Before I start, I want to warn everyone that there will be lots of spoilers here. If you haven't played the game and want to, then please do that first and then come back here.
This game was costlier than the other games i've bought and I had seen some demo videos of the game. Initially I was skeptical about the idea of a "companion" throughout the game. I thought it would be very annoying and the only other time it worked was in Half Life 2 - Episode 2 (Alyx is with you always). However the Ubisoft developers have done an awesome job with this game and they got it just right. It is a work of art.
A princess named Elika accompanies you throughout the game. Not only does she save your ass all the time, she also helps the prince use magical things and you kinda grow to like her a lot. The prince keeps flirting with her towards the end, and there are lots of hints that he is actually falling in love with her. I really liked the way they "implemented" her. She is one of my all time favorite NPC (non playing character).
The main storyline of the game is something like this - a dark god has been set free and you try to imprison him along with Elika. Later you find out that the storyline is a bit more twisted. Elika actually dies and her father, unable to bear her death, makes a deal with the dark god. He agrees to set the god free in exchange for her life. This is what grants her all the magical abilities. Once you have healed all the lands surrounding you and you have had the "boss" fight, Elika is forced to give up her life to imprison the god again. The prince then gets a revelation and he sets the dark god free in exchange for her life (again), bringing you back to square one :)
Even though it may sound frustrating, at the end when I was forced to undo whatever I did throughout the game just to bring Elika back to life, I did it in a heartbeat. As I played the game, I grew very fond of her character and when they killed her I was like nooooooooooooooo .. however, I somehow knew the game wasn't over and I continued playing and I was more than happy to release the dark god to bring her back to life again :)
Coming to actual game play, the platforming part of the game is great. The prince is very agile and using Elika's magic you do some really funky stuff. However, the fights are very limited and you only fight one monster at a time. There is no "entering a room and being ambushed by 10 monsters". However, every monster is tough and they actually become tougher as you go through the game. You can perform combos (using Elika's magic attack, your sword attack and your gauntlet attack). If the monster realizes that you are over using Elika's attack, it morphs to a form where it is not affected by her magic attacks. Similarly with sword attacks. This way, its really hard for the fights to get boring, and you have to know a lot of moves (you cannot use a single move over and over again to defeat the enemy). You can also talk with Elika during the game, and sometimes their dialogue exchange is funny.
The game also gave me a great emotional experience. I actually felt sad when they killed Elika, and I had mixed feelings at the very end of the game. I was happy she was alive again, a little frustrated that all my effort during the game went to waste and angry that there was no closure. Clearly, the ending leads to a sequel (Ubisoft announced this series will also be a trilogy) and I was kind of left wanting more.
Overall it was a great buy and I'm a little sad that its over. Maybe i'll play through it again (just for kicks!).
