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Amazing, simply amazing

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: May 01, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This has to be one of my favorite games of all time. Thats saying something seeing as how i own over a 100 different video games across about 5 systems.

This game has everything in it. It has action, platform, and puzzle sections. The action gameplay was my personal favorite, although sometimes it was a little overwhelming. The enemies keep coming and they dont give you time to recover, but i still had the most fun with these segments of the game.

The platform levels are fun. You have your basic set of platform moves, and the prince also has multiple wall running skills which i think would be impossible in real life. The thing about the platform levels that pissed me off was you had to have PERFECT timing. You dont know how many times i died because i jumped to early. The developers give an easy solution to this problem by alowing you to turn back time and correct your mistakes. Without this feature, the platform sections would have been extremely fustrating.

The puzzle sections were challenging, yet not to hard. I got most of the puzzles quickly, without running around the same room for 50 minutes with nothing happening. I hate when that happens, yet that never seemed to happen with this one.

This is almost the perfect game. The only problem is its length, i found it to short. I didnt want it to end. I got wrapped up in the story and just wanted it to continue. I'll be waiting dilligently for Ubisoft to come out with the sequel to this amazing game.

An under-rated classic.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: December 11, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Looking through some archives I realized that it has been 13 years since the original Prince of Persia revolutionized gaming and was an instant hit. Prince of Persia 2 - The Shadow and the Flame was bigger, better and the graphics were some of the best at that time. This was also the first time that a narrator that actually SPOKE was used in a game. I still remember my jaw drop when my speakers came to life, putting out more than just generic sound...

In 1997 Prince of Persia 3D was released, an attempt to renew the series by introducing new elements like the third dimension. Let's face it, it wasn't the worst game of all times, but it wasn't really good either. After POP3D it seemed that the legacy had vanished. But (at least some) companies are smarter than actually dropping a promising brand only because there was one unsuccessful title. And so the Prince returned...

Can a game actually be too good to be true? Having played hundreds and hundreds of different games over the years (no I'm not exaggerating, people often DO tell me to get a life though), there was only a handful that overwhelmed me so much that I just couldn't stop playing no matter how late the hour nor the work I should be doing. I heard good things about Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and from the screens and our preview I knew that I could like it, but after completing the game in less than 48 hours I knew that saying "I liked the game" would be an understatement. Ladies and gentlemen, dear readers - let me present you my personal console Game of the Year.

Time is like an ocean in a storm. You may wonder who I am, and why I say this; Sit down, and I will tell you a tale like none that you have ever heard...

This time "Prince" ( it is an unwritten law of the series that you never actually learn his name) is actually of noble blood, not a nobody from a distant land that fought his way out of a dark palace dungeon and eventually conquered the heart of the local princess by means of defeating the evil Vizier that threatened her life and the future of her kingdom. "Prince" is the son of the king of Persia making him - can you guess it?

Young "Prince" accompanies his father to pay a visit to the allied kingdom of Azad, but on their way they are also looking for fame and riches. And so, when the traitorous Vizier of India approaches them, offering that he will open the gates of the capital for them and allow them and their troops to loot the infamous treasure chambers of the Maharaja of India, they both quickly accept. "Prince", wanting to prove himself is one of the first to rush into the city's palace grounds. And here our adventure begins.

The prince of graphics

The graphical presentation is one of the best I have ever seen, and I admit that I'm not surprised that the developers stated more than once that this about as much as they can realize in the game, especially on the oldest console among the competition. But if this is the best, I have no problem with more similarly well looking titles coming this way.

Sheer numbers are already a good way of expressing how detailed e.g. the animations and characters are. The prince himself consists of over 1800 polygons and over 750 different animations - way to go, as the original Prince of Persia had a character consisting out of 1 Polygon, with only 100 different animations.

People that fear that - since we spend most of our playing time in a palace again - the levels can become repetitive can relax - the developers had more than one interesting idea. Various tracts of the palace feature different kinds of architecture, giant halls and libraries, baths and underground caves with gigantic waterfalls and stalactites to climb and stalagmites to impale yourself one, many outdoor levels including vast garden areas, a beastarium, and of course the inescapable visit to the dungeons of the palace. Not one place and not one room look the same, and you will never have the feeling that any of the level designers allowed their work to be sloppy.

