Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

"A nostalogic masterpiece"

The original Prince of Persia was one of my favorite games of all time, but, when Prince of Persia 2 came out, I picked it up and hated it, then Prince of Persia 3-D came out and I didn't even look at it, then at the local video games store I saw this game and the trap-filled screenshots on the back, so I decided to pick it up...

Graphics 10/10
The best graphics on the PS2 since Final Fantasy X was released, astounding and the framerate never chugs once, be it the blankness of your eyes when you drink water from a mysterious fountain or running on the walls of a bird cage, they had me spellbound during every minute of it. But what really got me was how photo-genic some of the enviornments are, you could just press R2 and look around all day but where's the fun in that?

Sound 9/10
The music easily sets the pace for the game, when your walking around or solving puzzles the music is hardly noticible but gets into Persian-Style funk whenever you draw your sword and dagger to defeat the creatures tainted by the sands of time. Truly sets the tune, as for the sound effects, the're to the new millenium as the original's were for the 80's, amazing.

Gameplay 10/10
Truly amazing, if not overly-frustrating gameplay, your outfitted with your traditional sword you found in the dungeon back in the 80's and a handy dagger that lets you use cool powers, be it slowing down time, turning your enemies into sand or sand sculptures or even moving time backwards if you make a mistake. Despite all this the star of the show is all the cool moves you can pull off and how the're incorporated into puzzle solving and enemy-bashing, you can vault off enemies, coming down with a crushing blow, rocket yourself off the wall (sword first of course), running along walls, anime-style wall jumping or even walking in the side of a wall, it's all awesome.

Playability 8/10
Prince of Persia, the sands of time is extremely glitchy, I can't tell you how many times I learned on the message boards people had to start all over again, normally this would get it a lower score, but NOOOO, UBI had to give you spot on control, sarcastic dialouge and a sexy, bow-wielding partner just to make it hard on us reviewers.

Fun Factor 10/10
Despite the frustration I had quite a bit of fun playing through this adventure, sure it's tough but the game seems to laugh at you, making you want to show it who's boss! And plus: Who couldn't have fun slashing open and absorbing zombies made of sand while taking out a good deal of but jumping of the wall so you vault off of them and take them out with a sharp strike while sailing over there heads, yes you can do that and yes, it's not so overly complicated that you can actually work into your battle strategy.

Story 9/10
Now , without the time limit implemented, there can be a deep and involving story about revenge, traps, and yes, lot's of blood. I can't believe I actually saw our beloved prince taking out his own father and then going nearly crazy with rage, thinking of one thing, revenge is best served cold with pecans and mint leaves on the side.

Replay Value 10/10
While the game itself is not horridly long, it has quite a few secrets up it's sleeve, (can you say, mac port?) and the game is fun enough to experience again, if only to laugh at how hard the game was before 50% back at the first time you played it.

Character Design 7/10
Yes, I know, I'll probabally get jeered by fans everywhere for giving this such a low score, but the truth is, the design within itself is flawless, creating characters that you feel you know as real people, the problem is, this applies to the only three, main human characters in the game (you, your sidekick, and bad guy), sure it was fun to see the annoying defense system guy turn into what he was fearing the most, but, I figure that's not important, not yet at least.

Overall 9/10
While not without it's flaws, this masterpiece brings the nostalagia back that was missing in Prince of Persia 2.

Final Word Rent or Buy
Either one really, if your the kind of person who beats games then sells them, a rental would be fine, but if you were one of the people who put the 100+ hours into Final Fantasy X it took to do everything (guilty as charged), or just, when you beat a really good game say, hey, I wish I could play that again or are just a fan, The Princes 3rd (4th, whatever) game is a game to shell out 50 bucks for.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 04/20/04