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A Visual Feast

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 51 / 59
Date: November 17, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Talk about a brilliant implementation of time technology, plus stellar graphics and motion animation. This is a showcase for the great achievements gaming has made.

Other time-involve games either jumped years forward or back in time, or used cheezy VCR symbols to handle your time changes. In Sands of Time, it's extremely easy to use and VERY handy. You fall off a ledge? Just slide back in time a bit and try again!

The graphics are just amazing. The character moves fluidly, and the combat sequences look like a well animated movie. The character can run along walls, do back flips, climb poles, leap chasms, and much more. When he runs along a wall and passes a banner, the banner ripples in the wind. The attention to detail - from shadows to textures to torches flickering and water rippling - is just amazing.

Part of the game is slaying your enemies in new and interesting ways. But part is negotiating the terrain and figuring out how to get to the next area. Some of the puzzles are straightforward - run along the wall, jump up the ledges. But others are far more devious and require a lot of thought to get through.

There are many great releases out right now that we are enjoying greatly, but Sands of Time is the one that always draws the most fascinated reactions from friends. They comment constantly on the graphics, animation and gameplay while we move from scene to scene. It's like poetry in motion. And it's fun.

Highly recommended for someone who is looking to really enjoy the game as a visual feast while reaching their goals.

A Playable Dream

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 17 / 20
Date: November 22, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time was not a game I was looking foreward to. Like a lot of folks in this generation who grew up with video games, I had very fond memories of the original Prince of Persia for PC, an incredibly animated, original, and difficult title that wowed you with it's remarkably efficient simplicity. Even the Gameboy and SNES version were fantastic, all adhering to the similar formula but expounding on them just enough to be new without betraying the roots of the game.

When the poor 3D version debuted for PC a few years back, nobody was really surprised that it was poor; from the earliest preview screens, the game reeked of a formulaic approach to try to "update" a game that had no need of updating. The result was, well, expected.

When Sands of Time was announced, I barely let it register. Oh, great, I thought, another Prince of Persia game. Didn't they already try that? Why not just try updating Asteroids again? It would be cheaper to fail at that.

Well, my foot's in my mouth pretty deep right now. Really deep, in fact.

The new Prince of Persia is among the best games I have ever played in my life. It falls just a teeny bit short of legendary status - It's not quite the legendary, genre-defining stuff of Mario 3 or Half-Life - but it's very, very close, and it easily ranks as my favorite game out right now.

What sets this game apart is apparent from the instant you start playing it. Gone is the feeling that this is a rehash - everything is new while maintaining the spirit of the original games, from the Prince's ninja-like acrobatics to the music to the storyline. It all comes down to this, possibly the highest compliment I can pay this game:

If the original Prince of Persia had been made in 2003, this would be it.

It's obvious that the developers had an excellent idea of what the player will find fun, as opposed to what they think the player will find fun - a huge difference. It boils down to a confidence issue concerning the programming team. Do we go with what people are expecting, or do we take the chance to make our own thing and see if people will accept that? It's not easy to go the latter route - see Sega's Gunvalkyrie for an example of what NOT to do when trying your own thing. Innovation is key, but it has to be something that will make you actually want to play the game, not make you want to play something else.

Speaking of controls, this game controls like magic, with ultra-responsive and quite forgiving moves that interpret what the player is trying to do without requiring absolute precision, a Godsend in 3D games like this. This carries over from the acrobatics involved in the game to the excellent combat engine, both of which are integral to the experience.

Most of the game has the player navigating one trap-filled room to find the next - strong shades of Sony's ICO here, which should be seen as a good thing - and at various points the player becomes involved in a pitched battle against a set number of spawning enemies - ICO again - which he must defeat to move on. What's remarkable is how cohesive everthing is. There's no feeling of disjointed challenges being thrown at the player, but rather the impression that all this stuff really is the same castle, and could, if you squint, be believable. The game has it's own logic that it adheres to, which really is the mark of a game that's been developed properly.

