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Good, but pales in comparison to Sands of Time.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 116 / 126
Date: December 20, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Prince of Persia, the Sands of Time was a unique and revolutionary game that relied on intuitive and slow paced gameplay with increased emphasis on thoughts and visuals as opposed to button twitching action. This game, the sequel, moves the game more towards the ordinary action, cliched video game, with increased annoyances from large fights, backtracking, and bosses. Original games shouldn't move back towards the standard, formulaic game, but unfortunately, this does.

The first thing everyone is probably wondering is how different is this from the Sands of Time? Well, the puzzles, the intuitive and graceful controls and the fun movements are all there. Many of the same elements of gameplay still exist. Just getting from point A to point B in a large room with pillars, ledges, running on walls, swing on ropes, sliding down drapes, it's all there. Still the same reliance on thinking, visuals. In fact, there is actual improvement. The last game had jumps that were questionable and jumps were made blindly. This game has eliminated much of that. Other improvements include the fact that you traverse the same palace within two different time periods, meaning that the same rooms will have different traps or different lighting. A very interesting and unique concept.

The other changes are more dramatic. The videos and styles are a little darker, they've added chase scenes, and most drastic of all, they changed the fighting system and added a lot more fighting.

First off, the videos, audio, and visuals of the enemies are of a slightly darker nature, which is pretty much the only reason why it's a mature rating. It's worth noting that they fixed the sound problems from SOT and added subtitles. They changed some of the music. While still ambient, fighting scenes switch to guitar riffs from Godsmack (I think). While I like Godsmack and I own a few albums of theirs, the guitar music is annoying and does not fit well in this game. The story is decent, and CGI is pretty good though. Unfortunately, I have no idea why they made it rated mature. Just removing a few lines, and removing the blood, and making small changes would make this rated T or E. It's pretty pathetic when a video game feels it needs to add sexual connotations and needless blood just to increase sales. All it does is embarrass anyone who sees the game (polygon half-naked woman are just lame) and alienates a large group of players.

Secondly, they added more time-based schemes, most notably, chase scenes. Basically, a monster comes in and chases you and you have a limited amount of time to move from one room to another. Now, unfortunately, this does not work. The main reason is that the camera angles switch so often that orienting yourself takes a second, a second you cannot spare. What's worse is that sometimes the cutscenes themselves ruin the momentum and cause you to lose you life. The chase scenes are basically just a sequence of run to room, get caught, start the scene over, run to the next room, get caught, repeat. Just boring, iterative, and badly designed. What's worse is that some controls, noticeably swinging on ropes are poles, are not intuitive when timing is concerned.

Thirdly, there are also other cliched things that just annoyed me. Backtracking is slightly annoying, but the lack of balance is huge. The backtracking means that you'll actually go through many of the same rooms a few times. One time I got really lost and had to refer to a walkthrough in order to get my bearings straight. It didn't help that the map is absolutely useless, and it's one big picture with two markers. Not too fun, and a large step backwards in gaming in my opinion. When I say lack of balance, I talk about the distribution of save points and life regeneration points. To reach one point will be dirt easy, then next would require tons of enemies, tons of timed jumps, and a chase scene, which would sometimes takes forever. Also of note is the fact that life upgrades are harder to find. If you want the "good" ending, you've got to get all the life upgrades. This either requires you to get lucky (good luck with that), follow a walkthrough, which isn't fun, or backtrack a lot and do a lot of random searching. Either way, it's boring and I didn't even bother.

Fourthly, and most obvious is the "free form fighting system". This is another name for superfluous and unneeded combos. While the first game had enemies that were easy to kill with a few moves, this game is a bit more complicated. It'll take some time to figure out the way to kill an enemy, but once you do, it's pretty much the same repetitive motions over and over again, just more buttons. Unlike the first game, the enemies are not a minor annoyance, but a huge annoyance. There are so many that just to traverse between save points requires you to kill tons of the same enemies for no reason. Many times you can pass by them, but a flaw in the system means that the prince will be in combat mode when an enemy is close by. This means that many of the Prince's moves are not available until you kill the enemies, even though there is no need to kill them in order to move on. Sometimes, especially near the end, enemies just keep coming up. They are relatively easy to kill, but you might mess up once in a while. This is fine, except when there are about twenty enemies to kill, and all it takes is a few snafus ups to die, meaning that killing the enemies is very meticulous, but very, very monotonous. It's just the height of tedium and time wasting. The bosses are also an unneeded cliché. For example, the last enemy takes almost a half an hour to kill. I encountered a bug when I was about twenty minutes into the last boss, which required me to restart the fight. Talk about boring.

