Prince of Persia: Warrior Within

"What happened with this version of the game?"

My goodness, what happened to UbiSoft and their ability to produce GameCube games? First of all, let me say that I love my GameCube to death, and that this game is excellent in game play, music, story, and graphics, but UbiSoft killed this game on this system.

Let me say that I have both a PS2 and a GameCube, and I have played both versions of this game. Granted, both versions have their bugs, but it seems that UbiSoft decided to put the GameCube in a dark corner while they were busy working on the PS2 and XBox versions.

First of all, lets discuss the graphics. I noticed that the GameCube has a bit sharper graphics than the PS2 does, and the frame rate is a bit better, but this does come at a price. The graphics seem to be "brighter" than on the PS2, and while you're probably saying, "well what's so bad about that?" I would counter with, "It seems more bland than the PS2 graphics." Take the Dahaka for instance. The GameCube doesn't even have those beady white eyes like the PS2 version does. Come on! They're just white eyes!! So you say, "well, I can deal with that.... how about the sound?"

Secondly, the sound...ooooooh the horrible sound. Some people complain about the choice of the rock guitar in this game, and if you don't like that kind of thing, good! The music in the GameCube version cuts out after playing for 3 seconds, and sometimes it doesn't even play at all! Even if you don't like the choice of music, this does get annoying, and for all that I played this game on the PS2, the sound never cut out on that system. So how about the voice-overs? Well, it seems that the GameCube has a hard time with choosing the right voice to put with the right enemies, and you will find that the dominatrix women that you fight during the game will yell out the things that Shadee did.... even after you defeat her! Ahhhh!! The ghost of Shadee is haunting you throughout the game because the GameCube just loved her voice that much! Again, the PS2 version did not have this bug either, and I encountered no error of this kind.

Third, the control. Now, here's where the GameCube excels over the PS2! Spot on, no questions about it. Since the game doesn't skip as badly as the PS2 (aside from the skipping in the cinemas), you have much better control over the Prince, and this proves to be very useful. One point for the good guys.

Overall, if you have a choice between the PS2 version of this game and the GameCube version…. go with the PS2. I'm sorry, even though I love my GameCube, it seems that UbiSoft just didn't care about this version too much and didn't spend nearly enough time with this version. It is sad to say that the only thing I found wrong with the PS2 version was that is skips sometimes if you're moving the camera too fast. UbiSoft, you should be ashamed of yourself for making this game complete garbage on a system that is far superior to the PS2. Thumbs down.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 11/14/05