Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

"Time may not flow as pleasantly as a river, but this game does"

SPOILER FREE REVIEW

That's right, no spoilers in this review so read without worry. Sometimes a game comes along and just blows you out of the water. This is one of those games. This game takes the depth of the deepest 2-D platformer and perfectly translates it into 3-D goodness. Even if you're of the Playstation era and never played any 2-D platformers you will likely find this game to be incredible. Read on as to why:

1. Story (10/10)

The story in this game is very well done. All the plot twists come at the right time and are well executed with the rendered FMV scenes. Unlike many games these days, this one doesn't have half the game consisting of story sequences. So you'll actually be playing, *gasp*, 99 % of the time. My compliments to Jordan Mescher for complimenting just the right level of story with the gameplay and yet having it still be so cool.

2. Graphics (10/10)

The graphics in this game are no less than astounding. The Prince's activities involve him running along walls and climbing practically anything with a handhold. So naturally he needs a crapload of animation. And he got it. Look at some of the things the Prince does and (for the realistic ones at least) apply how some of them look to how they'd look in real life and you will be amazed at how consistent it is. So realistic that it almost makes you believe you could do some of these things.

The environments are also spectacular looking. The rock palace has nice textures and the drapes and curtains around the palace also sway when you walk into them and obviously have a gossamer thin look to them. The water also flows perfectly and is transparent where it should be.

3. Music / Sound (10/10)

I don't usually give incredibly high marks in this category. Heck, for the most part I don't even really care about a game's music and sound. This time, though, I was personally stunned by how well done it all was. There are some professional pieces of music in this game and that song during the end credits with the vocals is quite catchy.

The sounds are even better. When the Prince messes around with rocks it sounds exactly like something slapping up against a rock rather than a generic ''thud'' or something. Climbing and landing on wood sounds different than rock. There's just that much detail. And the voice acting (English) is exceptional. All the voices were good but some characters were harder to hear than others but their voice quality is still there. I really wish the game had featured subtitles during any scenes with speech in them.

4. Control (8/10)

Control is nice overall, but runs into the occasional problem when you're trying to move fast. Those bulky Gamecube Controller buttons aren't as responsive when they should be in those times. They also make it hard to gauge how much pressure you need to apply when manipulating time. You only have one button to do that with, you know.

The controller set-up is rather ideal for all the Prince's acrobatics. Only on occasion would he do something unexpected that lead to death. I'd chalk that up to slight response issues combined with some camera issues.

5. Gameplay (8/10)

This game, hands down, features some of the most impressive gameplay I have ever seen. The sheer number of things you can do in this game should make most of the other game producers with more money out there feel embarrassed that they haven't made this already. That said, the majority of the game is acrobatics so that area was made sure to perform perfectly. It can be difficult to figure out where to jump to next sometimes but that's why the time manipulation is there...so you can rewind a few seconds and try it again. That's some incredible design.

Combat doesn't take up as much gametime as acrobatics but it is still extremely fun and well-designed. You basically sword fight it out with as many guys as the system can put on screen at a time. The time manipulation comes into play here too. You can speed up time to strike them down fast or slow time down to not give them time to defend or even rewind time after taking a bad hit.

There are approximately three bad areas to the gameplay that should really be corrected in any sequels. The first is the camera. You can manipulate it with the C-stick but sometimes it wouldn't go out or around far enough to let me see the jump I had to make precisely. That only happened a few times but when it did it tended to piss me off. The second issue is combat lock-on. The designers should've used Legend of Zelda's targeting system where you hold down a button to lock-on instead of just having the Prince target the character nearest him. Sometimes I'd knock an enemy down and press the button to absorb his sand with the Dagger but instead I'd end up freezing an enemy that all of a sudden got closer than the fallen foe and thus waste precious sand. The final problem was that you manipulate time with only one button. Different amounts of pressure have different effects on time but this was very hard to pull off with the Gamecube controller. I suspect it would be just as hard on any other controller, truth be told. Time manipulation should've had a multiple button assignment.

6. Innovation (10/10)

I would go so far as to say this is probably the most innovative game of 2003. It has certainly set a new bar as far as platformers go. The gameplay depth is immense.

First about the acrobatics. Enter the Matrix featured acrobatics like this but nowhere near as fluid as they should have been. This game makes them fluid and adds more besides. You not only can run up and along a wall, but grab onto to literally anything with a handhold and run, flip, and roll circles around your enemies. If all this were it, the game would still be ahead of the game in innovation. Fortunately for us players, that was not so.

Time manipulation is really well done here. It's not treated like a gimmick. Some publishers would take that one trick pony and bleed it dry for a 10 hour game. Not this one. It's more there for your convenience. In fact, you don't need to use it all to win the game. That's how great of an addition it is to the gameplay. Messed up a jump? Just rewind a few seconds and try again. Really helps to relieve tension on some of the more difficult areas.

Cons (or ''Don't Buy the Game if You Can't Live with These''):

-Time manipulation requires one button so it can be hard to do different effects.
-Subtitles would have really helped during some scenes with speech in them.
-Auto-lock could have used some extra work
-Camera could not vary shots of an area enough sometimes

A247 Recommends:

Personally, I'd recommend buying this game. $50 is a lot of money for it but it is one of the few out there totally worth it. Maybe you'll get lucky and can find a used copy for $20-$30. After playing this game you can understand that the people who made it honestly love what they do and didn't just pump it out for a quick buck (re: most movie-based games, Rebel Strike).

Final Score (93% or 9/10)

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 03/19/04