Excerpt from Toronto Thumbs Review of Prince of Persia:
"Prince of Persia’s primary concern is the presentation of an artistic pursuit. In describing the visual aesthetics of the game, reviewers are encouraged to rely on words like “poetic” and “sublime,” which are fading words that pay lip service to surface considerations and prove as empty as the core game-play found within. The artistic rendering of this world merits a few new words. It’s dramatically different from cel-shading, a technique which proved capable of giving characters an added depth of emotion through facial features in titles like The Wind Waker.
"In contrast, Prince of Persia’s visual style does little to accentuate characters, often giving an appearance similar to paper-dolls against the backdrop. The star here is the landscape behind the Prince and Elika, which seems to contend for the role of protagonist with a warming aesthetic formed from a hybrid reminiscent of coloured sketches and watercolour paintings. The healed areas of the kingdom demonstrate the accomplishment with an ecological bliss that blends the flow of water, stretches of vibrant grass, and grains of wood to create a compelling landscape. In comparison, the intentionally cold and rotting areas of contaminated lands never achieve the same connection. In contrast to a title like Okami, returning life to dead land is achieved by folding back the covering of contamination, which treats these areas more like a peeling wallpaper rather than tangible spaces."
Continued at
http://www.torontothumbs.com/2008/12/19/princeofpersia
"Prince of Persia’s primary concern is the presentation of an artistic pursuit. In describing the visual aesthetics of the game, reviewers are encouraged to rely on words like “poetic” and “sublime,” which are fading words that pay lip service to surface considerations and prove as empty as the core game-play found within. The artistic rendering of this world merits a few new words. It’s dramatically different from cel-shading, a technique which proved capable of giving characters an added depth of emotion through facial features in titles like The Wind Waker.
"In contrast, Prince of Persia’s visual style does little to accentuate characters, often giving an appearance similar to paper-dolls against the backdrop. The star here is the landscape behind the Prince and Elika, which seems to contend for the role of protagonist with a warming aesthetic formed from a hybrid reminiscent of coloured sketches and watercolour paintings. The healed areas of the kingdom demonstrate the accomplishment with an ecological bliss that blends the flow of water, stretches of vibrant grass, and grains of wood to create a compelling landscape. In comparison, the intentionally cold and rotting areas of contaminated lands never achieve the same connection. In contrast to a title like Okami, returning life to dead land is achieved by folding back the covering of contamination, which treats these areas more like a peeling wallpaper rather than tangible spaces."
Continued at
http://www.torontothumbs.com/2008/12/19/princeofpersia