Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

"The best adventure game on gamecube (and other platforms)"

For a while, life has been pretty boring on the gamecube. Accept for a few fun games, nothing has really marked my mind during the last few months on the GC. Then came along Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and it became quickly for me one of the funnest and most intriguing game in the somewhat short history of the GC. You wanna know why, then read on...

Story: 9/10
This game has taken a leap forward story wise compared to its predecessors. Every aspect of the story has been worked on carefully creating a sort of ''if I didn't have to play the game, this would be like watching a real movie'' feel to the game. As the game goes on, the story also gets deeper and deeper and it even incorporates narrative passages from the prince the gives it, like I said before, a movie feel to it. In other word, its a well thought out story for a game.

Gameplay: 8/10
When I first saw my friends playing the game I was like ''how in the world did you do that?'' Then, when i finally got the game, I was suprised at how easy it is to move around and do all the cool moves that the prince uses to get around. After the tutorial level, you should feel totally comfortable controlling the prince around, no problem on that side; especially if you are familiar with 3rd person games. The platform side of the game is easy to get use to but on the other hand, the combat side can be pretty tought at times: not because the combat controls are not good, but because the combat controls are bad, but because the combat fazes of the game are pretty hard, especially against sand creatures. Apart from that, the game is a pleasure to play.

Graphics/ sound: 9/10
The graphics are simply eye popping, even though the character design has been better in other games, the environment is beautiful. The textures are all very well done and fit the PoP feel perfectly. I also have to say something about the water in the game: its one of the best looking ''water effects'' in a game and it is very well animated. So is everything in the game, Some of the princes moves are spectacular and look very cool. I would also like to say ''wow'' for the frame rate; no problems on that side it stays crisp even during intense battle.
The sound is good too. Voice acting is ok even though Farah does get annoying at times. The sounds effects are well done and help to settle the mood of the game. The fighting and the sand creature sound cool. The music is decient even though it does not occur that often.

Value/ Replayability: 8/10
This game is definitely worth playing and gives the players a really fun experience. The quality stays the same during the game and it is never to hard (even tough some battles are quite frustrating). You are clearly not meant to be stuck in this game. I have to say though, it is a pretty short game (10-12h maximum) and it may seem over to soon.
I myself have finished the game twice and I am still not tired of it so I think it is worth replaying several times.

Overall: 9/10
PoP: TSoT is one solid if not the best adventure game of the last 6 months. It has movie quality story, beautiful graphics and good gameplay. PoP is not perfect, but it is not far from it. I really enjoyed it;. You get quickly involved in the story and you simply can't stop playing. I will also add a quick note about difficulty: The game is farelly easy and you don't get stuck much. The puzzles are weell thought of, the platform parts of the game are really fun and you can always rewind with the dagger of time, the hardest part of the game is definitely the combat: some of the giant sand creatures are very tough to nail down but apart from that the game is pretty easy.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is definitely a buy and a worthy addition to your game collection, I give it a 9/10.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 02/28/04