In addition, the design team made an interesting choice concerning the difficulty. Instead of making the game seriously hard, they make it "tricky". It's not an easy game, but it still makes sense as to what to do, and it's this key element that determines the difference between "frustrating" and "challenging." In other words, if the sole reason the game is difficult is because the game makes it hard for the player to do what they want (again, see Gunvalkyrie) then the fun of the game is lost, and the challenge becomes irritating as opposed to engaging. In Prince of Persia, the controls are so fluid that you always feel fully in control, and any screw-ups are your own fault, not because something didn't work like it was supposed to.

This concept, which seems so difficult to nail down, is present here in perfect display. The only game I know of that is a better example of this is Treasure's Ikaruga, a masterpeice in it's own right.

If it seems like I'm making a lot of comparisons, there's a reason. Prince of Persia can be looked at like a Quentin Tarantino movie in a way. It takes lots of elements from other works in the medium and mashes them all together, but in the process actually improves upon them and makes something unique. If I were to break the new Prince into it's components, it might look something like this:

Take 2 parts Ico, 1 part Soul Reaver, add a touch of Blix, bake it in the Splinter Cell engine until perfect and voila! Sands of Time, unlike anything you've ever had before.

Don't miss this game, whatever you do.

(As an aside, this review is for the Xbox version, but word from the front is that the differences between versions are slight; for the record, the Gamecube version, surprisingly, has the best graphics, the Xbox version has the best load times and comes with the full version of the Prince of Persia 2 PC game, and the PS2 version is the one you get if you don't have either of the other two consoles - the game was designed to run on the PS2, so it's not like you'll be missing much. Any way you go, you're in good hands, so it boils down to a matter of convenience.)

Possibly one of the best games ever...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 11
Date: January 18, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This game is nothing short of amazing. I wouldn't say that this falls in my favorite genre, yet this is probably my all-time-favorite game.

The game looks great! Not just are the graphics very good, but UbiSoft is also introducing a new way of presenting a jump-and-run game to the player. While most of the time the camara is behind the player as in most other jump-and-runs, it also moves around whenever something special happens. Example: When the prince runs up and along a wall, the camera moves to the side to show the best possible perspective for the action. This is more like a movie than a game as far as the presentation goes. And the most amazing part is that this does NOT interfere with the gameplay. One would think that all this moving around would confuse the player, but it does not, because it is done very well. To me, this is a major advance in gameplay. Many player may not even notice the effect or think it is a small issue, but it is really a major leap forward towards providing a much more immersive experience.

Luckily, this game has more going for it than just visuals. The best part is probably the gameplay. The prince can do things that are breath taking, yet they are easy to pull of. This makes the game a lot of fun, because it makes the player feel good about him or herself. At the same time, the game is not too easy. In fact, the game has a number of difficult parts, although asides from one battle, I didn't find anything that is really frustrating.

So is there anything I do not like about the game? Well, the camera could be a bit better at times, although it has been majorly improved over the demo versions that were available before the game shipped. Also, the game says it is Xbox Live enabled. This is true, but it only means that your friends can see when you are online. There is no online playing or even special content (at least not at this point). I do no expect this game to have an online mode, nor is there any major need for other online services (although additional downloadable levels would be nice :-) ). But I always think it is borderline false advertising when a game claims to be live enabled, yet once one logs on, nothing more happens.

If you are thinking about buying this game: Go ahead! You will not be disappointed.

Fantastic

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 11 / 13
Date: November 18, 2003
Author: Amazon User

If you are a married guy who has an allowance every month and can only spend like $50 a month or every two months on video games...then read this. I have both Ghost Recons and Rainbow Six and SSX3 and couple different 2004 EA Sports games..and they are all fun. But if you want a pure game, with beautiful graphics and an amazing movie like feel...this is the one. It is a fricking riot to run up and down walls and kill the bad guys in slow-mo while you back flip over them..it's just plain cool. Rent it first or just buy it...but you have to try it out. And this review isn't from some nerdy computer geek like the rest of these usually are. I am a 25 year old, balding, married dude who plays some video games. You know you can trust me.

