Queen or Rook), completing the game
may be extremely difficult.
As you slowly progress through the game
(e.g. completing each map), the Prince must also complete a variety of
mini-quests such as finding the box of a thousand restraints that allows
the young prince to capture nefarious foes from the underworld.
The
beauty of Prince of Persia Battles is that the random cards allow for
almost unlimited replay value because you can never know what will be
dealt to you which makes for some interesting gameplay.
Graphically, Prince of Persia Battles on
the Nintendo DS is rather bland and actually looks almost like the
original game when it first came out that contains bitmap characters and
enemies. The storyline is nicely progressed through some 2D cutscenes
but unfortunately this title does nothing to graphically astonish the
player, although there are a few nice effects here and there.
In conclusion, Prince of Persia Battles
offers the gamer a variety of different card games from skirmish,
campaign mode and also an interesting 2-player mode. Obviously this game
was made for the millions of children who cannot get enough of card
games such as Yu-Gi-Oh who I'm sure will simply adore this game,
especially if they have a friend with another Nintendo DS. Recommended
for the younger gamer!
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