A symphony of athletics

Finding your way through the besieged city you will learn the basic and most of the advanced moves you are capable off. Besides running, jumping, climbing ladders and of course grapping ledges, our well trained prince is capable of many more things you shouldn't try at home.

First of all he can run up walls. If the top of an obstacle is just out of reach, you can use this ability to gain some extra height and grab the ledge. While still running up the wall (let's call this action "walling" from now on - for obvious reasons) you may also decide to jump off the wall, possibly reaching prior unreachable places in mid-air of the now higher and wider jump.

Mediocre at best

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 7 / 14
Date: September 15, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Having entered a dry spell of gaming, wherein there was nothing out on PS2 that really grabbed my attention (I pretty much only play games set in ancient Asia), I decided to pick up Prince of Persia for the PS2. The hype and advertising made it out to be one of the sweetest gaming experiences ever. In the television ads, the hero is shown deftly flipping over enemies and executing a whirlwind of combos, then racing on to dodge nefarious traps with an assault of acrobatics.

The advertising and the gaming experience, however, are two different things. The overall experience is clunky and bland. Once the game is complete, you'll find yourself glad you sated your curiosity, but, unless you are a die-hard fan of the series, you will most likely be left with a tepid feeling.

THE GRAPHICS

The graphics in Prince of Persia are a mixed bag. The room designs definitely capture the feel of a Middle Eastern/Indian setting. The levels are laid out nicely, and well-tailored to the platforming gameplay. In many games, the level designs leave you wondering who the heck would use a room like the gamers have designed... like a library stacked high with freight boxes and bookshelves five stories tall set in the middle of a shopping mall. In PoP, the designers used Middle Eastern/Indian architecture to their advantage to create an obstacle course that does not feel out of place. The large rooms are generally found in the most decadent portions of the palace. So, a large library for a sultan doesn't feel out of place. With the havoc wreaked on the palace in the story, rubble is used to the designers' advantage to give you obstacles and platforms without putting them there for no apparent reason.

The overall look of the game is cohesive, and a lot of thought was put into the design of the rooms. There are a few little details that are nice touches, like running water, swaying plants, dust and debris occassionally falling from ruined walls, and the shifting sands of time flitting about the place.

Unfortunately, the color palette is somewhat limited. Many games have their own certain look based on their genre. Horror games have a much darker palette. Fantasy games have a lot of vibrant green foliage and richly-hued banners against gray stone walls. The abundance of earth tones in PoP is in line with the Middle Eastern theme. But, the colors overall appear washed out. While the palm trees swaying gently in the background are a nice touch, their color is so washed out that it appears kind of lackluster. There are so many light rays filtering through rooms that it obscures the details. The graphics on the whole have this sort of "soft focus" look that really detracts from the game visually. Some crisper, clearer graphics would have allowed the player to appreciate the details in the levels a bit more. As it is, many things look like they were lazily shaded with gradient fills. PoP really stands out as displaying the schizm in styles between American/European gaming design and Japanese game design.

And just because there's nowhere else to mention it, I have to point out one scene where you're trapped in a tomb. As the characters converse, you're treated to several minutes of black screen with cascading dust as your only clue that you didn't turn the TV off. Even for being trapped in a dark tomb, this is just a lazy way of getting around a bit of animation. (Maybe it was done that way because of production time constraints.. who knows.)

SOUND

There almost isn't enough sound to comment on. Music is virtually nonexistant in the game. Ocassionally, you get some music during cutscenes, and some funky Middle Eastern/Indian beats surge up during combat, but that's about it. Since there is very little combat in the game, you are typically left in silence, save for the sparse ambient effects, like creaking timbers, trickling water, and the crackle of stones falling from ledges. These little effects are nice, but are relatively flat. The sound effects in the game offer no real depth to immerse you in the environment.

Speaking of environmental effects, the developers apparently decided that a "mic" on the camera would create the illusion of depth and distance when the characters were speaking. The dialogue is louder and clearer when the camera is closer to the characters, and quieter when farther away. When used skillfully, this can help add to the feeling of depth. In some games, you may hear the characters from a distance as they are seen in a bird's eye view entering a cathedral or other large enclosure. Usually, these scenes include environmental effects, like echoes to the voices, and enough volume to still hear them.