The best game of 2003

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 14 / 20
Date: December 30, 2003
Author: Amazon User

If, for some reason, you haven't played this game, please, please, please go get it. Go get it, and play it through to the end. If finances are keeping you from buying it, and really rewarding the people that put together this masterpiece, so be it, but then rent it, and play through it, and when it gets cheaper, pick it up so that you'll have a copy to rest on your shelf next to Ico, and Rez, and show people who think games aren't a valid form of entertainment, and art. I understand if you find Ico a little too eclectic and quiet for your tastes. I understand if you don't "get" Rez. I understand if you passed up Grim Fandango, because it was an adventure game, and maybe didn't seem like a likely outlet for absolute creative genius. But Prince of Persia is both accessible, and amazing. It's maybe seven or eight hours long (on the generous side), so it's not even that much of a time investment. But it is *great*, and will remind you what a great game is like, when you're stuck thinking about why everything's a half-hearted clone of Metal Gear, or GTA. It'll remind you that behind all the mindless violence, sexism, and controversy-for-controversy's sake that seems to be at the heart of so much of the industry, there are people who love games so much that that love just pours out of the screen. It'll remind you that it's impossible that *all* gaming executives and marketing gurus are soulless, heartless money-grubbers - someone approved *this* game - there must be a ray of hope for the future.

Prince Of Persia------A True Masterpiece!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 9
Date: December 16, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Prince of Persia- Sands of Time is absolutely One of the Greatest game I have ever played in my life, I am a huge fan of POP series since childhood and this one tops all expectation. Here is how I would rate different venues out of 10:

graphics: 10/10 (awesome!)
music: 10/10
controls: 10/10
action: 10/10 (awesome!)
story: 9/10
replability: 9/10

Pros:

The game is stunning, with rich graphics, beautiful scenerio, amazing fight moves for the prince and great game controls. With the ability to freeze and rewind time, killing enemies in slow motion and able to perform breathtaking acrobats, the game truely becomes larger than life.

Cons:

I don't want to say it (Since I love this game!), but here is the thing, the game can frustrate you on occasions. ONE, trying to know what to do and where to go next, since there are areas where mind will go blank after a while. It is better to have some sort of strategy guide for that. TWO, the enemies can get really repetitive and irritate you after a while, there is not much you can do but keep hanging in , rewind time if the enemies double-triple team and starts slicing you like bread, but that can also get irritating.

Overall, even with the cons I said, the game is perfect and a work of art and style, I would recommend it to anyone who owns XBox :)

Great level design, flawed fighting system

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 10 / 16
Date: December 01, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Latest PoP is a mixed bag. On one hand, it does a lot of things right and it is by far the best PoP game. On the other hand, major flaws in design make this a very frustrating game.
PoP is made up of two parts. The first one is very similar in gameplay to the original Tomb Raider and involves exploration and solving puzzles, while avoiding traps. The level design is just brilliant, by far the best for these type of games. PoP could have been a true sequel to the original TR. The second part of the game is where the problems start - the fighting system has to be the most frustrating one ever saw in recent games. There is no AI for the enemy - they only do one thing: teleport around you, so you cannot move, then kill you in 2-3 hits. You then use the Dagger to rewind time somewhere before when they teleported around you, then die again when they will - again - teleport around the new place where you moved. Since you cannot save before those fights, you will be stuck for hours of frustration, trying to finish off these unfair fights.
Another reason of frustration is the camera. Developers chose not to have an over the shoulder camera, but instead have 'dramatic' angles. Most of the time you will not see where to jump or - even worse - jumping direction will change in mid-air, when camera angle changes. Just plain illogical, when ALL games have an over the shoulder camera.
One more thing - jumping from wall to wall is not explained in the tutorial. Not figuring out how this works will be a game stopper, since it's used a lot in the game. I spent 3 hours until i figured out how it works. This is first used in the first level of the game, which means if you cannot do it, that's where you will get stuck.
Because of these flaws, i do not recommend buying this game, since there is no replayability value. If you won't smash your controller before the game ends, you sure will not play this again anyway. However, because of how well the puzzles and levels are designed, i would recommend renting this. Just be aware that this will be a very frustrating ride.

After finishing the game, i increased the rating from 2 to 4 stars. While i stand about the comments i made earlier, i felt 2 stars was too much of a bad rating for a game i actually played to the end. The level design in this game is fantastic and if not for the frustrating fighting scenes, i would have truly enjoyed it.