Finally, there are some huge glitches. One caused me to lose about twenty minutes or work, and another would have forced me to restart if I didn't keep multiple save games on my memory cards. Two huge bugs discovered in my first try. Talk about a rushed game.

All in all, it's a pretty good game, but a little too much like every other game out there. A bad direction for the series, but it still has a bit of the Sands of Time magic to make it very enjoyable.

Pros:
Incredible atmosphere
Controls are still pretty intuitive for the puzzles
Great concept of travelling the same Palace in two different times
Good Videos
No walkthrough or guide needed for most of the game

Cons:
Repetitive, dull, and an unnecessary large amount of fighting
Cameras angles still lacking, especially during timed action
Unbalanced game
Needless backtracking
Needless Mature rating.
Useless Map
Huge glitches
Guitar Riffs don't work well

Time to complete: 20 hours

Difficulty level: Medium/Low (on Easy)

Frustration level: Medium

Fun, but long and flawed

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: December 27, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This game is more challenging than PoP Sands of Time, longer, and somewhat buggier. I enjoyed the time I spent with it, but very close to the end I was prevented from finishing by a known and widely reported bug. (A time portal fails to operate.) Apparently the solution is to start the game over from scratch, but I lack the time and heart do the whole thing again. The game also got stuck at a couple of other points, but restoring from a saved game got around those glitches.

I like the controls in this game better than previous versions. I didn't find myself struggling to get some ultra-finicky key sequence just right. On the other hand, there are many more sequences to memorize. You don't need to know them all, but you will need more than a handful to make it through the fighting. A couple of good moves just won't cut it. This version of the game is definitely heavier on fighting and lighter on puzzles than previous versions, but it still has plenty of both.

One suggestion for people just starting: keep a map and notes. Later in the game you will be asked to navigate to various places by name. I remembered the places, but had not the foggiest idea of how to get to them. The game map is almost completely useless for this, although it will tell you where you are and where you are trying to get. Without a good memory or a good map, getting back to a particular room could be a tedious exercise at best. I resorted to an online walk-through as a memory refresher a couple of times.

On the whole I liked it, but was somewhat disappointed that I didn't get to finish.

I can't wait

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 13 / 19
Date: July 18, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Here is all of the information that I can remember.
The Prince returns for an all-new adventure in which he must stop his preordained death. To do that, the Prince must journey to the infernal core of a cursed island stronghold harboring mankind's greatest fears.
Late last year, Ubisoft released Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, which single-handedly served to revitalize a classic franchise that most thought was dead. Though not a perfect game, its achievements greatly outnumbered its shortcomings, and the critical acclaim was deafening. It's no big surprise, then, that work is already well underway on the sequel. Prince of Persia 2 looks to correct the few flaws of the original and continue to deliver that unique blend of jumping, dodging, and fighting that worked so well before.

Set five to seven years after Sands of Time, the Prince is not the naive, uh, jerk he once was. While the story is still a complete mystery, the years have evidently not been easy. He's seeking atonement for something -- perhaps the events of the prior game? But they didn't really happen, did they? Oh, what a tangled web they weave.

What I can tell you about are the new features and optimizations. PoP2 will run on the same engine as the last game, but tighter coding will allow for larger environments and better graphics overall. The Xbox version is aiming for 60 fps, while PS2 will be 30. The trailer I saw took place on a rocking pirate ship, in the midst of a storm. It looked just as cool as you'd hope.
The developers acknowledge that the first game's combat system was not quite as good as they'd hoped it would be, so it's been reworked somewhat for PoP2. The most obvious change is a new grab move. The Prince can now leap over his enemies to grab them from behind, and either slice them in half, decapitate them, use them as a shield, or perform a mighty leap off of their back. He can also run up the backs of larger enemies, which was amply demonstrated when a three-story tall ogre attacked. The idea was to run up its back and slash its head until it managed to throw the Prince off. Better enemy A.I. will also add to the fun, so it'll no longer feel like you're beating up on slow, ugly pre-schoolers.

