Pour ceux qui n'en auraient pas eu assez avec notre longue interview, c'est au tour de Prince of Persia de passer à l'interrogatoire. Point de Ben Mattes cette fois mais Chris Easton qui vous en dit plus sur les origines d'Elika, les bosses, la direction artistique etc.
Answered By: Chris Easton, Ubisoft Montreal
How would you summarise the new-look Prince of Persia?
Chris Easton: Visual Poetry!
Is this the final retail version on show today?
CE: No [laughs]. We’ve almost finished the game in Montreal, but Prince of Persia is all about the epic story, and we don’t want to ruin that for you. So we’ve intentionally locked 75% of the game away in this version. Half of the gameplay you won’t get to know about until you play the final version.
This is the first Prince of Persia for Xbox 360. Apart from the graphic style being radically different, is the game in any way related to previous Prince of Persia games?
CE: It’s all part of the Prince of Persia universe, but it’s a new prince and a new story. We imagine the Prince of Persia brand to be a collection of stories, very close to the Arabian Nights. One of those stories is Sands of Time. This is a different story – still in the same universe, but a different story. It has what we call pillars. Every brand at Ubisoft has these pillars, and the pillars of Prince of Persia are: combat, acrobatics, puzzles, and of course the prince all wrapped up in this story. If you don’t have these elements it isn’t Prince of Persia.
Elika is the support character, and we’ve seen her protect the prince from danger in addition to contributing new abilities. Is this a deliberate move to attract newcomers to the series, less experienced players?
CE: I think that’s slightly unfair to hardcore gamers in that sense. We introduced Elika and safety system because when you fall of a cliff you’d normally die but she saves you. We wanted to keep you immersed in the Prince of Persia world. We didn’t want this, “Game over! You suck!” or ‘save, quit, load’ and this sort of thing. This just reminds you that you’re playing a videogame. We wanted to have this system in there which keeps you in the world. It still makes it difficult because when you’re in combat it gives the enemies their health back if you slip of the platform, but it still keeps you immersed in the world. You’re never frustrated with the computer telling you that you suck because you died.
How does this affect boss encounters – does the prince use different abilities to defeat the same enemy depending on the order of his encounters?
CE: Not really, the prince has all his abilities. He doesn’t learn any more new ones, Elika does. But her abilities are purely for ‘platforming’ and manipulating the levels. I could play the game and fight the Hunter first, whereas you could play the game and fight the Warrior first. But the prince is the acrobatic master! He doesn’t need any more abilities.
Do you think that games like Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed have helped pave the way for games like Prince of Persia?
CE: Assassin’s Creed has done a really good job for a lot of things. The animation system was absolutely amazing and I loved the freedom. So I think games in general, because of games like Assassin’s Creed and even stuff like Guitar Hero and Rock Band, have become accessible to more people. Back in the days of NES, games were so unforgiving – try to play a game like that now and it’s a nightmare. I think we’re at the stage now where videogames are accessible and playable by the hardcore but also to ‘normal’ or ‘casual’ players.
The art direction is so striking. Have there been any well-known artists involved, or is this entirely the work of Ubisoft internally?
CE: One of the people I’m trying to make a name for within Ubisoft is Patrick Lambert, one of our concept artists. The guy is an artistic genius. We wanted his artwork to come to life. When you see artwork like that, you want to see that moving. To have such a work of art and then press a button and it starts moving is amazing.
Prince of Persia certainly has our stamp of approval too! Thanks to Chris for his time at The Gathering. We can’t wait to experience the full, unrestricted adventure!
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