Prince of Persia (PC) (2008)

20141225:
I started playing Prince of Persia and I definitely liked the introduction and artwork. The gameplay was also pretty good, but there seemed to be a bit of input lag. Maybe my laptop was low on power or the graphic settings were too high.

On a different note, the game would crash whenever I alt-tabbed out of it. 12:29AM PT

[20151023 Edit]

20150101:
I tried to play more today, but it got buggy at the map select screen. I wonder if it was because the interface doesn't like the keyboard/mouse as the inputs.

In particular, the symptom was that the mouse cursor would only click on the colors at the bottom of the screen. As a workaround, maybe I should switch to using a controller. 10:01AM PT

Elika saves the Prince for the first time.

20151023:
I was looking to revisit the game today, but I first had to reacquire several of the game's files. I would, however, start out playing with keyboard/mouse, because I had yet to try the game on my desktop. 11:19PM PT

Thankfully, I managed to play the game with no problems. In particular, I could alt-tab out of the game without facing any crashes, use my mouse to select places on the map properly, and seamlessly take screenshots with Fraps (assigned to the previous button on my mouse).

The animations for the interactions between the Prince and Elika are great.

Graphically I had the resolution set to 2560x1440 and the graphics quality set to high. At these settings, the game seemed to be consistently running at around 90 to 100 frames per second with occasional drops down to 40 or 50 frames per second.

After completing the intro and two of the four levels on the ???, I logged a total of 1.6 hours, playing from about 11:30PM PT to 1:00AM PT.

Ceiling runs are cool.

Game Mechanics:
Movement
In any case, as before, I absolutely enjoy the game mechanics. Not only does the game bring back all of the Prince's acrobatic and parkour-like movement from the Sands of Time trilogy, but also incorporates new movements such as a ceiling run and a jump boost using Elika's powers.

Prince prepares to jump over the enemy.

Fighting
The fighting system has also seen an overhaul that requires a bit more timing and skill. At the foundations is a simple attack and counter-attack system where you can attack an enemy who is open, defend against an enemy that is attacking, or attempt to counter by defending just before the enemy throws his/her/its next attack.

Once on the offensive, the player can efficiently attack the enemy by linking together various attack combos. Overarching combo types include "Normal," "Magic," "Gauntlet," "Acrobatic," "Throw," and "Aerial" and the game allows certain combo types to be chained together. Both the combos and combo link diagram can be found in the game's menu.

Elika saves her strength in some places by hanging on to the Prince's back.

Summary:
Overall, my experience with Prince of Persia has been exceptionally positive thus far and I would highly recommend it to others looking for a 3D platformer to play.

While part of me wanted to continue playing more straight throughout the night, I had to restrain myself in an effort to reset my sleep cycle.