"One of the best games of all time!"

One holiday season in the year 2003, this game was one of my most anticipated titles of the year. Although the game looked awesome, Christmas had already passed. This meant I was going to have to rent it. The game was not in at my local Hollywood Video. So patiently, I waited. A week passed and no one had turned it in. Another week went by. Still no luck. A couple more weeks, no one had turned it in. So after a month of waiting it finally arrived and let me tell ya, the wait for Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time was worth it.

Graphics: 10
Wow! This is one of the most gorgeous games I have ever seen. The environments almost have a sort of dreamy atmosphere. The buildings are beautifully detailed and the characters move very smoothly. The outside of the palace in which the game takes place is like stepping into a garden of flowers. My only complaint is the characters are somewhat blocky but who really cares about that? So overall, the graphics are awesome.

Story: 10
The evil Vizier tricks the prince into opening an hourglass, which unleashes the sands of time. The sands turn most of the people into sand creatures, which is quite scary to watch. To turn things back to normal the prince must journey up to the Tower of Dawn with the help of a dagger ( more on that later) and a mysterious princess named Farah. The prince tells the story and he actually talks to himself during the game, which can be funny sometimes. I enjoyed the story and thought it was funny at times.

Controls: 10
The controls fit the game perfectly. When you get the hang of the controls, you will be jumping, climbing, swinging and fighting as if it is a second nature! Although the camera rarely gets stuck behind things, it is easily adjustable. Overall, the controls are great!

Audio: 9
The sound is great! Every thing sounds just the way it should. From the prince landing on solid ground to the environment collapsing, every thing sounds very clear. The music is a mix of Middle Eastern music and rock music, which is awesome. When I play through the game (which I do a lot) I remember certain parts of the game that have such cool music. The voice acting is great. The prince says some very funny lines that make me laugh! Farah's acting is good but she does say some cheesy lines. The sand monsters sound like zombies (which fits their personality!). They scream and growl at the prince, which usually means they want to kill him (duh!). My only complaint is the voices can be a little bit hard to hear during cut-scenes, so turn the television up when they start. Otherwise that, the sounds are some of the best of all time.

Game play: 10
What would a ten-point game be without the game play? The prince has a wide variety of moves. He can climb poles, balance on beams, wall jump, swing on poles like an acrobat, vault over enemies, and even swing on ropes like Tarzan!
While fighting, the prince can use his trusty dagger of time. The dagger has all sorts of powers. It can rewind time, so if you fall off a ledge do not freak out! Just press the rewind button and presto changeo you're back alive and you can retry the part you died at. The dagger can slow time down, which makes it easy to hit the sand creatures. It can freeze the enemy you strike with the dagger giving you a free hit. Finally yet importantly is my personal favorite, mega freeze. Mega freeze freezes all enemies while the prince moves super fast speed and strikes the sand creatures into powder. However, you cannot keep using the dagger or else you will run out of sand. Sand is what the powers use up. The sand tanks are used for the rewind power, so one rewind is one sand tank gone. The power tanks are used for every other power. To get more sand you have to suck out the sand from the sand creatures. It is also the only way of defeating the enemies (unless of coarse you use a different sand power).

While the dagger is a cool weapon, the normal combat is a bit repetitive. Some attacks are neat but you do not need lots of skill to win fights, except for a few fights that throw so many enemies at you that mega- freeze is the only way of surviving. However, the fights are entertaining even though the combat is lacking a little.

Also, on the princes journey you can find sand and health upgrades. The sand upgrades give the prince new sand powers. They look like little white clouds on the ground and you have to stab them with the dagger to obtain the upgrade. Health upgrades improve your health (duh!). They are harder to find. Usually you have to break a wall to find one but they are worth finding. When you find one, you run down a hallway that has some relaxing music. When you get to the end of the hall, you enter a huge room that has a water fountain smack dab in the middle of it. You then cross a bridge in the gorgeous room to get to the fountain. The prince will drink the water in it and you see a cool pose and the prince will be where he was before he ran in the hallway with no hallway in sight and the prince's heath increased. It is a cool feature that is a nice break from the action.

The puzzles are awesome and sometimes challenging. There are puzzles that require you to rearrange bars so you can swing to your destination. There is even on puzzle that makes you jump all over a huge library to connect light with mirrors, which will then open a door. The puzzles are one the best features of the game. Another cool feature is while playing Farah helps you out a lot. She will help you in combat with her sweet bow. She shoots the enemies, which gives you more of an advantage over the sand monsters. She also takes out flying enemies faster then the prince can. She is one of the coolest sidekicks in any game out right now. A big difference from other games is when you save a game you enter a sand portal. In the portal, you can see what is coming up soon so you should pay attention to what happens.

Replay: 10
There is behind the scenes footage and you can unlock the original Prince of Persia game! In addition, you can unlock the first level of the original Prince of Persia game! Not a lot, but the game is so fun you will want to play it over and over again!

Buy or rent?
Well if you have a soul, BUY! It should be cheap (I bought it for 19.99 a year ago) and it is one of the best games of all time

Overall score: 9.8/10 (rounded to 10)

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 12/26/05