(...)The game will also feature a brand new free-form fighting system that allows players to channel anger into a tangible combat technique. Players will also appreciate a variety of unique fighting styles as they manipulate the environment and control the Ravages of Time. Players will also have access to an arsenal of weapons that can be used in combination to create advanced arm attacks.

It looks like fans of the last adventure have a lot to look forward to in Prince of Persia 2.

I'm not sure if this game will get an "M" rating but it seems a possible to happen because of some screenshots and trailers i've seen.I cant wait for it to come out.THE AGONY.Bye!!!

Losing its Edge

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 12 / 18
Date: February 07, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This game is good. It is a solid action/adventure title with a great interface and and ease of playability that this almost unmatched by other companies. I like this game. I just wasnt as enchanted with this outing as I was with The Sands of Time.
This game seemed too much to be an attempt to catch a grittier, more intense feel than a true sequal. Yes, the story is continued and some of the loose ends are tied up, but for the most part, the story seems fractured and hastily mapped out for my taste.
The control scheme on this game is good, intuitive and easy to learn, once you forget all that you have learned from playing the 1st game. See, the moves in The Sands of Time were easy to pull off as well, and they just "felt right." Putting in this disc, I was all ready to go about my business, only to have to stop every few seconds and remind myself that the layout had changed and that the moves were now different to pull off. Once I had rewired my brain to the new control scheme, it was smooth sailing...minor annoyance at best.
The thing that really soured me on this game was the inclusion of the darker and more "souped up" Prince. Yeah, he has been through a tough ordeal and all, but why is it that all game companies think that in order to draw customers they need to make things more violent, more dark and more the clones of other games than true originals?
The enemies are sand...why do they bleed? The prince has such awesome moves, why are they limited to only a few areas of the island that need to be traversed over and over again? I agree with the other reviewers that the game felt repetitive and dull in places, but at other times (being chased by the big baddie) it was tense and fast paced. No happy median seemed to exist, and this makes for an unbalanced gameplay experience.
Dont get me wrong, I applaud this game for it acheivements and its ability to improve upon a solid 1st outing, but for some reason, it felt as if this game was one that the developer thought we, the consumer, wanted them to make- and less like a game that they truly had envisioned.
I would rent this game for a weekend at best, or wait till it comes out at a lower price for the "Greatest Hits" collection. It wont take long to beat, and in the end...you will be wishing for just a bit more.

Nostagic for the POP sands of time

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: December 24, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Every holiday, I buy a new game for my husband and we play together -- with his hand at the controls. We enjoy more RPG type games than hacky slashy stuff. I am sad that the music in Warrior Within is more heavy metal than beautiful, that the scenes are less well-lit and not as stunning and that there are half-naked women that scream alot when you are fighting them -- for 30 minutes in a row. If you are a good fighter, you get to call the woman, "[...]," etc.

I know that there are more cool moves, etc. but still. Serious gamers are going to argue that I need to keep playing to get to the one "good" woman character and for all the other fun stuff, but first impressions are important and I am not happy.

I know that I am not really the market that this game is trying to reach, but I am still sad about the blood, violence and t&a action that is a major part of this new POP. It's hard to find stuff that I can enjoy.

Far from beating it...but wow!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: December 12, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I don't write reviews for games very much, well actually I never have. But for this one I couldn't help but write one. This is by far the best adventure game I have ever played, for any system. The sword play is simply breath taking and the storyline is about as good as it gets.

Basically the whole plot is that the Prince has to go back in time to destroy the Sands of Time, but while doing so you're being chased by an unbeatable creature called the Dahaka that is trying to kill you. You are also met with a slew of other twists and puzzles that truly test your skills.

Everything about this game is amazing, the acting, voice-overs, plot, action, and gameplay. The thing that I like most about this is how you can incorporate poles, walls, and even the enemies while fighting. The powers you develop over the course of the game are also an enormous treat that actually help you, and that you will use. The graphics are also a thing to behold, the cutscenes when you kill people, may it be cutting them in half (horizontal and vertical), cutting off their head, or just stabbing them are just awesome. It all has just left me wanting more.

I reccommend everybody at least rent this because it is emense fun, and the terrific plot gets you involved to a point where you just want to keep playing just see what happens next.

A great game on its own, but fell short as a PoP franchise.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: February 08, 2005
Author: Amazon User

There are a lot of mixed reactions about Prince of Persia: Warrior Within. Some people say the game is great. Others say it isn't as good as its previous instalment, The Sands of Time. Without sounding like a moaning pansy, I must say that I'm more prone towards the latter. Warrior Within is a great game on its own, but for a Prince of Persia franchise, it fell short because of its eagerness to please a wider audience.

