Ubisoft goes back in time again with a remake of ‘Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame’

By Anthony John Agnello Published April 12, 2013

Prince of Persia — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Ubisoft is loving the 1990s these days. Between its upcoming downloadable spinoff Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, what with its abundance of neon lasers and cyborg sharks, and its backing Paul Cuisset’s remake of Flashback, the French publisher is positively glowing with Clinton-era warmth. In reporting on that Flashback remake, I lamented the fact that Ubisoft has stepped away from the Prince of Persia series in recent years. I spoke too soon. Prince of Persia creator Jordan Mechner and Ubisoft are teaming up for a remastered version of Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame for smartphones and tablets.

“The mobile Prince of Persia: The Shadow and the Flame will feature updated graphics, sound, and touch controls in the spirit of Prince of Persia Classic, rather than a direct port of the original like 2010’s Prince of Persia Retro,” wrote Mechner, “For myself, I’m looking forward to trying to beat the game again, twenty years later.”

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For those that may not remember, Prince of Persia Classic was the HD remake of Mechner’s 1989 original that overhauled the game with polygonal graphics, using the version of the prince that first appeared in 2003’s classic Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.

While it’s nice to see The Shadow and the Flame get a new audience, Ubisoft is giving it the polygonal overhaul may prove to be a missed oportunity. Unlike the original rotoscoped Prince of Persia, whose groundbreaking visuals were nonetheless pretty bland, its sequel was one of the most vibrantly colored early ‘90s PC games. Making a two-dimensional cartoon style remake of The Shadow and the Flame wouldn’t be too much of a trial for Ubisoft either as the company already owns a spectacular engine for hand drawn 2D games. The Ubi-art Framework, used to make Rayman Legends and Rayman Origins, is a perfect match for the series.

At least the original version of Prince of Persia 2 is still readily available.

As for a modern 3D version on the horizon, Ubisoft said in January that it’s taking time off from the Prince. “Brand management is a tricky thing,” said Ubisoft Montreal CEO Yannis Mallat, “It needs people’s attention a lot. I think it is fair to say that, right now, Prince of Persia is being paused.”

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Anthony John Agnello

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Anthony John Agnello is a writer living in New York. He works as the Community Manager of Joystiq.com and his writing has…

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The best amulets in Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown

Sargon looks at his hand in Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown.

Amulets are your main piece of equipment in Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. They run the gamut from being simple buffs to completely changing how you play. Some are easy to find, and just need to be bought from merchants, while others are rewards for beating bosses or are hidden in chests that could take a bit of skill to reach. The best part is, once you find one you like, you can upgrade it at the forge to make it even better. The difficult part is deciding which ones are best and worth spending resources on. With 37 amulets total, we've narrowed things down with this list of the best ones to get in Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown.
Best amulets
From the 37 available amulets, we found the following to be the most useful for the majority of situations. We suggest only using our final pick when and if you decide to try and go for a full completion.
Dragon King

This is a unique amulet in that it will break upon use until you rest at a Wak-Wak Tree. However, the utility of it is unmatched in a game as punishing as this. When equipped, Dragon King will save you from death once, restoring a little HP to give you one last chance to overcome a boss or save you from being sent back to the last checkpoint.
Shield of Mithra

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All Azure Ingot locations in Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown

Sargon wields a sword in Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown.

The majority of upgrades you get in Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown come in the form of new moves, amulets, and traversal options. In terms of combat, you will essentially be relying on your sword and bow for the entire game, but that doesn't mean you can't improve them. As is the case with most games, you can't simply improve your weapons for free, or even for basic currency. No, in order to upgrade your trusty blades to hit as hard as you want them to, you will need to find Azure Ingots to strengthen your tools of battle. These aren't terribly rare, but you probably won't come across nearly enough playing normally to fully power up your gear. Here are all Azure Ingot locations to give you an edge in combat.
Where to find all Azure Ingots
There are 20 Azure Ingots in Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown's giant map. By bringing them to Keheva's Forge, you can choose to invest them in either your sword or bow to increase their power. If you want to get both to max power, every last ingot will be required. You won't be able to grab them all as soon as the game opens up. Many require you to unlock specific skills by progressing the main story, which will be noted in the list below, which also reveals the location of each one.
Lower City
1

Drop down and teleport through the grate to find the chest.
2

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All amulet holder locations in Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown

Sargon looks at his hand in Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown.

The map of Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is packed with secrets and items to find outside iof your main objective of rescuing the prince. Among the most exciting upgrades you can find while exploring the various nooks and crannies are amulets. These trinkets give you different buffs to Sargon, ranging from passive ones like more HP to active abilities for combat. There are over 30 of these in the game, so there had to be some limitation on them or you would get way too overpowered. That's where the amulet holders come into play. Each amulet costs a certain number of slots to equip, and you only start with three. If you want to equip more and better amulets, you will need to get more slots.
Where to find all the amulet holder upgrades
You can upgrade your amulet slots from the default of three with additional nine holders, bringing your maximum total to 12 slots. These are accrued by doing quests or they can be purchased from vendors.
Lower City
There are three upgrades in the Lower City, the first of which you can snag from The Mage in exchange for 240 Time Crystals.

The second is in a chest you can find by dropping through the planks at the location above.