Battles of Prince of Persia

"Very addicting game and should not be passed up if you like turn based games, and if you like game play with cards."

Battle of prince of Persia is a turn based strategy game that uses cards. It has characteristics that are similar to fire emblem and advance wars dual strike.

Story- If anyone has been following the prince of Persia story, the game bridges the story of prince of Persia the sands of time and warrior within and it does it well. I don't believe the game is critical to the prince of Persia series in terms of story, but it does well in answering a few questions for those of us who played through the prince of Persia series, kind of like how kingdom hearts chain of memories, not crucial but goes nicely in the story. So you know I'm not going to give this section a rating because the story is completely opinion and interest based on what people are interested in. Like most turn based games the game's story are not one of its strong points but its nice to have their that's. The story unfolds in dialogue usually between two characters talking to each other and then resulting in a battle. There are no cut scene clips but pictures on the upper screen portraying what is happening

Game play-8-The game play is either a love or hate for the game. If you are the kind of person who is interested in sorting out cards, you like turn based games like (advance wars or fire emblem) and you are a fan of prince of Persia, then you will find this game to be absolutely addicting.

The game play is all controlled through the stylus, you choose cards with it, order units and attack with it and it uses icons instead of words which is efficient and easier to tap.

You control units completely through cards and this has a big impact on game play. It's very complex. Not for everybody and it takes a while to learn. You have units. You can't move all units at once. You can move units according to how what the number on the card is and each card has an effect. You can choose the effect or just give an order, which means you move the number of units it tells you to move.

There are new elements in this game that have seen introduced that I have not seen in previous games. If you attack a unit from behind it will be more effective. This is how the triangle attacks goes in this game in terms of combat. Pike units (units weapon looks like a staff) beats out sword units and sword units beat out missile units (eg. archers) while missile beat out pikes. But its not so black and white when you play the game. When you are in a battle it also varies how big the unit is, from small to large units or medium. An example of a large unit that is pike is men riding elephants using pikes. A medium unit that is swords is men riding horses using swords. And small units mean normal men on foot with a weapon.

There are a total of nine generals in the game and you are signed to a general according to what is happening in the game's story. These nine generals are divided into three teams or armies and you have only one general to use a battle. These three teams are the Indian army, Persian army and the daevas army. ALL these armies have their own characteristics that greatly differ from each other eg. Indians have elephant. daevas have dog creatures, Persians have horses etc...

I give game play 8 because I am interested in turn based games and like strategy games and sorting out decks to perfection. If you are not interested in these traits the game has to offer the game is not for you.

Graphics-6- the graphics are nothing special and it could've been a lot better, they look no better then what the GBA could play off. The units you order are represented in squares and you have a map, which most maps in the game look very plain and not that interesting. The graphics in the game for battle animation are okay but nothing special. It's nice that generals have more interesting battle animation. If you are a person who doesn't like battle animation and you like to turn them off, it is possible in the game.

Sound-6- There is nothing special about the sound. There is about three or four types of combat music that plays through out the game depending which mission you are on the combat music will repeat itself and it suits the game. The music is a middle eastern them to where the game is set. The title screen music also sounds nice.

Value-7-The game does not have much replay value because you can't win cards like you normally do after completing missions. The game should take about 20 hours to complete and you also have multi player to play with a friend and trade cards with him.

How hard is it? For me the game is not hard and I don't have much experience with turn-based games. People who have played and beaten advance wars or fire emblem should not have much problem with it. Newbies will have a tough time understanding it but you will get the hang of it

In conclusion get this game, it offers a good amount of hours to play and for the many reasons i stated through out this review. If you don't mind graphics or sound then you should get this game

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 01/23/06