A Stunning First
Promotional games, that is, smaller promotional games for larger products in mediums such as Flash, have a deservedly bad reputation, and a markedly terrible history. They have been, almost without exception, boring and outdated attempts at wrapping gameplay around promotion and tend to fail at doing both.
While Ubisoft is a game company, and hence it shouldn't be surprising that they can produce a good flash game, they ought to be commended for being one of the first, if not being the first, to actually produce a game that feels like some thought and effort was put into it.
The game follows an old tried and true formula - the endless running game, popularized (as far as I can recall anyways) by games like Marvin Spectrum and Spin Sprint Orange and polished by games like Canabalt - and kicks it up a notch. Like a previous reviewer said, "its Canabalt on steroids" - building upon solid foundations is never a bad thing and this game did that beautifully.
The combination of hazards that merely hurt you a little with traps that mercilessly butcher you for coming close to them recalls the Prince of Persia games of old, while the fast paced action, magic system and the good old sands of time continues to make the legendary mercilessness of PoP accessible.
The art and the production values are flawless, but this is to be beyond expected, considering who's at the helm, here.
Technically the game is, with a few notable exceptions, very well made, which is something that while ought to be expected has not always been the case. Controls are tight and for the most part responsive, and the player is never confused on what needs to happen, leaving the player free to experience the thrill of the game. The control scheme itself could have used a little work - wall jumping in particular was questionable and needless buggy, and timing sword swings to hit enemies is probably the most difficult part of the game when it seems like it really shouldn't be.
Other than that - the game is overall a really tight, fun and engaging experience.
As a game on its own, its pretty damn good. As a promotional game, its got to be one of the best.