Good Old Games is hosting yet
another great sale, this time offering two of Ubisoft's finest entries -
Beyond Good & Evil and
Prince of Persia: Sands of Time at 30% off. If you buy the two together, it's a whopping 50% off. If you enjoy video games in any way, shape, and form and don't already own the GOG versions of these two games, then you
must take advantage of this offer.
About a decade ago, Ubisoft approached Jordan Mechner, the creator of the original Apple II
Prince of Persia game, about reviving the series, but made the rather unusually decision of giving him full creative control. The result was a massive hit in 2003 that lead to two sequels, a rather lame "re-invisioning" game and an upcoming movie - and for good reason.
SoT is one of the single best gameplaying experiences I have ever had, second only to
Planescape: Torment. Unlike that title, which requires a massive investment in time and emotion,
SoT is lighthearted, simple, and completely forgiving.
For those who have never heard of the game, you play as a Prince (naturally) who is accompanying his father to visit a nearby sultan. Along the way, they realize they've forgotten to bring a gift, and in order to avoid a rather awkward faux pas they raze a nearby kingdom to the ground and steal its valuables and women to present to the Sultan. In doing so, the young prince loots the Dagger of Time, a powerful artifact that allows the bearer to rewind time. Once the caravan arrives at the palace, a traitorous Vizier tricks the prince into unleashing the Sands of Time, turning everyone in the palace into Zombies. The rest of the game consists of the prince parkouring his way through some pretty awesome scenery and acrobatically slashing sand zombies into tiny pieces. Best of all is the rewinding time feature - at any time you can rewind about 15 seconds into the game. This one feature means that most of the frustrations of a platformer simply disappear - if you miss a tricky jump, there's no need to replay a section, simply rewind and try again! It's fun, it's fast, and it's broken into manageable chunks.
SoT also benefits from the fact that Mechner is a professional screenwriter. It's tale is incredibly well crafted, with believable characters who actually grow, humor, and an overall sense of
completeness that's missing from most games. Buy it. You won't be disappointed.
Beyond Good & Evil, on the other hand, serves as a poster child for how poor marketing can kill a product. Ubisoft released this title with little fanfare in the Christmas rush, pretty much guaranteeing that it would be lost in the deluge. Which it was. Which is a shame, because
BG&E is one of the most imaginative, heartwarming and
joyous games I've ever played. That may sound strange, especially with a plot involving conspiracies, abductions, and some fucking scary aliens, yet
BG&E goes about its business with such goodwill and enthusiasm that it's infectious. If you do not feel charmed by Hyllis, then you have no soul.
As for the game itself, the best way to describe it would be Zelda grown up. Much like that venerable series, the game is an action adventure that sees the player traversing a fleshed out world exploring, fighting, and collecting. Unlike the Zelda games, the protagonist is one of the best written characters in videogame history. Not to say that the gameplay isn't entertaining (because it is) but Jade, and her interactions with the other characters, is what makes this game. Even if you don't consider yourself a gamer, or don't really play games, I encourage you to purchase this one and try it out. How many action games have their protagonist wield a camera instead of a gun?
Finally, both these games have kick-ass soundtracks, and when you buy them from GOG you get that as well! Also keep in mind that GOG games do not have any form of copy protection whatsoever, and come in a convenient downloader that installs perfectly on XP or Vista. Buy them. Seriously, do it. It's 10 bucks for two of the best games of the last decade that are easy to get into, even for a non-gamer. You don't even need super duper awesome hardware - these games are 5 years old, and scaled well even when they were new.
Buy them, or you are not my friend. You have until Monday.
Good Old Games is hosting yet another great sale, this time offering two of Ubisoft's finest entries - Beyond Good & Evil and Prince of Persia: Sands of Time at 30% off. If you buy the two together, it's a whopping 50% off. If you enjoy video games in any way, shape, and form and don't already own the GOG versions of these two games, then you must take advantage of this offer.
About a decade ago, Ubisoft approached Jordan Mechner, the creator of the original Apple II Prince of Persia game, about reviving the series, but made the rather unusually decision of giving him full creative control. The result was a massive hit in 2003 that lead to two sequels, a rather lame "re-invisioning" game and an upcoming movie - and for good reason. SoT is one of the single best gameplaying experiences I have ever had, second only to Planescape: Torment. Unlike that title, which requires a massive investment in time and emotion, SoT is lighthearted, simple, and completely forgiving.
For those who have never heard of the game, you play as a Prince (naturally) who is accompanying his father to visit a nearby sultan. Along the way, they realize they've forgotten to bring a gift, and in order to avoid a rather awkward faux pas they raze a nearby kingdom to the ground and steal its valuables and women to present to the Sultan. In doing so, the young prince loots the Dagger of Time, a powerful artifact that allows the bearer to rewind time. Once the caravan arrives at the palace, a traitorous Vizier tricks the prince into unleashing the Sands of Time, turning everyone in the palace into Zombies. The rest of the game consists of the prince parkouring his way through some pretty awesome scenery and acrobatically slashing sand zombies into tiny pieces. Best of all is the rewinding time feature - at any time you can rewind about 15 seconds into the game. This one feature means that most of the frustrations of a platformer simply disappear - if you miss a tricky jump, there's no need to replay a section, simply rewind and try again! It's fun, it's fast, and it's broken into manageable chunks.
SoT also benefits from the fact that Mechner is a professional screenwriter. It's tale is incredibly well crafted, with believable characters who actually grow, humor, and an overall sense of completeness that's missing from most games. Buy it. You won't be disappointed.
Beyond Good & Evil, on the other hand, serves as a poster child for how poor marketing can kill a product. Ubisoft released this title with little fanfare in the Christmas rush, pretty much guaranteeing that it would be lost in the deluge. Which it was. Which is a shame, because BG&E is one of the most imaginative, heartwarming and joyous games I've ever played. That may sound strange, especially with a plot involving conspiracies, abductions, and some fucking scary aliens, yet BG&E goes about its business with such goodwill and enthusiasm that it's infectious. If you do not feel charmed by Hyllis, then you have no soul.
As for the game itself, the best way to describe it would be Zelda grown up. Much like that venerable series, the game is an action adventure that sees the player traversing a fleshed out world exploring, fighting, and collecting. Unlike the Zelda games, the protagonist is one of the best written characters in videogame history. Not to say that the gameplay isn't entertaining (because it is) but Jade, and her interactions with the other characters, is what makes this game. Even if you don't consider yourself a gamer, or don't really play games, I encourage you to purchase this one and try it out. How many action games have their protagonist wield a camera instead of a gun?
Finally, both these games have kick-ass soundtracks, and when you buy them from GOG you get that as well! Also keep in mind that GOG games do not have any form of copy protection whatsoever, and come in a convenient downloader that installs perfectly on XP or Vista. Buy them. Seriously, do it. It's 10 bucks for two of the best games of the last decade that are easy to get into, even for a non-gamer. You don't even need super duper awesome hardware - these games are 5 years old, and scaled well even when they were new. Buy them, or you are not my friend. You have until Monday.
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