By now, you should have already read countless reviews about the game, so I'm just going to keep this short. The game continues two years after the story in The Sands of Time. Having messed up the timeline, the Prince has been chased relentlessly by a beast named Dahaka, who is some sort of a guardian of the timeline. While on the run, the Prince was led to believe if there was no sands in the first place, he could change his fate. There began his journey to the Isle of Time, to-and-fro time, to stop the Empress of Time from creating the sands.

The story looks promising, but the gameplay left a lot to be desired. Responding to feedback about an over-simplified combat system in The Sands of Time, Ubisoft have provided an improvement to how the Prince fights his enemies. Now, the Prince has the ability to throw enemies, wield two weapons, and execute tons of cool combos with different weapons in hand. However, despite the possibilities, you'll find that the test-and-trusted vaulting and wall-rebound are all you need beat most enemies.

To be honest, the fighting is not as repetitive as the game's previous instalment, thanks to a larger variety of enemies. Now, instead of figthing the same sand creatures over and over again, you get acrobatic ninjas, birds that come together to form a gestalt, gorilla-like monsters and the likes. It certainly added to the challenge, and should please fans who like a little more fighting in the game. Still, the Prince of Persia franchise is not just about fighting, and with Warrior Within littered with fights so frequently, it took the fun of navigating around the areas away.

The game is also considerably darker. Understandably, the Prince has matured into a more ruthless character - if a monster has been chasing you for years, you'd feel a little pissed off too. Yet, somehow, it still doesn't sound right when he utters some of his arrogant one-liners during fights. "I'm the Prince of Persia, and the King of Blades!", for example, simply borders on corniness. While I'm all for a darker game, my general feeling that Warrior Within has simply overdone it.

Which brings me to two issues of major concern for me. Firstly, the scantily clad women. While it's fun to take on two very powerful female characters, having them with nothing more than pieces of strings and scarves isn't what I was expecting. In fact, barely a few minutes into the game, a good few seconds were devoted to a close-up of one of the female character's backside. I hate to use this word, but it's truly redundant.

Secondly, the soundtrack. I love rock music, but the Prince of Persia is not a heavy metal concert. The rather noisy background music interferes with play at times, and it makes you wonder what exactly does it achieve apart from sounding cool to some quarters of the so-called target market. Somehow, it just doesn't seem to fit into the game at all, and true enough, it doesn't.

To its credit, Warrior Within has several new concepts that make it quite a journey. One of my favorites is the need to go back in time to complete certain missions, before travelling back to the present to reap the rewards. This highlights Ubisoft's strenghts in creating breath-taking graphical infrastructures. It's also interesting to see how the same area could be so grand in the past, but also so reduced in the present. However, as the areas still spot similar ledges and paths, navigating through the areas soon became rather repetitive.

I've also read on many forums about the glitches that are present in this game. I haven't encounter one (and hopefully never will), but I can understand how frustrated it is when you simply can't proceed to fight the final boss because of a bug. This would greatly reduce the enjoyment value.

Of course, as I mentioned earlier, Warrior Within is still a great game on its own. Just don't expect the feel-good nature from The Sands of Time in this game though. It just isn't there.

And I kind of miss it.

i don't care what people say, the darker the better.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: December 17, 2005
Author: Amazon User

first of all, this game is definitely one of my all time favorites. I got hooked into the genre by playing SOT, which was a good game, but in my opinion could have had just a little bit more edge, which is what they did with this game. It could be that i'm just a sucker for the new free-form fighting system, in which you can pull off a slew of ridiculously awesome looking combos,or the fact that it's just dark in general. I don't want to steer anyone wrong though, SOT was great, i thought how they played the prince off as an innocent bystander of the vizier's twisted little plan was good, even possibly legendary, but honestly this is a different time period in the prince's life...it's not even realistic to claim that he wouldn't be battle-scarred after all those years. So personally i think the change is good and thats all i have to say about that.

