Prince of Persia: Warrior Within

"It's no Sands of Time..."

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time was one of the most epic, amazing video games I have ever played. It was perfect in almost every way possible. Then there came this game, which proved that sequels are never better, and I'll tell you why.

Graphics: 7/10

The graphics don't get any better in this game, in fact, I think they are a little worse. The first game had amazing graphics on a large scale. What I mean is that the landscape and background and foreground were all truly beautiful to look at. Now in the second game, you're inside most of the time, and the rooms are all very dull and gloomy in the past, and even more so in the present. The cinematics are pretty bad too, in terms of graphics. The CG cinematics aren't too bad, but there's only a few of those and they don't have much action.

Gameplay: 9/10

This is the only good part of the game. The gameplay is about equal to the Sands of Time. The fighting is the same with the addition of two weapon fighting and the ability to throw your weapon. You have all the same Powers of Time and there are a few new special abilities. You can still do all the same acrobatic stunts (running on and up walls, etc.), but the puzzles aren't nearly as good as the first game. Oh, I won't elaborate on this, I'll just say it, the boss battles are TERRIBLE.

Story: 5/10

What the hell happened to Farah? That little hottie isn't even mentioned once in this game. That really pissed me off. The story is really corny and hardly even makes sense near the end, and the ending sucks too. As you probably know, the Prince is being chased by the Dahaka, a huge monster who's looking to kill you. Wow. Enthralling right there. So basically the whole game is the Prince trying to figure out a way to change his fate and he comes up with a bunch of stupid ideas about how to do it and never succeeds.

Sound: 6/10

Sound sucks. During the whole game, this really depressing and gloomy music is played, which will probably leave you depressed. The dialogue is terrible, the sound effects are mediocre, and the Prince says really stupid remarks when he's fighting. The only reason sound deserves a 6 is because some pretty cool Godsmack songs are played.

If you're thinking about buying this game, don't. It's worth enough to rent, if it's like the only game left on the shelf. You'd do better by playing the Sands of Time again. I do realize that I talked a lot about the Sands of Time, but you know what, I like that game and it's easy to write a review comparing the game to its prequel. If you buy this game you might as well buy Pro Bass Fishing or some crap like that while you're at it.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 10/24/05