With PoP, you often find yourself straining to hear the characters, as the camera has zoomed away from them. The developers didn't leave enough volume when the camera is away from the character to make them sufficiently audible in all but the closest of shots. You can simply turn the volume up, but if you turn it up to hear the dialogue, then find yourself plunged into one of the few combat scenes, your eardrums will be bleeding from the sudden outburst of sound. The sword clashes during combat are so loud, that you'll find yourself either setting those at a comfortable volume, and resigning yourself to missing most of the dialogue, or hearing the dialogue and cringing from the sheer volume of the clashes. The voices overall are muffled, so, even when turned up, you'll be hard-pressed to really follow what's being said. As it is, I'm still not certain about half of what transpired between the hero and Farrah.

To add insult to injury, the voices and sound in the cutscenes are directly tied to the music volume. Since there was very little music at all, I originally elected to turn the music volume down and use my CD player to accompany the game with the soundtracks to The Mummy and The Mummy Returns. (Both of these, BTW, will fit the game nicely if you want constant music. I didn't try my Dune and Children of Dune soundtracks, but they would likely fit as well.) When the second cutscene played, I thought the game was broken, as I had **no** sound. I quickly realized that the music volume would **have** to be up to also be able to hear the voices and cutscenes. With the array of tools and layers developers have at their fingertips these days, merging so many of the game's sounds and music into the same layer is little more than a product of sloppy design. If the developers weren't going to give you much music, they could have at least kept the music in a separate channel/layer, so that those of us who like to provide our own soundtrack could do so without suffering any loss of other sounds.

CONTROLS

The controls may seem intimidating at first, but become fairly intuititive early in the game. You will occasionally find yourself poising your thumb over one button and one button only, so that you will make sure to jump up a ledge, rather than push the button to drop, sending you to your doom. This, however, is a minor thing that will most likely not be an issue for your more avid and competent gamers.. the kind that have a photographic memory for level layouts (I could get lost in a closet in Duke Nukem 3D or Doom.). The hero's movements are virtually foolproof. You really have to want to plunge off of a ledge to simply step off of it. The acrobatics like wall-jumps, performing gymnastics off of flagpoles, and wall-runs are fun to perform and watch. You will very rarely find yourself skipping along and overstep your ledge into oblivion.

Unfortunately, the overall movement in the game is slow. I wouldn't expect rapid acrobatics on par with those in Shinobi or Nightshade, but, the moves are executed slow enough that it really kind of messes up the flow of the game. Since you are only able to jump from platforms (pushing the jump during normal runs simply results in a roll), you must scale low obstacles by running up to them and continuing to press towards them, causing your character to climb them. The result feels less than fluid, as your character grinds to a halt, looks at the block for a moment, and then slowly scales it. The ability to leap in mid-run and hop up onto obstacles would have made things feel a lot more natural. As it is, you really feel the character having to transition between control schemes, which makes the gameplay chug along.

While it's fairly hard to do something as stupid as take one step too many off of a ledge, it is still easy to make stupid mistakes in the game. This is largely the fault of the camera angles. The right analog stick will usually rotate the camera almost 360 degrees. In addition, you are given the options for a landscape view, which will show you a zoomed-out view of an area, and a first-person view. Sometimes, these can be used to gauge which way you have to jump. But, there are many times where the camera will swing around just as you grab a pole and shift views on you. Often, these views are locked. In these cases, it often becomes hard to tell which direction you have to jump to reach your next target. You will find yourself dying more as a result of leaping off in the wrong direction than falling victim to a trap. It really detracts from a game when you die more as a result of stupid things, like camera angle, than at the hands of traps or monsters.

COMBAT/GAMEPLAY

I felt that combat deserved its own section, as it suffers from a combination of control issues, camera issues, design issues and slowdown. First off, combat is actually very rare in the game, and in scheduled, easily forseeable events. There are no real surprises or random encounters. Typically, you will enter a level, fend off the badies, and then be left to figure out the next obstacle course. You know that once you have vanquished the enemies for that level, you are done with them. It might have been nice for enemies to randomly zap in when you least expect it. Only maybe 10-20 percent of the game is spent in any kind of real combat.

