[JoeX111]

Here are reviews I recently wrote on IGN's Reader Reviews page, if anyone is interested.

Here is Prince of Persia: Warrior Within:

http://rr.pc.ign.com/rr/672283/022/022101.html

And this will take you to the Scrapland Review:

http://rr.pc.ign.com/rr/691048/022/022134.html

[SoccerDude28]

Nice review for warrior within, thanks. My sentiment exactly.

[Scoville]

Wait, you mean that all the women in your life aren't wearing bondage gear? Man, do I feel sorry for you.

[SoccerDude28]

Originally Posted by Scoville

Wait, you mean that all the women in your life aren't wearing bondage gear? Man, do I feel sorry for you.

To quote a very smart fella here:

Originally Posted by Trep

The awkwardness and abruptness of Warrior Within doesn't have so much to do with the dark theme itself, but in how that theme was introduced and why. To start, Ubi guessed that an 'edgier, grittier' look and feel means better marketability. Does it? How did they determine that, what research did they do towards it? My approximation is that the target audience for this was the horny twentysomething single male, explaining the metal thonged female characters, the overall 'dirty' look of the gameworld, the '...many new ways of killing your opponents...', and the grinding rock music otherwise discordant with the ancient Persian atmosphere.

This I don't have a problem with ultimately. What I do find awkward and abrupt is that the game feels as if those marketable elements were artificially inseminated. The edginess and sexuality doesn't emerge naturally from the story, theme, and world. I felt this game was merely posing and showing off - you know, one of those angst-ridden 15-year-old kids on Mom and Dad's weekly allowance, hanging out at the suburban mall and dressed in punk clothes, has lime green hair, and has innumerable piercings, but who has no idea of the true essence of punk and what it means culturally and socio-politically. The game's edginess and grit is not true, but merely disingenuous.

I don't think I can word it better than that.

[LeChimp]

I thought the Scrapland review was good, I enjoyed the game but it got really repetitive at times. I also thought it was odd that robots attacked eachother for almost no reason at all.

[JoeX111]

Originally Posted by LeChimp

I thought the Scrapland review was good, I enjoyed the game but it got really repetitive at times. I also thought it was odd that robots attacked eachother for almost no reason at all.

Thank you much. Yeah, I agree. I really wanted to like Scrapland more, because it was a great premise and had a lot going for it....but it just kept repeating itself too much.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Well, I might come across as unenlightened because I've only played the demo of PoP:SoT, but I definitely agree with this:

The storyline is interesting and is executed well enough, but it is the darkness itself that Ubisoft Montreal decided to focus on that damages this game the most. Gone is the noble Prince character that talked to himself in a charming fashion while wandering the dungeons of the last game. Instead, gamers are introduced to an angry, Wolverine-sounding character that bares little resemblance to our former hero. While I understand how this game needs to be more harsh in order to fit into the storyline, the transition from the first game to the second is beyond jarring; it is almost like playing two entirely different games. This game adds lots of blood and sexuality to a series that really didn't need it at all, and beyond that, they have added far too much of it. Every female in the game is wearing next to nothing and looks like they wandered out of some horrible bondage nightmare. Every enemy gushes blood when they are torn apart by the Prince. In an attempt to be edgy, Ubisoft has bastardized the game itself and swallowed its integrity.

My inquiry is: Where the f#&k did Ubi actually get the idea that 'mainstream' gamers wanted gratuitous 'edginess' and sexuality in their games? Even then, I've seen the screenshots to PoP:WW, watched gameplay clips, and read previews and reviews. It seems like Ubi has some 13-year-old sheltered suburban boy's idea of what edginess and sex is supposed to be. I mean, come ON! If you're gonna do edgy and sex, do it RIGHT, and not simply throw in, "You bitch!" every 5 seconds and stick women in metal thongs. Ubi needs to go cruising on Chicago's South Side or East L.A. for some inspiration.