"Arabian Nights meets Tomb Raider"

Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time is an Action\Adventure developed by Ubisoft. Ahhh, Ubisoft… one of my favorite developers around the globe with very good games made from them. Prince Of Persia is no exception. While not the game the hype is supposing it is, it is still a great game with its fair share of problems. It combines the adventuring of Tomb Raider with the acrobatic action of the Hong Kong cinema and takes place in a wonderful, almost magical Middle Eastern setting.

Story: 7.8/10
Presentation: 7/10

You are… the Prince. The son of a great Persian King who with the aid of a treacherous Vizier has managed conquering an Indian Kingdom. You want to make your father proud by bringing him something from the Maharaja's vault. Thus you enter and retrieve the dagger of time. The dagger is quite a magnificent item… it can do all kinds of tricks while in battle but most of all it can turn back time! The Vizier tricks the Prince into using the dagger in another magical item, a certain gigantic Hourglass. You do so and unleash the Sands Of Time, converting everyone into demonic sand creatures that can be killed only with your dagger. However there are 2 more survivors, Farah the daughter of the Maharaja, who while hates you for the destruction of her world will aid you in your quest and the Vizier who will do everything he can in order to retrieve the dagger for his own purposes.

What I loved in POP is the fact that the Prince is actually the narrator of the whole thing, talking about the various events as if everything has happened already. The presentation is very good, with great main characters and the ending is one of the best I've seen. I like how the relationship between the Prince and Farah evolves and I love the inner monologues of the Prince that are quite funny at times, especially when he thinks about Farah. The biggest, (and only), problem with the game's plot is simply the fact that the plot takes a backseat during the main part of the action, so apart from the beginning and the levels near the end, nothing extraordinary will happen. You avoid traps, kill enemies, jump around and all that but apart from the short conversations between you and Farah you won't see anything else.

Gameplay: 8/10
Replay Value: 4/10

Prince of Persia can be divided between 2 parts, platforming & fighting, 3 if you count the few puzzles available. Lets analyze all this one by one:

The Persian Circus preseeeeeents… *drum roll* the Prince!!!:
The Prince is one of the most agile characters in videogames, putting Lara Croft, Rayne and others to shame. His jump is quite realistic, not very high, not very long, but his other moves are from another planet! He can make quick runs on the surfaces of walls, bounce from wall to wall to reach a higher area and many more. Of course he can also do some basic stuff like hang from ropes, grab ledges and move from side to side using his hands, climb columns and many more. The controls are perfect and forgiving, something quite welcome given the fact that you must pull all kinds of impossible stuns while avoiding dangerous traps or certain death from falling, not to mention that the camera can be quite irritating at times… not always, just sometimes. Most of the game consists of trying to reach certain areas with your acrobatic moves, in order to push some buttons, open a door and just move on with the next area. There is little fighting involved, something that I liked because that is where the fun is in this game, in the platforming. There are also some puzzles you must solve, nothing too hard, but quite fun, (again you'll need a lot of acrobatic stunts), and usually you have Farah with you, who you can't control but it just feels good that she's doing her part. The only problem here is the challenge… or lack of. The game simply is a bit easier than I expected, (of course way easier than the original), and not only that but the challenge doesn't change throughout the game. Some parts may be a tad harder but generally the game is the same from the beginning to the end and by the time you reach half way through the game, you will already seen everything this game has to offer.

The Sands Of Time:
What makes the game stand out though? Its not just a platform game, it's not even similar to the Tomb Raider series. It has some basic hack n' slash action mixed with more of the Prince's acrobatic skills… but what else? The answer is… the dagger! This is quite a special little gadget with which you can cheat death… and time. So you bounce from wall to wall trying to reach a certain spot… oops, missed the ledge… you fall down, you die. Wrong! You can literally turn back time, as long as you have Sand energy in your dagger. You can't infinitely make mistakes and just press the rewind button but these few chances the game gives you are very valuable.

There is sand in my Sands Of Time:
Sand energy is collected by killing enemies, which bring me to the most boring part of the game. Fighting enemies starts quite good. You can hit your enemies with your sword, do a vaulting attack by jumping over them, counter attack or attack by bouncing off walls. Your dagger becomes handy once again by letting you use some more of its powers. Along with Sand energy you can also store Power that can be used in battle. You can slow time, become ultra fast or freeze an enemy and slice him at your pace. But as I've said the battles are the most boring part of the game and that because they get awfully repetitive. You will find yourself doing the same few moves over and over, not to mention that you must always finish off enemies with your dagger to completely kill them and also gather Sand energy. Well, despite the platforming and fighting flaws of the game though I loved The Sands Of Time. It is a fun game to play, masterfully designed and with a unique atmosphere. But you know the biggest problem with the game isn't the repetitive nature of the battles or the lack of challenge in the platforming parts, its not even the small length of the game, (very small). The biggest problem is simply the fact that after finishing the game, there isn't anything else to do, something that lowers the game's value a loooooot.

Graphics: 8/10
Design: 8.5/10

Needless to say that The Sands Of Time has magnificent graphics. The prince looks great when he pulls off all kind of impossible acrobatics due to his excellent animation and the enemies while they have simpler animation also look fantastic in their Zombie\Demonic selves since they have very good design and have some neat effects like the bright scars your dagger leaves on them or the way they turn into sand when they die. I also loved Farah, the Prince's Indian female sidekick, who looks good AND believable Finally the special effects enhance the game's look a lot, like the strange blur when you turn back time, or the fog effect that gives a dreamy atmosphere to the game, the way the light shines trough the windows and many more. The enormous Indian palace you'll travel through looks awesome, with wonderful decoration, textures and great lighting and when you are outside you will gaze upon an almost magical night sky, with a large and bright full moon, or a magnificent sunrise. However there is not much variety so you might get bored fighting your way through palace room after palace room… it looks good though. Allow me some nit picking though… the resolution can't get higher than 1024 X 768 and that is quite a shame for such a good-looking game.

Sound: 8.5/10
Music: 8.2/10

The game looks and sounds good. The sound effects used are very good, whether we talk about in-battle sword clanging, ambient sounds, (great), or other special effects. The voice acting while not top-notch is great and although the Prince annoyed me at first I started liking him even more as the game progressed. The music is quite good, a weird blend of hard rock and Middle East-type melodies. Forgettable but also well-composed and quite fitting to the game's atmosphere.

Positives:
-Good plot & main characters
-Your dagger can turn back time among other special tricks
-The acrobatic moves your Prince can make & the excellent controls
-Great graphics with an almost magical atmosphere.
-Excellent main character animation

Negatives:
-Easy and with zero replay value
-Very repetitive battles
-The camera movement can get quite bad sometimes
-Resolution can't get higher than 1024 X 768

Also Play:
Beyond Good & Evil (PC, PS2, Xbox, GC)
Chronicles Of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay (PC, Xbox)
Prince Of Persia: Warrior Within (PC, PS2, Xbox, GC)
Thief (Series)
Tomb Raider (Series)

Overall: 7.5/10

Is Sands Of Time the legendary game people talk about? Well no… the length of the game, its repetitive nature and the boring battles lower the score quite a bit, however these flaws don't prevent the game from being a wonderful experience… while it lasts! With its great controls, entertaining platform and puzzle sections and overall atmosphere it will captivate you, even without being the game it is supposed to be. So, without any hesitations, open up the Sands Of Time and dive into the fantastic world of Prince Of Persia!

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 02/17/10

Game Release: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (US, 11/30/03)