Prince of Persia: Warrior Within

"A vastly underrated game"

I have to say, a lot of SoT people just hated Warrior Within because of the different ambience. But, aside from a few lame things (I'll talk about them later, because they really are the only ones) the whole experience is really quite cool. It's a departure from Sands of Time, but that's what its supposed to be. Plus, it's fun to play, and that's what's important.

GRAPHICS: 8/10

Ah, the graphics. Usually the first topic of any review. Well, put simply, they're better than Sands of Time's but nothing exceptional. The Prince himself looks absolutely awesome this time, with a cool suit of armor and the same fluid animations. Enemies comprise of freakish goblin-things, ninjas, wolves, and other dark delights. The environments are amazing, to say the least. Perhaps the only dent in the game's graphics is one poorly-rendered character named Kaileena. But you don't have to look at her very often, thankfully.

SOUND: 9/10

It's a shame everyone shoots this game's music down because it's rock and roll/metal with arabic-sounding instruments mixed in rather than simply synthesized arabian music. The music actually fits the game's setting quite nicely, and there are only TWO Godsmack songs in the whole game, and they're used magnificently. As for the voiceovers, the Prince sounds quite similar to the Sands of Time Prince, although the voice actor is different, and while some of the one-liners seem rather forced, throughout most of the game he says just what you'd expect the Prince from the first game to say. One serous problem is that, for some reason, attacks made with the X putton make a hearty "WHOOSH" noise, while when you swing with the Y button (left handed weapon) it's totally silent. Other than that the sound is unobtrusive.

GAMEPLAY: 10/10

Beautiful platforming meets excellent combat. Every second of this game will have you enthralled. First, the platforming (which PoP games have always been about anyways)

Basically, as in any PoP game, the Prince has a multitude of acrobatic skills to use to get through seemingly impossible environments. He can wall run, jump, climb, and swing like no one's business, and your job is to guide him through puzzling environments, using every piece of the environment to get farther. It's great fun, and it forces you to use your skills and your reflexes throughout the game rather than just button mash your way hrough (a la the Lord of the Rings games, of which I am no fan).

As for the fighting, well, it's excellent, and there's much more this time around. Rather than the clunky system from SoT, the designers built a new one from ground up, and boy is it sweet. You use X to swing your main sword, Y to kick or swing a second weapon (which can range from an axe to a club to a frisbee-type thing) and B is used to throw things and steal enemy weapons. There's a lot more to it than that, but those are the basics. Guiding the Prince through a battle, watching him slice and dice enemies using the environment, his own skills, and even the enemies' own weapons is a blast.

A good example of what I'm talking about: Approach an enemy and press Y and then B to vault over his head, steal his weapon, and behead him with it, killing one foe and granting you a second weapon in just seconds.

Put simply, this game is pure fun to play, and has a little for everyone.

REPLAY: 7/10

Not bad, Ubisoft. Not bad at all. While it lacks a two player Vs mode (which would be really cool) it does have a Time Attack and Arena mode, which you can play to hone your skills and then post your score on Xbox Live. This adds a lot to the game in my opinion, and plus it's fun to play through anyways, so you won't mind playing a second or third time just for the fun of it. Plus, there are multiple endings, the best of which can only be seen when you find everything the game has to offer (unlike SoT, Warrior Within is sorta nonlinear).

STORY: 7/10

This hurt the game a lot. The story itself is cool and very original - basically, the Prince is being chased by an unstoppable monster called the Dahaka due to his heroic but timeline-altering actions in the last game. He decides to travel back in time and prevent the Sands from ever being created so the Dahaka will leave him alone and he can live a normal life. It's almost like a reverse Terminator storyline, but i liked it anyways.

Unfortunately, the game lacks any real characters. The Prince is pretty much the same cynical whiner he was last time, just a lot more determined and scared for his life. The other four characters are so inconsequential that they might as well not exist. Shahdee, a butch-looking chick whom you will fight a few times throughout your adventure, has no personality whatsoever and has no role in the story other than to serve as a bad guy. Kaileena (the aforementioned poorly-rendered character) is simply a plot device to explain why the Prince knows how to get at the Empress (she tells him, obviously).

OVERALL: 43/50 = 8.6/10 rounded up to 9

A good game. I'd recommend you rent it at the very least, because it's way too fun to pass up.

RENT OR BUY?

Well, I got it a couple days ago for only 20 bucks, and it still is of above-standard quality despite its datedness. It's so cheap that there's no reason to rent it for five days for five bucks, when you could just pay 15 extra and keep it forever. Enough said.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 06/02/06