Combat is one area where the gameplay really diverges from the advertising. In the TV ads, we see the hero racing about, deftly executing combos worthy of Jet Li at a rate that would make your head spin. The ability to slow down or speed up time is played up as an exiting twist that can give you the edge over the villanous hordes of darkness. In reality, combat ranges from being slow and tedious to annoyingly difficult.

On the the slow and tedious end of the scale, combat is nothing like the deft exchange of blows and flips shown in the ads. In the first few levels, you do get to whup up on the baddies pretty nicely. You can execute runs that let you use your enemy's own body as a launchpad for an aerial assault which will put you behind them. Pressing the single attack button in succession will result in a small but effective onslaught of combo moves. Very quickly, however, you will be set upon by enemies that are wise to your acrobatics. Many of the enemies automatically block your "body jump" by shrugging you off with their weapon. So, this impressive move soon becomes useless. Furthermore, about 60-70 percent of all enemy types will automatically block any assaults directed at anything other than their back. Your only choice is to roll behind them and pop them once or twice before they turn around. As a result, combat in the game is quickly reduced to nothing more than block-roll-hit block-roll-hit block-roll-hit. I hope you enjoy the clang of your sword on your opponent's as they block, because you will hear it a lot.

Before we get to the issue of slow combat, let's visit the issue of annoyingly difficult combat. Naturally, a game where you could dispatch enemies in the blink of an eye wouldn't be very fun. However, challenge in combat is usually best facilitated by your enemy's own combos and at least modest AI. Enemies in PoP have about one or two standard moves, other than the persistent blocking of your attacks. The main challenge comes from the fact that you will be typically set upon by about six or eight enemies at a time in several waves resulting in fending off 20 or 30 enemies at a time. While this sounds like a challenge, it is really more of an exercise in frustration. You're not battling your enemies so much as competing with the crippling limitations of the combat system and game design. You will often find yourself surrounded by four or more enemies whose sheer size will obscure your character. As a result, you will often find your character lost in the pile of bodies, leaving you unable to see if you have been knocked down or which way you are facing. Occasionally, you will find the camera shifting behind a nearby pillar, leaving you to marvel at the amazingly mediocre shading, rather than being able to see your character's predicament in any fashion other than watching the life meter go down. While shrugging off an onslaught of opponents converging on you from every angle may sound like some sort of Matrix-esque scene fueled by adrenaline, the truth is that you will find yourself surrounded by enemies who block your every attack and summarily spank you for trying to get out of the middle of their bloody orgy. The ability to rewind time in the event of your demise and tackle the baddies from a previous point in time does offer you the chance to avoid the mistake you previously made, but mostly allows you to experience the same punishment in a different place. Reliving the same beating over and over in a different locale isn't an innovative new feature.. it's just masochistic. Of course, you can block, but blocking four or more assaults while trying to crawl out of the dogpile is just repetitious. But, when you have the ability to rewind time, repetition should be a concept you're comfortable with.

If this orgy of cuts and bruises inflicted on your character by the surrounding wall of baddies wasn't enough, you'll get this several times over, as villains that are dispatched are quickly replaced by fresh ones. The only real struggle for your life here is to simply endure the tedium until the current villain well runs dry. To add insult to injury, the number of characters on screen results in frequent slow downs of the game. Granted, the theme of the game is being able to slow down or reverse time (I never saw an instance of speeding it up), but there's a distinct feeling of dragging your feet through tar when the game slows down because of being overtaxed, rather than because of your nifty new toy.

As for the traps, they are really almost as sparse as the combat. Most of the challenge comes from simple platform-leaping and puzzle-solving. There are a few traps you have to roll under, shuffle past, and dive beneath, but not many. Most of your time will be spent climbing poles, scaling walls, and jumping across platforms.

