There is a somewhat engaging storyline and if you want to listen to every word of dialogue you can; the game prompts you when Elika wants to “talk” by flashing the R2 or trigger button. Press that and you get some back story, some playful flirting between the two, and even hints as to how to solve the game’s few puzzles. What’s refreshing is that you are never required to watch one bit of this if all you want to do is jump, twirl, and somersault your way to freedom. Leave the dialogue behind and just get to playing. It’s up to you. Ditching the dialogue isn’t recommend as it’s actually very well done as the “prince” actually doles out a few genuinely funny remarks and both characters are voice-acted by professionals. Best of all: the game never requires you to sit through a cut scene you have already seen three or four times. Check off another common design flaw.

The design even prevents you from getting lost. Elika has yet another nifty ability which allows you to see the path you should take if you ever get turned around. Just press the Triangle/Y Button and a white light shows you the way. It’s like UbiSoft Montreal read every criticism of every platforming action-adventure and plucked those elements right out of the game.

Getting back to the story, you and your lifesaving companion must travel to over 20 some odd “areas” to purify each Fertile Land that is housed there in order to prevent the dark god Ahriman from using its power for all sorts of nasty purposes. . Actually you’re just along for the ride – it’s Elika that does the purging.

The lands are protected by one of four boss henchmen and you have to battle one of them to take control of each contested Fertile Land. Add in the occasional fight with a non descript “corrupted” enemy and that‘s all there is as far as combat is concerned. The vast majority of the game is spent jumping and running along walls and repelling down cliffs. Combat is also straight-forward. Each button performs a basic action from a sword attack to a “gauntlet” attack that launches your enemy in the air, and combos can be strung together to perform more damaging attacks. The animation here is fantastic, especially when you string together several combos.

There are times when an enemy shifts into a particular form which forces you to use a specific attack in order to damage it (or fend it off) and you also get the now tired design taken from God of War where you must press a specific button when it pops on the screen or you get whacked across the chops. But don’t worry – Elika is still there to save your bacon lest you get ripped asunder.

After cleansing each Fertile Land, the area changes from dark and foreboding to green and cheerful. All hints of evil are literally washed away. Afterwards the area if peppered with little glowing balls of energy called Life Seeds. You need to gather these up so that Elika can obtain new powers which unlock other areas. So while you are technically backtracking through an area you already traversed, the Life Seed gathering is by far the most challenging part of the game. Each area contains 45 of these seeds and while you are not required to gather all of them (usually 30 or so per area will suffice) if you want to make the game a bit more difficult – try obtaining every seed on each level. Good luck.