Interview mit Ben Mattes zu Prince of Persia: Rival Swords

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PlaystationPortable.de: First of all can you introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about the team which is behind the project and what did you do till now?

Ben Mattes: My name is Ben Mattes and I am the Producer of Prince of Persia Rival Swords. Before taking on the project I produced The Two Thrones, making me well positioned to manage the transition to the PSP.

The development team for the project is an external development partner called Pipeworks. This is the same team that developed the ‘Prince of Persia: Revelations” project for the PSP so not only are they intimately familiar with the POP engine, but also with the inner workings and capabilities of the PSP.

PlaystationPortable.de: For those who don’t know Prince of Persia: Rival Swords, can you tell us what the game is all about?

Ben Mattes: As you remember from The Two Thrones, the Prince returns home to find his city of Babylon ravaged by war. As he discovers that The Vizier is behind the attack, he slowly becomes corrupted by the sands of time. Confronted with a second corrupted personality, he will have to find The Vizier and set things right. The game offers opportunities to play as both the Prince and Dark Prince, utilizing each of their weapons and strengths. Rival Swords builds upon The Two Thrones by adding an all new multiplayer Race Mode and challenging new chariot races.



PlaystationPortable.de: Can you tell us more about your feelings during the development. What is it like to create a game based on such a popular character like the Persian Prince?

Ben Mattes: I’ve been working on POP games for two years now and feel I’ve only scratched the surface in terms of the stories we want to tell and the type of gameplay the franchise lends itself to. I love Action Adventure games, and I love fantasy universes, so working on a brand that combines the two is about as good as it gets for me.

PlaystationPortable.de: Again the PSP-Game is a remake of an existing console version. What new elements will let owners of Prince of Persia: Two Thrones still want to buy the game?

Ben Mattes: I think the two new modes are going to offer an extension to the fans of Prince of Persia that you just can’t get on any other platform. The all new Multiplayer Race Mode takes advantage of the portable handheld and gives fans of the franchise a chance to finally play head to head with Ad Hoc. Players can choose to be the Prince or the Dark Prince and battle it out in the exclusively designed levels. You can select different paths, set traps, play it safe or just dash through the level so no two races are alike.

The Chariot Race Mode offers new levels to race and we’ve ramped up the difficulty a little to really give the players a fun but challenging experience. We were asked by the fans for more chariot races so now we can deliver.

PlaystationPortable.de: Why do you think are remakes so common on the PSP, rather then producing innovative new concepts based on the features of the handheld system?

Ben Mattes: I don’t think Ubisoft is guilty of only releasing ports for the PSP. Rocky™ and Star Wars Lethal Alliance™ both for PSP are examples of a product developed solely for this platform and seek to take full advantage of the capabilities of the machine.

Ubisoft, like all Publishers, seeks to find a balance between ports of existing titles and new creations for each platform it supports. The PSP is no different.

Finally I would say that even when we port a game, Ubisoft pays careful attention to ensure that we do indeed take advantage of the PSP’s unique features (multiplayer capability, new game mechanics that encourage more ‘portable friendly’ game sessions, etc). The PSP is an important platform for us and we want gamers to feel they have a reason to play the PSP version of a title they may have seen in a similar form on another platform.



PlaystationPortable.de: Many fans of Prince of Persia: Relevations complained about the seemingly unfinished look and feel of the first game. Different glitches and long loading periods frightened some potential customers. In how far did you manage to improve the game concept for Sony’s handheld this time?

Ben Mattes: Both the stability of the core engine (Jade) and Pipeworks/Ubisoft’s development expertise on the PSP have increased since Revelations was released, so I’m confident in saying that Rival Swords will offer a more polished gaming experience.

PlaystationPortable.de: A new feature of the game is the multiplayer mode. Can you tell us more about this new feature?

Ben Mattes: The battle between the Prince and the Dark Prince gave us an excellent opportunity to finally explore multiplayer gaming within the Prince of Persia universe. In Rival Swords you and a friend can race against each other through a series of environments, all the while trying to impede each other’s progress by activating traps. The first player to complete the race wins the right to the Prince’s body and control of the Persian Empire.

As I said earlier the Race Mode can be played in different ways depending on your style. Players can choose to run a sprint or a marathon and each player is given 3 paths to choose from at the start of the race that vary in difficulty and danger. The finish line is the goal, how you get there is up to you.



PlaystationPortable.de: What are your future plans? Which new handheld game will follow for 2007?

Ben Mattes: I’m currently working on an unannounced next-gen title so can’t go into too many details on this question. This experience working on POP for the PSP has given us a lot of ideas, though, regarding future opportunities for our Prince on portable platforms. I would love to be given the chance to see what new and unique ways we can explore the story of our Prince on the PSP.

PlaystationPortable.de: What are your favourite handheld games, aside the ones that are in development by Ubisoft?

Ben Mattes: I think ‘Crush’ looks incredible! I love the fact that it took the PSP to come up with this game concept even though it could have worked on any platform – it shows that developers are clearly taking the device seriously and trying to find exciting ways to push innovation to the portable market.

The interview was held by Kevin Jensen for PlaystationPortable.de

Thanks to Ben Mattes for his support.