TIME

The ability to control time is hailed as an innovation in this game, and in some ways it is. It is, admittedly, very useful to be able to rewind time and avoid your last mis-step or agonizing beating so that you don't have to restart levels all over again. This really only comes in handy when you've made a stupid mistake, however, like thinking the camera is showing a bar in front of you, when it's really off to your right a little. During combat, you do have the ability to slow down time, but this really isn't useful at all, as you are slowed down as well. If the dagger had given you the ability to slow everything around you, but leave you immune to the distortion, it would have proven useful for dodging tricky traps (it would have been nice to have made this necessary for particularly fast-moving blades or something) and dispatching enemies as they feel the bonds of the sands of time. Instead, all it really does is just slow the scene down more than it already is, which is particularly painful when the system has slowed down because too many enemies are on screen. All in all, it's useful for saving yourself from the foibles of poor design, but not really prevalent enough in the game to make its presence needed or known. The properties of the dagger only factor into the story maybe two times at the very end. (One time would be very handy for those who are prone to saying or doing stupid things around dates or significant others.)

STORY

The story in Sands of Time is fairly routine. The hero gets tricked by the main villain into doing something really dumb and now it's his duty to set things right. All in all, it's nothing really outstanding. There is a bit of romantic development between the hero and Farrah, the spunky and capable yet appropriately vulnerable maharaja's daughter (naturally), but it's more hammy than anything and, by the end of the story, amounts to nothing. Along this development, there is an implied love scene which seems really forced and out of place, even when the reason the scene occurred is revealed. It's like the developers were looking for an excuse to show a hint of bared, pixillated rear end.

While I'm on the subject of Farrah, her near-persistent presence throughout the game walks the line between an interesting addition and a simple waste of your time. There are several puzzles which must be solved with her cooperation. Mostly, these involve her tripping one switch somewhere while you trip another. She slips through cracks you can't get to as a means of removing herself from a level, so that you're free to get your acrobatic freak on with the ledges and traps. There are a couple of jokes made about this, which actually prove to be modestly amusing, if lackluster in delivery. A couple of jokes are also made in the game alluding to it being a game. While this works for more tongue-in-cheek games like the Monkey Island series, it comes off as simply the developers trying to be some kind of focus-group-perscribed version of edgy.

When she's not being modestly helpful, Farrah is the bane of your existence. Like any spunky and capable heroine that retains her feminine vulnerability, she's not above getting in a jam for absolutely stupid reasons. Frequently, you will find yourself surrounded by baddies which are dishing a healthy beating out on you, only to have to find some way to crawl between their legs and rush to Farrah's aid as she cowers at some scowling, drooling villain that decided his friends were having enough fun with you. Suddenly, the sassy gal with the heart of a lion is reduced to a quivering heap of B-horror-movie whimpering girlie as some monster looms over her, and it's your job to save her before she gets killed and you have to either rewind time or restart the level. Often, you find yourself wishing you could just shove her in a closet and tell her to stay there while daddy goes and deals with the bullies. To really make things interesting, you have to stay out of the line of her arrows.. when she is being helpful... or she'll hit you, too.

CONCLUSION

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time was a game that enjoyed a lot of hype built up by a combination of clever marketing and nostaligic gamers who enjoyed the early games. At first glance, it appears to be a slick and adrenaline-charged game with a few fresh innovations. Upon playing it, however, the game proves to be full of bad camera angles; slow, tedious combat; limited sound; bad and muffled voice acting (everyone knows British accents are a ticket to instant class, right??); and an cookie-cutter and almost nonexistant storyline other than "G3T T3H POW3RUP AND B3AT T3H GAM3!" While the level designs are solid and the art is cohesive, the lacks any real "snap" to make it leap out from other games- attributed mostly to an annoying soft focus, standard-issue 3D gratient fills, and a relatively washed-out palette. The battle with the end boss is hideously anticlimactic, and the ending really just kind of fizzles out.

Overall, if you're curious about the game, it's worth a rental. If you have $20 burning a hole in your pocket, there are worse things you could spend it on, but you'd save some of that dough renting it and getting a cheeseburger to enjoy while you pop it in your game console. Be prepared, however, for an experience that never approaches the hype surrounding the game.

