Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones

"This game reminded me why I loved the original so much."

Introduction

I loved the original Prince of Persia, and was eager to buy The Sands of Time when it was first released. I remember sitting in a cafe after buying it, reading the manual, prompting a waitress to call out: "Geek!" as she walked past me. I took the game home and loved it, and then I bought the sequel, Warrior Within, and it just didn't have the same magic.

Having bought this, after finding it by chance in my local gamestore (I was looking for the incredibly rare Shadow the Hedgehog), I started playing and realised just what went wrong with the second game in the series; the game was immensely dark and lacked all of the wry humour from the first game, and the gimmick of going back and forth between different time periods rather lost its excitement quite fast. In fact I often went for weeks without touching the game when I was in the middle of it, I just lost the will to play.

This game, however, is considerably better, and actually manages to improve on the original in my opinion.

Gameplay - 10/10

Most of the gameplay will be familiar from the styles of the previous 3D Prince of Persia games; you have to navigate through various rooms by swinging on bars and running on walls, as well as slaughtering the various enemies and using your dagger of time to reverse errors that you make. Thankfully, things are kept fresh with the addition of new moves - such as jumping diagonally of shutters and using your dagger to grab hold of niches in the walls. At first, I felt that the game seemed to focus a little too much on running and jumping, whereas the original had lots of neat puzzle elements (such as moving the mirrors around in one particular room), but I didn't need to worry because there are puzzles to solve too, including one where you push levers in order to help your comrade (I won't spoil who it is) get from tower to tower.

There are some interesting new enemies, too, such as monsters that suck out your sand tanks, and thankfully there isn't too much of a focus on huge battle scenes. Whereas in Warrior Within, the player seemed to be constantly be thrown into combat with tough enemies such as Shahdee that were often annoying to have to fight over and over, for a large amount of the play time you are fighting normal enemies, and there are a lot of chances to practise your fighting skills before meeting the first boss, a very fearsome and impressive-looking giant, whom the Prince informs you, "was once human". One very enjoyable addition to the combat in this game is the idea of "speed kills" where you kill an enemy fast if you are able to sneak up on them from behind. It's not difficult to learn, as you get given a lot of visual cues.

However, the best parts of the gameplay are still to come. First of all, there is the chariot racing sequence, which is completely unlike anything seen previously on the series, as you race through the streets trying to escape your enemies (I found myself thinking of Ben Hur during this bit, and all the time dodging around to stop yourself having a fatal collision with a brick wall. It's rather like a vastly improved version of the driving sequences from Enter the Matrix.

The best element, though, it the Prince's transformation into the "Dark Prince", a corrupted version of himself. Gameplay does not change radically, but it adds new challenges. The Dark Prince uses the sands of time to survive, and so his health is constantly draining, and using the sands to slow down or reverse time could have fatal consequences, but he can replenish his health just by killing enemies. He also has a few new moves such as jumping huge gaps using a chain that he mysteriously acquires.

Overall, gameplay is enjoyable and the new elements prove that the game creators are able to avoid the obvious trap of sticking to the same gimmick every time. The inclusion of the Dark Prince is fun and adds variety.

Story - 9/10

Continuing on from where Warrior Within left off, this game seems a world away from its excessively dark and far-too-serious predecessor. A number of familiar characters return, including one person whose appearance I will not spoil, save to say that anyone who has played the previous games will realise this person is around long before they make their actual entrance.

There seem to be some similarities to Resident Evil, with the Vizier's transformation into a sand monster before the Prince's eyes, and the subsequent additionn of the Dark Prince after the Prince himself is affected by the sands adds an interesting twist to the story, with the hero having conversations with a mysterious voice in his head, whose agenda is somewhat morally dubious.

The really great thing in the story is the occasional use of comedy; for example, the Prince and his companion are interrupted by an enemy firing an arrow at them, and respond: "Do you mind? We're trying to have a conversation here!" Overall, a great story.

Sound - 9/10

I have no hang-ups with what sound you do hear; where there is background music, it is nice and does not intrude into the game too much. The character voices are nice, and there are no embarrassing ones like in Warrior Within. The Prince's inner voice, with its middle class English accent, with what sounds like a reverse-gating effect is certainly one of the best points.

The dialogue heard while you play is fun to listen to, though it can get annoying if you are repeating an area several times. For example you might hear a description of what is going on, the prince talking to his inner voice or his thoughts as he describes life in Babylon. Occasionally you will hear the screams of humans and crackling of fires in the background as they are attacked by the sand creatures, which helps to build up a mental image of what is going on around the place.

Graphics - 10/10

Very nice character models, and attractive designs. Whereas the previous games mainly involved running around a palace, with scenery that became very monotonous after a while, here you will find yourself running around palaces, sewers, gardens and city streets. The Dark Prince's design is impressive, though a little bizarre in appearance at first, though I felt like groaning at another gratuitous excuse for the prince to run around shirtless for almost the entire game.

Lastability - 8/10

The game isn't especially hard, but it is certainly long and you may spend a large amount of time getting through on your first attempt, and there are three difficulty settings to choose from. Also, there are very few moments when you may actually find yourself throwing your controller down in frustration.

Final Verdict

Buy this; if you already have The Sands of Time, I'd suggest you skip Warrior Within and play this. The best 3D Prince of Persia title so far.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/19/06