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Ubisoft is gearing up for a revival of two of its most-beloved IPs that have been dormant for so many years at this point. The French publishing giant previously revealed a remake ofPrince of Persia: The Sands of Time, which was then followed up by the long-awaited announcement of aSplinter Cellremake.
While these two announcements have certainly fanned many hopes of seeing new entries in these franchises, it’s clear that Ubisoft doesn’t see both of these projects as equals — at least in terms of scope and assigned resources. As a result, it seems that theSplinter Cellremake could turn out to be markedly better thanPrince of Persia’s comeback.
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Prince of Persia’s Remake’s Development Hasn’t Been The Smoothest
With its first-ever reveal trailer,Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remakedidn’t enjoy the most positive of fan receptionwhich can mostly be chalked up to its less-than-stellar visuals especially in the facial textures department. This might be a direct result of using AnvilNext 2.0 as the game engine, which is built for rendering massive open-worlds and being used by large development teams.
The remake is being handled by Ubisoft Pune, which is one of the smaller studios in the French publisher’s roster. While it’s great that the studio is getting to take charge of such a fan-beloved project, Ubisoft’s choice most likely implies that the game is (or was at least) being developed under strict budgetary constraints. These restraints might also be limiting the scope of the remake, which reflects in the gameplay improvements.
While fans haven’t received any dedicated gameplay trailers, thesnippets of gameplay show very minimal improvementswhen compared to the original. These minor improvements could work well within the context of the game itself, but it’s likely that the scope of these retouches are being constrained from the budget and the manpower required to make the most out of this technology.
The Splinter Cell Remake Is Much More Well-Equipped To Succeed
While Ubisoft clearly cut some corners for the development ofPrince of Persia: The Sands of Timeremake, the wrongs seem to have been righted in the case ofSplinter Cell’s comeback. The game will be built on Ubisoft’s latest Snowdrop engine, which in addition to having great features claims to be a far more efficient tool for smaller teams. That said,the remake is being handled by Ubisoft Torontowhich hints at far more resources being assigned to the project thanPrince of Persia.
Furthermore,Ubisoft will also have to redo many of the gameplay ideasthat are present in the original release, and subsequently change up level designs and so on. The original’s deep tactical stealth systems do certainly hold an irrefutable charm, but can be pretty cumbersome to return to after all these years. All in all, it’s not just a graphical retouching of the original but a near-complete overhaul meant to welcome new players to the franchise.
As such, its scope and budget far outweigh those forPrince of Persia’s remake, which makes it very likely that the former project could have a much stronger first impression than the latter. Of course, it would be in everyone’s best interests if both games eventually turn out to be great — which would most certainly open new doors for these fan-beloved franchises.