This game rules ...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 9
Date: January 08, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Persian Prince ... Invading India and the Indian vizier (the prime minister) is helping him ... why? Age old idea of becoming more powerful. He wants the sands of time (a dagger which is key to the huge sand hourglass). And these sands when unleashed accidentally (the evil vizier talks him in doing it) changes every living creature into some sort of sand zombie. The whole game is to reverse this mistake as prince has to fight and collect the sand back into the dagger. The end ... I won't tell you.
Now the high points. Awesome graphics, Awesome movements, Awesome Environments (they become really great once you have completed about 50% of the game), and the prince - he is very acrobatic. The game is easy to learn.
And the fights are very intelligently laid out in between puzzle solving. So you don't get bored of fighting only. And in each fight there are a fixed number of sand creatures you have to defeat. It may be a bit difficult to fight in the beginning, but once you get used to it, it's very simple. And you can learn some tricks like stunning these creatures and catch then of-guard and then strike a blow. And don't let the reviews like difficult fights dampen your spirits. This is Prince of Persia and not Spongebob, so there should be some levels which have to have some level of difficulty involved.
The story line is smooth and runs at a constant pace. And it includes the Prince of Persia 1 (which unlocks when you complete the game) and Prince of Persia 2 (which is unlocked from within the game).
If there is one platformer you like to buy, make it this one.

Amazing and Beautiful Game!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: January 09, 2004
Author: Amazon User

All I can say is WOW! "Prince of Persia" beats them all. Don't get me wrong, "Onimusha: Warlords" and "Devil May Cry" are completely awsome must-have games for the Playstation 2, but "Sands of Time" beats them by a hair. If you own a playstation 2, you must own this game!

NOTE: DO NOT LEAVE THE DVD REMOTE CONTROL ADAPTER PLUGGED INTO CONTROLLER PORT 2. GAME WILL NOT WORK PROPERLY.

How can such a great game be so annoying?

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 10
Date: March 01, 2004
Author: Amazon User

There's a generation who will blink at the unrecognized word "Karataka." Prince of Persia may be some obscure reference. Owning a C-64 might even be a prerequisite to "getting" this game.

The nastolgia that Prince of Persia can is basically lost to a large portion of gamers. But for those who remember the old 2d Prince of Persia games, believe it or not, this newest addition to the series somehow keeps true to the original.

Prince of Persia was kind of an oddity when it first landed on the market. It was a super slick game that took sprite animation to all new levels. The character moved fluidly and with almost no break in continuity. Disney would have been proud. But this caused the player to have to mash the proper move well in advance or blades would impale the hero or a swinging gate would chop him in half.

Sands of Time brings back the same game play in a 3d polygon world. It's unmistakably Prince of Persia. And overall it's a great game. The character dynamics are better animated than the average PS2 game. The play area is pretty well realized and detailed. Game play flows nicely and moves are pretty basic and easy to master, even if the timing is not. (This game is all about timing.)

Unfortunately, the good points stop there. Sands of Time is filled with bugs. The event driven game triggers events incorrectly all the time. It's a game that demands saving often and using the save slots strategically. I've saved a bad event trigger that would have effectively prevented me from completing the game. I had to back down about five save games to recover. It is definitely annoying.

There are other odd annoyances. The save game routine takes about three confirmations to save the game, yet quitting only takes one. If you step too closely to the save vortex, you invoke it intended or not. (Sometimes the vortex is jammed right into a key area. Instead of climbing a ledge, I've found myself facing the annoying repetitive "Do you want to save?" messages).

Replay is limited. It's a bit too long to go through the entire game over and over. It's a bit too short to be a really good gaming experience.

Renting might be a good alternative. Otherwise, I'd rank this as a must have if you are a series of the fan or a 20-something ranked title on a gamer's shelf.

THE BEST GAME YET

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: December 11, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Prince of Persia Sands of Time is one of the best title for the playstation 2 yet it has adventure and action and mind puzzles what more could u ask for the princes fighting skills are so awesome i can whatch them forever i love it the princess gets in the way sometimes accidently shooting you with her arrows and some of the fighting technic does get repetive but if i were you i would go out and buy this game to expierence graphics to die for and action fighting like no other final fantasy 10 grahpics and fun adventure that will keep you guessing i love it and you should get it so stop reading this and go BUY THIS GAME...

