Prince of Persia: Warrior Within

"The prince still reigns"

When I first saw the screen shots for the next Prince of Persia game way back in August, I cringed. What had they done to my cheery prince and his Peter Parker-like qualities. Why have they sacrificed the Platforming aspects for another beat-em-up game? This was obviously going to be a crap-fest full of marketability.

Was I right? Well, no. While Ubisoft obviously fell for the trap of obscene amounts of gore, its nice to know that a game I like is under all of it.

First, the stuff I don't like. The prince is pissed. And he has good reason to be. Having released the sands of time, he sentenced himself to death. Naturally that didn't happen. But of course, fate hates a smartass, so the prince is now being chased everywhere by a demon who's only goal is to kill him. The prince comes up with the daring plan to travel back to when the sands of time were created and stop them from being made, therefore stopping him from releasing them. Let's hear it for the grandfather paradox, folks!

Along with the prince's pissed off personality, he's got a gravely new voice that makes Chris Sabat's Piccolo sound like an owner of really healthy lungs. The voice acting in the cutscenes is top-notch like before, but the in-game one-liners are horrible. Also, this game is devoid of the charming humour that the last game had. Anyone who wants a happy game experience, get Viewtiful Joe 2. This one's kind of a downer.

Fortunately, beyond all the doom-and-gloom is the game we all loved before..to an extent. As advertised, the combat is more sleek and streamlined... and much more bloody. The biggest addition is the prince's ability to pick up a weapon and fight ambidexterously, or throw it at an enemy for a blood pinata.

The platforming is still there and the prince pulls of moves that would make Spider-man blush. There's less of it though, and not enough of the really frantic scenes where he's running from the demon. I still think these are the best areas of the game, and should return to being the centerpoint of the game.

As sick as it may sound, this game is very pretty. The textures are vivid and everything flows smoothly. The music though, has fallen into the marketing that the story and combat has. Its full of guitar power chords, and very little of the music has middle eastern flare the last game's did.

On a personal note, I despise the cosmetic changes. The prince last year was more likable and more identifiable. He screwed up and he's trying to fix that. Here, the prince is darker, and isn't out to save the world, or for revenge. He just wants to save his ass. The previous game was serious, but less depressing. Heck, parts of it were funny, a trait very rare for video games. I'm really dissapointed that Ubisoft sacrificed these things for a more marketable off-the-shelf character.

Its darker, its gloomier, Its rated M for 'Marketable', and it reminds me how much I liked the last one more, but hell, its still fun to enjoy.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/07/04