Interactive Narrative - Gameplay (PRINCE OF PERSIA: THE SANDS OF TIME)

Week 3 - Day 4

The question I'm choosing to address concerning this week's gameplay will be: 2. Do the story nodes in your chosen game(s) work well to support gameplay and gameplay objectives? Why or why not? I will be playing Prince of Persia: The sands of time. (The movie is pretty nice because Jake Gyllenhaal.)

The game itself has a linear narrative: there is only one way forward. I'm given cutscenes every so often that adds dynamics to my surroundings and it helps remind me, as the player, that I am currently inside a war zone. I feel that these cutscenes do lend itself to gameplay and give me a richer experience despite having limited choices. There is a sense of focus within the limitations and I am reminded every so often within the game that there is an objective I must achieve in order to find a close in the chapter.

Before certain fight sequences there is a cutscene where I scope out the area to count how many enemies I have to defeat before I can progress. This is nice because it reminds me that I'm alone in going forward and that I must be smart about my strategy; I can't simply rush them and attack them one at a time - I have to stun each of them separately before I can incapacitate them permanently, or lest I become seriously injured.

I did accidentally die once during the tutorial of running along the walls and the narrator ends up saying; "No, no, no, that's not the way it happened." It makes me feel like I'm listening to his story but also interrupting him with my narrative and he has to cut in to set it straight. When I saved the story and tried to exit the program the narrator would cut in again to say; "I'll start the story from here next time." making me feel like he's taking a pause until I'm ready to listen to him again. It's different and I find it refreshing to play.

I also find it cool how the game asks me if I'm sure that I want to quit the game; the voice so earnest and sad that I'm choosing to leave the story as it is rather than continue it. While this doesn't add anything to the gameplay itself, it does give me a sense of involvement; that I am part of the story and the story is a part of me. The game is interesting in the sense that I'm playing it as the protagonist but I'm also listening to his story from an outsider's point of view; reliving the moment as it happened in the past.

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Prince of Persia: The sands of time - 6.5/10. I would definitely play the story to the finish but I most likely wouldn't replay it once it's over.