That was some helluva 9 hours...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: December 31, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Well, after going through it in a manner of two days, and playing it again...I never expected to be this impressed and stunned by a game. While it is not entirely perfect, this is by far one of the most fun games I've played in ages.

The gameplay...flawless. You can execute a variety of acrobatic stunts that are quite a site to behold, such as running along walls with a tapestry getting pulled along as you try to get from platform to platform, stepping on an enemy, flipping over them, slashing them on the way down and dealing a powerful swipe, wall jumping, etc. The initially complex controls quickly become second nature and the game is forgiving, especially with the ability to rewind time to fix that mistimed jump to your death. There are some minor problems with targeting in combat, instead of using the Dagger to finish an enemy, sometimes the Prince will use it to freeze another. The combat is very polished, the Prince is able to stop in the middle of a combo and lunge to an enemy that is about to attack with a slight change of the analog stick and can actually block when he's knocked down (why no other game has given thought to this logical concept, I'll never know)

The rewind factor, I think it makes the game a bit too easy, it nevertheless guards against a frustrating "ARGHH!" after spending 20 minutes getting up somewhere then only to miss a ladder because the camera angle changed without warning. The various puzzles (which usually consist of getting to a certain place without getting killed in a logical fashion) are not hard at all, and for those areas where the player might get stuck, the save points provide visions that give hints for the area ahead. The only part that is a little challenging are the battles, where it seems the constant spawn of enemies is never-ending and becomes an annoying game of stamina. There is some skill and thought to be had in certain areas but nothing too stressful.

The graphics are not the best I've seen, but it's pretty close. One thing is has going for it is the gorgeous fluidity, most apparent when the Prince is pulling off creative ways to kill his enemies or running up a wall, jumping from it to a pole, and other stunts. The enemies and his companion, Farah, also move with the same sort of smoothness, though not as spectacular as the Prince. The environments have great atmosphere, from the elaborate décor of the Sultan's hall dusted by glittering sand to one of the more beautiful sunsets illuminating the towers, the developers paid a lot of attention to detail. Curiously, the framerate gets choppy in a few areas, that being when the Prince is simply running through a few passages that have little to no activity, yet the smooth framerate is consistent in the hectic battles and trapped hallways full of many harmful sharp things clamoring to kill.

The story is pretty good, especially since it is not the game's main emphasis yet it's quite well executed nonetheless. For a game that involves the concept of time manipulation, it sure is quite adept at not being convoluted like other time travel games (ahem, Soul Reaver). The basic premise is the Prince is trapped in the Sultan's palace after releasing the Sands of Time at the deceptive vizier's advice and must undo the damage he has done while trying to survive the sand creatures, the traps, and not getting hit by the arrows of ally, Farah, a captured princess whose kingdom was attacked by the Prince's father. The adventure is driven by the story, yet is not constantly in your face, with a well-balanced amount of CG sequences and cutscenes (though the voices are lamentably low, and must be turned up in the options menu beforehand) and even hints to key plot events in the visions the Prince gets. Though I think the crowning glory of the story is the interactions of Farah and the Prince. Most of their interactions are voice tracks that are playing as the player is still controlling the Prince. And certain actions the Prince takes usually involves some kind of commentary from Farah, which is responded to by a very sarcastic Prince. The Prince's monologues are the best, very humorous and sarcastic, with a memorable "GOOD GOD! Why am I talking to myself?!" along with other hilarious comments. The above-average English voice cast accents the interactions and hilarity of the dialogue.

To round off this very complete package, the sound effects and the music give the game an even more atmospheric feel. As with graphics, there are also little details in the sound, such as a noticeable soggy step for a few feet after being in water and different stepping sounds according to what kind of surface the Prince is on. The music is very unique, using a sort of contemporary techno heavily laden with Middle Eastern flourishes and mythical-sounding vocals. Top-notch music for a top-notch game.

My only gripe with the game is that it is tragically short. Although other people have estimated it to around 15 hours to complete, I and many others managed to complete it in just under 10 hours. The game does not give much incentive to replay, other than unlocking the original Prince of Persia games, but given how fun it was, just being able to have this much fun again is reason enough for me. By all means, Prince of Persia deserves all the hype it gets, despite some minor flaws, they should, by no means, clash greatly with the player's enjoyment of the game. My only fear is that this gem of a game will not be heavily received, much like another masterpiece of the genre, Ico.

