Video Game Review: ‘Prince of Persia: Epilogue’ Offers Fans Another Chapter of Amazing Game

Video Game Rating: 3.5/5.0

CHICAGO – What if you could play one of your favorite games for two more hours? And what if it was a game that ended on a cliffhanger? That’s what you get with “Prince of Persia: Epilogue,” a two-hour add-on for Ubisoft’s excellent “Prince of Persia” that is now available for download for $9.99.

To me, this is the future of gaming, allowing players fully-realized levels, not just add-on costumes or weapons, through downloadable content delivery. I understand that some fans get excited about add-ons of new cars for racing games or characters for other titles, but developers seem to be turning a corner with more elaborate, detailed add-ons like the highly acclaimed “Lost and the Damned” DLC for “Grand Theft Auto IV” and now “Epilogue” for “Prince of Persia”.

Prince of Persia: Epilogue
Photo credit: Ubisoft

The end of “PoP” was a bit of a let-down, leaving the door wide open for a sequel. Who knew it would come just a few months later? But don’t expect that much more of a solid conclusion after these two hours. In fact, the finale of “Epilogue” is arguably more depressing than the game itself.

Prince of Persia: Epilogue Photo credit: Ubisoft

“Epilogue” picks up with the Prince carrying an injured Elika across the desert to safety. Ahriman has been released again and the Prince and his magical companion are forced to continue their run, bouncing off walls and avoiding the growing darkness.

“Epilogue” doesn’t do much more than the game (and arguably does less). It’s literally just two more hours of a title you’ve already played with one new fighting technique that allows you to rush an opponent, a new Elika power that rebuilds missing walls to run on, and a lot more black blobs waiting to eat you alive.

A few too many black blobs. Maybe “Prince of Persia” was even better than I thought because that was a game that I didn’t want to end. I played it through and never got bored or frustrated. “Epilogue” doesn’t seem as well-paced or designed. There seems to be way more repetition, less detail to the backgrounds, and more of a reliance on player trial-and-error than the bulk of the actual game. I never wanted “PoP” to end but I was ready to move on about two-thirds of the way through “Epilogue”.

Prince of Persia: Epilogue Photo credit: Ubisoft

The problem is not just that the wall puzzles seem less well-designed, but the fact that players have to go through the exact same fight roughly six or seven times during the two-hour running period. A shape-shifter takes on the form of The Warrior and The Hunter from the full game - two characters you already know how to defeat and simply have to again…over and over again. So, yes, that means another series of trying to push the big rock dude off a ledge. It gets exhaustingly repetitive.

Despite fighting the same fight way too often, I still have to recommend “Epilogue” to anyone who played the full game. If you took the time to finish that title, you must have enjoyed it enough to see what happens in the chapter you haven’t seen, didn’t you?

If so, $9.99 for another two hours seems like a pretty good deal, even if it’s merely an echo of a great experience instead of something purely enjoyable on its own (although a $5 purchase price for just two hours with no new enemies might have been more appropriate).

And that’s really what it comes down to. “Epilogue” is a reminder of what you loved about “Prince of Persia” instead of something that builds on the original title. It’s undeniably more of the same, but that “same” was pretty fantastic.

Check out the original review of “Prince of Persia”.

By BRIAN TALLERICO Content Director HollywoodChicago.com brian@hollywoodchicago.com