My 2nd review: "The more I played it, the better I liked it"

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: November 28, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This is my second review. I wrote the first based on 1 day of game play. I may not have given it a fair chance. I have now played through the game twice. The more I played the game, the better I liked it. I became accustomed to certain things. The camera angle changes that I spoke of in the beginning seem to stop happening later on in the game. Like most games, there are certain tricks to defeating certain enemies. Unlike most games there aren't that many differnt enemies to confront. You don't seem to reach the end of a level and have to fight a "Big Boss", which I found refreshing. The battles, once you figure out what to do, are a little long and tedious as the game goes on, because you do the same thing over and over until you kill the last enemy, but it's still fun. There are some certain little tricks you can use. The best feature is that if you accidently jump the wrong way and die, you can time warp back about ten seconds to save your self. This helps out when you're not quit sure what to do and keep dying in the process. The game seems a little "Mario'ish", but with a more real life look to it. I had more fun playing through the second time, knowing where everything was and what to do. I'm sure I'll play it again and again. Given all this I upped my 4 star review to 5. If you just rented the game before buying, and are not satisfied, rent it again. You may be supprised how much better you feel about it the more you play it. I know I did!

Yea...it's THAT good!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: May 16, 2006
Author: Amazon User

LOVESIT!!! This is one of those adventure games that you just can't stop playing. The graphics are amazing, the sound is great, and the gameplay is incredible. It's amazing how fluid the prince moves in this game and how he controls. You can do amazing looking acrobatics, run across walls, and slow down ladders with ease and without complication. One thing I absolutely love about this game are the puzzles. They always make sense and although some are quite hard, they add a great depth to the game. They are all pretty similar in how they are completed, usually having to go from point A to point B. This is something I found great. I'm not too fond of games that have a great deal of backtracking involved; to me this ruins the excitement of the game. The combat system in the game is also a major plus. The prince can hold one of several swords, in which he can easily slash threw enemies with. Even though these are all great things, probably my favorite aspect of the game is the ability to go back in time. Let's say you accidently fall to your death in the middle of a pretty lengthy part of the game. What are you going to do?, restart and try all over again? No! You can easily just go back in time and try again from seconds before the death, that is if you have any Sand power left. All in all, this game is a great action/adventure title perfect for any gamer in the mood for a very fulfilling story and game.

Presentation
The story is great. The menus are some of the best I've seen and easy to track through.

Graphics
The graphics are amazing. The enviroments are stunning. This is just a great work of art.

Sound
The dialouge and voice acting is great. The music and sound effects fit the game well.

Gameplay
The gameplay is really what keeps me loving this game. The puzzles are very fun even though some can be quite a challenge.

Lasting Appeal
A pretty lengthy action adventure title that, once completed, can easily be repeated with just as much fun as the first time through!

Bugged by Bugs: Eye Candy Ain't Everything

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 6 / 10
Date: January 24, 2004
Author: Amazon User

With all the hub-ub about Prince of Persia's groundbreaking graphics, HDTV compatibility, 5.1 digital sound, etc., one can often forget the most important aspect of a game: the gameplay. And Prince of Persia's gameplay is sorely lacking. The first issue I have is with the "camera" (For those that don't know, the "camera" is the point-of-view of that you, the player, sees on the screen) while playing. Its view is annoyingly frustrating. Sometimes you can't see with a wide-enough angle to view an ancient ruin to devise an attack strategy. Other times, the camera doesn't let you get close enough to actually /see/ the gameplay you're actually doing. That's a showstopper bug. I'm surprised the game shipped with it still intact. The other bug (not a showstopper, but a biggie nonetheless) is that the game only lets you save your game every few levels. What that means is, you could spend four hours sword-fighting and climbing through ancient ruins and not be able to save your game when you have to go! That makes it annoyingly frustrating to shut off your Xbox to, say, go to work(!) without losing all the minutes you've poured into the latest level. Rent the game first. Maybe you'll love it. Maybe not. When the game is firing on all cylinders, it's groundbreaking. With these bugs, however, you may also find yourself gritting your teeth in frustration.

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