Great Game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: March 31, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Great action, story, graphics, etc. If you liked this one (and you will !!) don't miss "Beyond Good & Evil" !!!!!!!!!!!!

Get Lost in the Sands of Time

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: May 28, 2004
Author: Amazon User

When I first saw the reviews for this game, I thought it look way overrated and entirely, for lack of a better word, boring.

And I really must admit I ate my words when I got it.

The gameplay is far easier than it looks. You use complex-looking moves to do things such as cross spike pits and reach switches. The most common move you use is, of course, your ability to run along walls. You will use this to get across spike pits, water pits, get from one ledge to another, get to a scalable pillar, reach a pole etc.

You will also use pretty much the exact same move, except you run up a wall, to get to higher places. The only difference is that you can run ALONG a wall for quite some way, but you can run UP a wall for a very limited way. It's still enough to reach the top if the wall is short enough (obviously), but you'll mainly use this move to get across to an otherwise inaccessable area. For instance, if there's a broken pillar hanging from the ceiling that you can't simply jump on to, you can run up the wall next to it for the short distance and then kick off the wall to reach the pillar.

Alright. Now that I've given a brief example of the more puzzle-solving aspects of the game, let me get on to the fighting.

In the beginning of the game, you start off with a basic sword which you use to fight the normal people you encounter. Shortly into the game, you acquire the Dagger of Time. This dagger, when holding sand, allows you to pull off some pretty nifty moves, the most popular of which is reversing time. You can bet that after I got the Dagger I had to use that ability a little often. Anyway, once the Sands of Time are unleashed, virtually every living being with a consciousness is turned into a "Time Zombie" or whatever they're called. Ultimately, you have to kill the enemies by absorbing them into the Dagger when they've been grounded. Otherwise, they're just gonna get right back up. You have some nice moves with your weapons, namely (one of my favorites) the ability to run up an enemy's chest, flip over them, and perform a downward slash as you're coming down behind them (in fact, that's the only method I could effectively use to defeat one of the enemies. I think he was the first boss (I heard there are really only two or so. They aren't really needed since the enemies grow increasingly more diffucult as the game progresses), but he really isn't much different from a normal enemy, with the exception of his armor. GRRRRRR.)

Two points about the Dagger and the Sands:
1. You start out with four spheres in the Dagger which contain the Sands. Using the time reversal ability (and I believe the time hastening ability; I don't use that one too much) uses up one sphere. Dispatching an enemy refills one sphere. Plus, when you find the Sand cluster thingamuhbobs on the ground, absorbing those will refill all your spheres (BOOYA!).
2. The more enemies you defeat, the more powers it gains. For instance, the first special power you gain is one that allows you to severely slow down an enemy by stabbing them with the Dagger. If you kill them while they're in this state, you can't absorb them into the Dagger, but it's a nifty ability for those tougher enemies that tend to beat the snot out of you. Over time, the Dagger gains some other powers (the coolest of which is- well, I'm not telling. Buy the game and find out (it's well worth it)), as well as a fifth Sand sphere. I can't say for sure whether I've gotten the Dagger to full power or not, seeing as, according to the game, I'm only about 20% done or so.

Three last things.

Over the course of the game, there are secret passages (well, not really secret, just bonus ones that you need to look out for) that will lead to a special room. You'll know it when you see it.

The plot of the game (as far as I've seen it) is pretty straight forward and amazingly cool. Iwon't blow anything though.

A little after you get the Dagger, you gain an ally (forgot her name ^_^;;) who'll help you and.... stuff. She hasn't been that much help to me in terms of fighting, but you need her in order to progress through the game, so just deal with it. The two of you will communicate throughout the game and make sometimes interesting remarks during gameplay. By the way, if you use the first-person camera for any reason when she's nearby, don't stare at her.

All in all, this is a completely superb game and is well worth investing your time and money in. In fact, you can end up investing quite a bit of time in it (hence my review's title), due to it's extremely addictive plot and gameplay.... Namely the gameplay. Dispatching a few Time Zombies is always fun. I think so, and chances are you'll think so too. Thanks for reading.

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