Game Essentials Overview: Success?

In review, both Twilight Princess and Prince of Persia games successfully immerse the player in the game world and play experience by effectively implementing rules, challenges, level design, visuals, audio, and an excellent story and cast of characters.

Both games make sure to set enough limiting parameters and guiding rules so that the player isn't totally lost in figuring out what the point of the game is or how to play, while still leaving enough mystery and content for the player to explore on their own so that the player doesn't get bored quickly. Both are sure to clearly define victory conditions, such as defeating an enemy, completing a subquest, unlocking a door to access another level, or even ultimately killing the final baddie responsible for the protagonist's strife. They also make sure the player is aware of loss conditions, such as letting your health run out while fighting minions or evading traps, falling from a ledge, or allowing an enemy to capture or kill an ally.

Various goals are set to guide the player's actions and provide a challenge, including puzzle-solving, combat, exploration, and advancement. Challenges faced in each game are implicit and explicit, that is intentional and immediate or emergent through gameplay itself, which helps create a more interesting and varied play experience. Implicit challenges like defeating different enemies using a series of swordstrokes, acrobatics, and evasion tactics, or having to guide Link or the Prince through deadly traps or a winding dungeon are obviously entertaining in the first place, but having to figure out which passage leads to somewhere I've already been before, deciding which door I need to go through first, or realizing I need to use Link's iron boots to traverse the magnetic deposits on the walls and ceilings of the Goron Mines adds another element of fun and discovery.

The levels of each game seem for the most part to be expertly designed in my experience- I can't recall being bored by any particular part of either game, although I may have gotten frustrated by an especially confusing setting or tricky fight on more than one occasion; levels were geared towards accomplishing the current goal, and usually ideally balanced the time spent completing them with the amount of content found throughout them- I'd spend just about the number of minutes I had patience for completing a task or defeating an enemy, and just about the amount of effort I wanted to expend to find doors, hidden objects, powerups, and other bonuses in the levels before I lost interest. The settings were varied and interactive enough to convince me in the moment that it was real and significantly natural which accentuated the rich story and world of each game. It was up to me whether I wished to race through a series of cleverly integrated ropes, ladders, and platforms, slip past any enemies I didn't need to confront, and breeze through required quests/tasks to finish the level, or whether I wanted to take my time exploring environments, looking for hidden rewards in a cracked wall or treasure chest, talking to non-essential characters, completing subquests, and "playing" with my enemies using attractive but probably unnecessary fighting combos.

The visuals and audio of each game were also superb- The environments blended realistic textures and lighting with a more fantastical layout and ambiance. Although the Twilight Princess graphics were a little more stylized and less realistic than those for the Prince of Persia games, each created the sense that this was a living, breathing realm of its own. Painstaking details in each like the wandering cats and dogs in the streets of Hyrule Castle town or the weapons that can be picked up and used once a weapon rack has been smashed in any of the last two PoP games made each world all the more believable.

The original soundtracks for each added even more to the pleasantly complex gameplay, and there seemed to be realistic sounds for any event imaginable, such as the thud and resounding clanging when Link hits a bucket-headed training dummy with his sword, lights a torch, barks in wolf form at an opponent, or when the Prince cracks open a wall with his sword, pulls a rusty lever, or rolls over smooth flagstones. The voiceovers in the PoP games are decently executed and expressive as well, and help to enrich the story and the general mood of the game as well.

Both series are definitely notable for their memorable characters and compelling storylines, and while each utilized the age-old model of the Hero's Journey Joseph Campbell observed, neither plotline was boring or too cliche. The character development that emerges through the Prince and Farah's entertaining interactions in the SoT is distinctly charming, and the developers did a good job of evolving the Prince's more mature character to fit the changing feel of the following games. Twilight Princess Link is the same, quietly humble farmhand turned fierce and dedicated warrior he's always been, but he's still easy to identify with and sympathize with throughout the story.