So anyways, moving on...if you haven't played it yet and have also played the first one, what are the changes?? Well quite obviously as previously stated it has much more edge, it has some sexual themes, which honestly i don't even think are really life-changing, a teen could most definitely handle it, and the prince is much darker and battle-scarred in this one, which i think is great. Also, the added some more obstacles like the wall run rope and the curtain sliding thing. There are also some chase scenes and some godsmack to go along with em. The videos are cooler, the obstacles are harder, and i think it takes a little more thought, you really gotta look around sometimes. But without a doubt the biggest change is the free-form fighting system.

So...why complicate a game with numerous combos, when you can just have a couple......i'll answer this just by saying because it gives the game flair, edge, and by god it just looks really cool. You know what, if you dont like em, dont use em. thats what i say. you can stick to the same moves that you used in the previous game if you really wanna, but why? if you hit random buttons you can make something look cool so why not? give it a shot...reach into that inner gamer thats a sucker for sweet looking moves and just try it for gosh sakes!!! personally, i like knowing what combination of buttons is gunna make the move look like, so i just memorize, but you dont have to and thats why its great.

OK, so what is with the chase scenes...why complain? i didnt have a problem getting through any of them, personally i like them because they make you think quick, which may make it harder, but come on!! you should know when you signed up for this that you are going to be thinking just a little...this is POP, not like dynasty warriors, in which you just kill everyone. its gunna take some thought so why not make you think fast, it keeps you on your toes. Plus, i don't know about you but the "i stand alone" chase theme definitely should pump you up, a little metal never hurt anyone.

ok...the one flaw...expanding your life...this wasn't easy. I'm going to be completely honest. I cheated and looked at a walkthrough. When someone tells me the ending is going to be cooler if you get all of these i gotta do it even if that means cheating a little. Even when you get to the rooms that expand your lifes the traps are pretty friggin hard i'm not going to lie..it just takes some time, but, what doesn't these days.

alrite so finally all i have to say is ignore the rumors that they made the POP genre look bad, its not true, if you like cute little prince's running through palace's with a princess stick to SOT i guess, i don't know why people get so overeasy about the M rating but its REALLY NOT THAT BAD. Its better :)
so go and by it at your nearest video game store today, at least before you get the third one ;)

"A true review from a true gamer"

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: December 05, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I DON'T KNOW ABOUT YOU, BUT I AM SICK OF PEOPLE WRITING A REVIEW FOR A GAME THAT THEY HAVE NEVER EVEN PLAYED! I own and have played this game so take it from me, this is one of the best games of the year. Now about the game, it is mind blowing! The magazines got it right when they gave this a very high rating{PSM 10 out of 10). The graphics are simply amazing and trust me, you will get hooked on this as did I. The enviornments are lush with a much darker tone than the first one, but this is because the prince is embarking on a much more mysterious and dangerous journey which would explain his war-torn look. One of the MOST important things that makes a great game is a great story. This is one of the most memorable and inticing story-lines ever. His fate has been written, he will die! He took the sands of time and since he cheated death in the first game "the dahaka" {an incarnation of fate} is after him,trying to restore balance to the life/death cycle. You cannot tell me that doesn't spark an interest for you. Along with the rewind power returning from the first game, they have also added a "free form fighting system" to the game. It is just what it sounds like, free form fighting. With over 60 combos that the pince can perform, it makes sure the fighting never gets old. Trust me people, this is one that will be talked about for a long time to come, when all other games are forgotten. Don't let this one slip through your fingers!

The best game, I think to be released

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 12
Date: November 02, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I have downloaded the Demo for the PC of this game, and even though it's only two levels, it's so good that I played the Demo and beaten it over 20 times. However it's good for you. You can master more of the moves.

They add dual weapons which puts in more ability to your game play. You can slash someone til their health is low (you can tell), struggle with them, steal their weapon, then cut em in two. I really enjoy some of the new things they added to the game. I really want to slide down a curtain. (weee!)

Well another thing thats cool is using poles to fight. You can swing and slice the enemies. Also, with dual, you can throw your weapons. You can jump over their head, and toss it into their body. And if their health is low, their head will fly off. (or charging it works too)

The only suggestions that could make these game burst out of the 5 stars into a 6, is being a little smart with the dual blades.

You have one sword, and you steal from others to get two. But when you get a new sword, he just tosses the old one aside and grabs the new one. I think he should use the old blade in his left hand, as the new one is in his right. Both on his back, then enabling a third weapon (throwable one) on the belt like it is now.

Maybe adding the cloak too... I want to wear it and fight. But these are just some things I would like. But fighting the 20 foot dudes are fun... :)

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