Prince of Persia Rival Swords

"Time takes its toll on the Prince of Persia series."

The Prince of Persia has grown from a cult following into a remarkable revitalization of the franchise thanks to the popular Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time released in 2003. Introducing an excellent story and intricate puzzles to the classic adventuring aspects of the original games made Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time a hit. The sequel, Prince of Persia: Warrior Within made a sharp detour into a world of enhanced combat, darker situations, and loud guitar rock. Some deemed it a stumble, others a hit, but UbiSoft is letting the Prince take one more adventure to close out the trilogy. After the third game, Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones was released on home consoles, UbiSoft let Nintendo's new Wii system get the adventure as well, this time with use of the Wii's motion controls. Is Prince of Persia: Rival Swords a hit?

The third in the modern Prince of Persia trilogy, Rival Swords is a Wii-imagining of the Two Thrones story released in 2005. After traveling through time and jumping through history, the Prince of Persia and his lovely lady Kaileena return to the Prince's kingdom only to find the city in turmoil. Apparently the Prince has made tracks in the timeline and by erasing his actions in Warrior Within, his old enemy from Sands of Time, the Vizier, was never killed. The Prince takes another trip to the Sands of Time only to be affected and transformed into his type of sand monster. Old friends and foes return, many of which were not present in the darker Warrior Within, and the Prince must make one more journey to save the kingdom. The game is much easier to understand after playing the previous games, but there's a general amount of good storytelling to cover for anyone who didn't play the other games. The game does play a more lighthearted story than Warrior Within (which amped up the darker themes of the storyline) but it still manages to be more sophisticated than Sands of Time, which is a pretty polarizing aesthetic. The story is still interesting with well-illustrated characters and some nice style. It is still a great aspect of the franchise, and Rival Swords is no exception.

One of the biggest inclusions is the Wii controls, which generally, do an okay job in translation from a basic controller. Press A to jump or roll, B trigger to perform wall running or other acrobatics, along with blocking. You use the Wii Remote to control the camera, which can turn by tilting the Wii Remote from side to side. The Wii Remote is pretty imprecise in the camera control, which fortunately can also be controlled with the Wii Remote's D-Pad. Still, the camera remains a serious problem. Swinging the Wii Remote lets the Prince use a weapon, with swinging the Nunchuk allowing the Prince to use a second weapon if in use. The Nunchuk is a bit low on the sensitivity and it can become a problem in combat. The C button on the Nunchuk lets the Prince recall time with the Dagger of Time. The famous technique lets the player rewind to before a mistake, a concept that makes the exploration fast and fluid. A cool new technique the Prince can do is the Speed Kill. By sneaking up behind an enemy, the screen gets a focused border. By shaking the Nunchuk and performing well-timed swings with the Wii Remote, the Prince can take out an enemy quickly and efficiently. This is a great inclusion for stealth, but also because the combat is far too tedious. Jumping and turning back time is basically all the Prince needs. Battles become a nuisance and the Speed Kill will quickly become the best bet in taking out enemies.

A major part of the Prince's adventure is his alter-ego, the Dark Prince. At certain points in the game, the Prince loses control of his other side and transforms into the monstrous Dark Prince. The Dark Prince is stronger, faster, and a better fighter, and also is equipped with a chain weapon. The fee for such power is that the Dark Prince cannot survive without the Sands of Time, so his health will slowly drain. The Dark Prince needs to defeat enemies or smash nearby objects to keep the sand full; otherwise it's game over. One major issue is that the controls as Dark Prince really aren't good. Basically, the simple sword slashes with the Wii Remote are passable, but you need to wave the Nunchuk to use the chain, which later on becomes and important part in both exploration and combat. The line between the two, though, is indirect and you'll most likely be spinning your chain weapon around unable to grab that enemy that keeps getting in your way. The constantly declining health doesn't make the situations any easier. The Dark Prince really is best when he's simply a voice in the Prince's head, because playing as him is really more an annoyance than a good time, thanks mostly to the imprecise motion controls.

Outside of that, the game still focuses on the cinematic and fast-paced platforming the series is known for. The Prince can still run along walls, climb down ropes, leap gaps and such and it still flows together extremely well. The environments are intricate and use the Prince's different abilities well. It's the moments where you need to think on your feet that Rival Swords shows brilliantly. Leaping a gap, sliding down a wall, grabbing a ledge, then running along a wall; it's all seamless and fluid. Thankfully, the Dagger of Time eliminates the annoyances of this trial and error system, allowing you to recall mistakes quickly. The game is still amazing in these moments, but it still doesn't match the fluid and over-the-top sequences of the past games. At this point, this system could use some more concepts and it shows its age. Regardless, the exploration moments of Rival Swords is still the best part, and it all works incredibly well.

As far as presentation goes, Rival Swords has some knocks against it. On the good side, the excellent storytelling and voice acting of the past games is retained, some in part to the return of the excellent voice acting of Yuri Lowenthal (voice actor of Sasuke in Naruto) as the Prince. The Dark Prince's sinister voice is presented by Rick Miller, who presents a good job as the Prince's alter-ego. The music is a change to the Persian sounds of the Sands of Time, abandoning the guitar rock sounds of Warrior Within (a major criticism of the second installment.) The graphics, on the other hand, seem dated and minimal. The opening sequences and high-quality cinematics are great and some solid effects during attacks and acrobatics are good, but the game doesn't make much attempt use look better than an average Gamecube game. It's not abysmal, but with the better power of the Wii, there could've been some effort to clean up some of the graphical messes in the game. The presentation is a mixed bag, and although it is passable, the entire package feels a bit dated compared to other Wii games.

Pros
+ Adventuring still a good time
+ Stylish cinematics look great
+ Babylon offers nice cosmetic design
+ Great voice acting

Cons
- Camera is a real chore to manage
- Wii controls feel sluggish
- Dated graphics
- Combat is repetitious and boring

Any newcomers who didn't play Two Thrones will find Rival Swords to be a worthy installment, as it concludes the trilogy with the same good level design and cinematic flair as the original Two Thrones did, along with a few bonuses. If you picked up the Two Thrones for any of the previous generation of consoles and are just curious to see how the Wii controls work, Rival Swords is a pretty mediocre game. The controls and combat are major letdowns, thanks to the sluggish controls and lackluster fighting sessions. Rival Swords is a great adventure game, but it's the action elements that seem to cripple this version of Two Thrones. Anyone curious about how the Wii elements pan out will be pretty let down by the sloppy Wii controls and dated graphics, but Rival Swords still manages to be fun throughout. Don't expect too much from it, but Rival Swords is still a solid game and a good ending to one of this generation's better franchises.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 09/04/07

Game Release: Prince of Persia Rival Swords (US, 04/03/07)