Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

"Just....brilliant"

Prince Of Persia: The Sands of Time. I never really got into the original ones, or even the 3D one, but the Sands of Time...my god. It's one of the best games I've ever played.

First, a quick run-down of the story. In the opening moments of the game, you're at your fathers side attacking a Maharajas' palace. Some time into the assault, the Prince has a revelation that he won't gain his fathers respect by simply being a warrior, but by getting a great and ancient treasure he can be proud to hold in his hands. This our Prince sets out to find the Maharajas' treasure vault, where the coveted Dagger of Time lay.

Now that that's out of the way, let's get onto what people CARE about.

Gameplay: 9 and a half out of 10

I'm not one to give perfect scores, so no matter how tempted I am, I can't give a 10 out of 10 for any of the sections as nothing is perfect.

Basically throughout the game you run, jump, roll, and scale walls to dodge traps, fight zombie-like Sand Creatures, and get across the broken palace.

I played the entire game with a keyboard and mouse, and the prince responds extremely well. You can control him with plenty of precision.

The combat system is simple, but can be pretty complex. Basically you have your typical slash, jump, roll, and back flips. Once you get deeper into the combat system you notice more attacks...like vaulting over your enemy and hitting him twice to knock him down. Or vaulting off the walls and over your enemies, or propelling yourself off the wall like an extremely sharp missile into your enemies.

There are also moves I never managed to pull off...the counter-attacks. Throughout the entire game I only did one counter-attack, and that was by accident. Basically you do a counter attack by attacking at the exact same time your enemy does, and striking his sword, knocking it back, and attacking when he's open. There also counter-retrieves where you deflect the enemies attack, and stab the Dagger into their belly.

As far as puzzles go, the game delivers. There are one or two extremely frustrating puzzles, but alot of the games thought comes from planning how to get from Point A to Point B...point B is generally across broken pillars, walls, and floors. But it never gets tedious...the game stays fresh and entertaining throughout. The castle also fits together perfectly. It never feels like a lot of coincidental building choices when you have to get from Point A to Point B.

Wow...I completely forgot the main feature of the game! The Dagger of Time! Basically, it has several time-bending powers. From simple slow motion, to rewinding time to undo deaths, and freezing the entire world so you can wreak havoc on all of your enemies with no danger.

Graphics: 10/10

I lied. The graphics are...WOW! Incredible. The animations are gorgeous. I can sit for minutes watching the prince swing on a pole, or run back and forth on walls and watch the gorgeous animation.

The atmosphere is very....foggy. Throughout the entire castle there are particles of sand floating around, giving a very dreamy feel that really adds to the feel of the game.

The textures are all very detailed and smooth.
The palace itself is breathtaking. At one point in the game you get a shot of nearly half the castle at once...my draw literally dropped.

This game is GORGEOUS!

Sound: 9/10

The sound in the game is very good. From the voice acting to the music. The music ranges from Persian-sounding, to Persian-sounding but with metal influences, to a full fledged 25 second metal instrumental. The credits song is also one of my new favourite songs...I don't know how to class it, though.

The script is extremely well written, so the dialogue sounds natural, and the actors seemed to have been into it, so no complaints with the voices.

General combat, running, climbing, and monster sounds are also top notch.

Story: 8/10
There's only one revelation at the end, but no twists or turns, and it's not extremely deep, but it's a new and fresh take on the ''save the world'' idea.

Replayability - N/A
I can't really give a rating on the replayability...I'm playing through a second time, and lots of people play it multiple times, but it depends on the person. You get nothing for playing it multiple times, but the game is so great it's worth playing a few times.

----------------------------------------------

I didn't really cover any cons in this review because I really couldn't think of too much to complain about. This is a top-notch game. I highly recomend it to anyone who likes adventure games. It is NOT your typical platform jumper.

All in all I give it a 9.5 out of 10.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/09/04