96 DRAPERY PANELS

Jewel of Persia

How can she love the king of kings without forsaking her Lord of lords?
Kasia grew up in a poor Jewish home with more siblings than luxuries. But when a chance encounter forces her to the palace of Xerxes, she becomes a concubine to the richest man in the world. She alone, of all Xerxes' wives, loves the man beneath the crown. She alone, of all his wives, holds the heart of the king of kings.
Traveling with Xerxes through Europe as he mounts a war against Greece, Kasia knows enemies surround her, but they re not the Spartans or Athenians. The threat lies with those close to the king who hate her people. She determines to put her trust in Jehovah even if it costs her her marriage.
Years of prayers are answered when Kasia's childhood friend arrives at the palace after the war, but even as she determines to see Esther crowned in place of the bloodthirsty former queen, she knows the true battle is far from over. How far will her enemies go to see her undone?
Combining the biblical account of Esther with Herodotus's Histories, Jewel of Persia is the story of a love that nearly destroys an empire . . . and the friendship that saves a nation.

Immediately after closing the book on Crackdown 2 I fired up Prince of Persia. After playing for only a little while I began to laugh at the irony that once again I was traversing a cell shaded land, bounding to and fro, and collecting orbs - though in Prince of Persia they were refereed to as Light Seeds.

While Crackdown 2 and Prince of Persia have those three traits in common, the games are as different as night and day. I found Prince of Persia to be a decent, at times inventive, ‘no-fault’ platformer which was somewhat enjoyable yet not entirely memorable.

The game did have it’s moments, such as when the platforming was at it’s best. In some instances getting from A to B consisted of a beautiful, flowing ballet of movements taking advantage of your special abilities and pushing you towards the edge of your seat. Sadly, these sequences were only fully realised a handful of times throughout the game, leaving most of the platforming feeling very standard and bland by comparison.

You won’t ever die in Prince of Persia, as each misstep in the game is followed by an immediate rescue and a prompt retry. While this safety net might be a turn off to some, I contribute it to be the main reason I stuck with this game to the very end. Had I fallen to my death one to many times I might have just shut the game off and never returned to it.

While the platforming had its ups & downs, combat on the other hand had no redeeming qualities, and was flat out atrocious. It was stiff, clunky and an absolute chore. Luckily, enemy encounters were extremely rare - but boss fights were unnecessarily painful. Not to mention that you are forced to face each boss multiple times. You still won’t die, even during a boss battle, but if you screw up during the combat your foe will regain chunks of his/her health extending some encounters into ‘stupid long’ territory. My rage quit meter started to tremble during a few of these boss encounters.

My top props to Prince of Persia go to the game’s dialog and it’s amusing, ‘story by request’ delivery. You can push through the entirety of the game catching only the major exchanges, or you can pull the left bumper (or left trigger) at whim to engage in a conversation. There is some witty back and forth between, and I was impressed with just how many lines of dialog the two characters in the game actually had. I kept pumping the trigger just to see if they would eventually repeat parts, but the conversation just kept going and I really got a feel that the characters were getting to know each other.

I dont’ think I’d prefer to see this type of delivery of story/dialog in games, but I found it unique enough here to warrant mention.

To wrap my opinion of Prince of Persia up, the game was ok - but pretty repetitive with no real hooks. The platforming has it’s moments, but the combat flat out sucks. The game is nearly devoid of enemies, with only a spattering of puzzles to mix things up. For $10 and under, you may have fun with it - but any more than that and your just wasting your money.

Design Poster.

This was actually a collaborative effort with another student/graduate in my class at OSU. WE used our distinct styles to combine and create this.

His style was mostly in the perspective portion and mine in the cell shading style.

We chose to emulate the WWII posters of the 40's something that fit both of our styles.

In the spirit of the Pirates Of The Caribbean trilogy, Walt Disney Pictures and Jerry Bruckheimer Films transport you to the mystical lands of Persia for this wildly entertaining, epic action-adventure. It's a race against time when a rogue prince (Jake Gyllenhaal) reluctantly teams up with a rival princess (Gemma Arterton) to safeguard a magical dagger that gives its possessor the power to reverse time and rule the world. Filled with death-defying escapes and unexpected twists at every turn - Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time is a fun-filled adventure that will keep your pulse pounding long after the credits end.

Jake Gyllenhaal's doe eyes and bulging biceps will make some hearts flutter in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Dastan (Gyllenhaal), adopted prince of the Persian empire, must flee into the desert when accused of murdering his royal father--but a glass-handled dagger he found as loot from a captured city turns out to hold powerful time-manipulating magic. Not only is he pursued by his vengeful brothers, his scheming uncle (Ben Kingsley, Sexy Beast), and a strange cabal of assassins, but a princess/priestess named Tamina (Gemma Arterton, Quantum of Solace) wants the dagger back and will kill Dastan if she has to. Prince of Persia wants to be a rollicking adventure along the lines of Pirates of the Caribbean. Unfortunately, it's hampered by clumsy dialogue and hard-to-follow action sequences, with choppy editing that wrecks the flow of the parkour-inspired stunts. But the production design is extravagant and every time Alfred Molina (Spiderman 2) appears as a greedy sheik the movie gets a delightful jolt of energy. Gyllenhaal doesn't have much to work with--Dastan is a fairly hero--and whoever designed his hair should have been fired on the first day, but his lazy charm comes through and carries him through the movie. --Bret Fetzer