Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

"The Prince is Back!"

- Introduction -
Ah, the Prince of Persia franchise, a series that stretches back to the late 80's. PoP was one of those games that successfully combined both platform jumping puzzles and action into a perfect blend of video gaming bliss. The first two games are often heralded as the best platformer of all time on the PC, and in 1999 the franchise made the jump to 3D with the third installment Prince of Persia: 3D, which was mostly panned for its poor gameplay. In The Sands of Time, the Prince has returned and shows us all how 3D platformers should be done.

- Reviewer's Computer Specs -
AMD Athlon XP2100+
512MB PC2100 DDR-RAM
MSI GeForce4 Ti4400 128MB AGP

- Graphics (9/10) -
What can I say? The graphics engine is absolutely beautiful. The graphics themselves show no repercussions from the joint console development unlike Deus Ex: Invisible War. The game itself has a ''cartoonish'' feel and look to it, but was done so well that it is an asset instead of detracting from the game.
The engine also creates a slight blur effect through the game, something that may annoy some people but once again it was done tastefully, and was not overused such that it ruined the game. A few hours into the game and you'll hardly notice the effect.
The blur effect gets much more noticeable when you rewind or slow down time along with some colour twisting, together it creates a very neat little effect that seems just right.
A great feature is the ability to move the camera, if the camera is positioned poorly you can rotate it with the mouse, or switch to a further out view that allows you to see more of the area around you. You can also use first-person view but you cannot move or fight in that view. A great solution to a common problem in 3rd-person games.
The Prince's look has also changed drastically from the traditional appearances in the three previous games. Some purist may not like it but it truly brings him into the 21st century and I applaud the much-needed overhaul. Two thumbs up for the graphics.

- Audio (8/10) -
Fans of the old PoP games will instantly pick out elements of the old theme music in The Sands of Time. The game itself features a great soundtrack, and some of the songs blend in some elements of the old theme music. A very nice touch.
There aren't a whole lot of spoken dialogue, and there's only really two main characters to boot. But the banter exchanged between the two are witty and provide a good comic relief in the game. There are many occasions were the Prince literally talks to himself, he makes many sarcastic comments that most people will find at least a little amusing.

- Gameplay (8/10) -
The Sands of Time has done something not thought possible, it has made jumping puzzles fun!
The Prince has a huge arsenal of moves, he can run and jump, and slash away at enemies with his sword. In addition to the standard moves, he can run up or across walls for short periods of time, jump off walls and enemies, and swing on poles. The jumping puzzles are truly 3-dimensional. A typical sequence may involve running across a wall from a ledge, jumping off the wall onto a pole, then swinging from the pole onto another wall, from which you'll jump off to a hanging ledge. But no worries, these sequences are fairly easy to pull off and if you made a mistake you can always hit the rewind button.
The game has a rewind feature that allows you to rewind time for a short period. This is mainly useful for those longer jumping puzzles. The game also uses save-points, but fear not because save-points are very abundant.
Every time you visit a save-point for the first time, you'll be treated to a ''vision'' which will show you progressing through the next area, it mostly serves as a hint feature to help novice gamers progress through the jumping puzzles.
Combat although easy is still fun, you have the slash and defend options, along with the ability to jump off walls for a stunning attack or you can run up and jump off enemies and slash them from behind (one of the most useful moves in the game). Although the AI does a respectable job, combat becomes very easy once you figure out an infallible combo.
A minor grip about the game is the lack of a real story... there is a story but it feels like the developer threw something in just to give you an excuse to slash zombies and run around avoiding traps. The plot itself is never really explained but the ending was surprisingly well done and is probably one of the best I've seen for any game in quite sometime.
Thus the gameplay is very strong in this game but some may tire of the relatively easy jumping puzzle and combat. The game is pretty short, stretching at most 9 hours for anyone to complete. But Ubi-Soft has done a great job with a solid effort in the gameplay department.

- Conclusion -
Yes, the Prince is back! After the abysmal effort that was PoP:3D, Sands of Time has returned the series to its glory days. It has taken the great blend of action and jumping puzzle elements that made the two original a classic, and successfully transplanted them into a great looking 3D engine.
Everything about this game was solidly done, and like its other Christmas line-up, XIII, The Sands of Time is a very polished and clean product. During the game I encountered no noticeable bugs or problem and the experience was very enjoyable.
Long-time fans of the PoP franchise finally has something to cheer about, but fan or not, it is safe to say that most people will find this to be one of their favourite games this holiday season.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/26/03