Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

"Delicately fine, yet coarse at the same time"

The Sands of Time Trilogy comprises three of the best action adventure games I've ever played (well, perhaps not number two so much). Drawing inspiration from the original Prince of Persia which was a beautiful game by design, but terribly sloppy in the controls department, the trilogy brought new meaning to "live and learn". If you got blind-sided by a cunning foe or simply got too cocky with your platforming skills, leaping inadvertently into a spiked pit, you could simply rewind time back a few seconds and all would be well again. The time manipulation mechanic worked very well and together with solid level design, intuitive controls and a dreamy, bloom-filled Persian ambience, the Sands of Time Trilogy was unsurprisingly met with critical acclaimed and was well received by gamers.

I am, of course, referring to the 3D titles here; Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time for the GBA is not the same beast.

Sands of Time (herein referring to the GBA version) follows the "Metroidvania" design made popular by the Metroid and Castlevania games. You are set down in a huge palace, not unlike Zebes or Dracula's Castle in design (but more linear), and roam about from room-to-room swinging across poles, leaping off pillars, rolling underneath circular saws and occasionally engaging in combat with sand-infected creatures and soldiers. In order to progress further you will usually need to activate a series of switches in a certain order, separated by many of the aforementioned hazards and enough instant death pits to make Mega Man fans happy. Many rooms are puzzles in themselves and early in the game you will be introduced to a second character, Farah, who wields a long-range bow used to activate switches or kill from afar making things far more interesting and complex than if the Prince were alone.

The key to success is managing the two characters, one at a time, utilising their inherent strengths and weaknesses. The Prince is your melee hero possessing the powers granted by the titular Sands of Time - rewinding, slowing down time, or just plain-out freezing it. He's also the more agile of the two with his double jump and wall running abilities allowing for more spectacular platforming. Of course, with such reckless behaviour he can be more prone to accidental injuries - so luckily he has the Sand of Time to fall back on. Farah, on the other hand, doesn't, but there are still a few tricky sections (even if you clear a room with one character, you still have to manoeuvre the other to the exit since they won't automatically follow you) and the problem with her is that she doesn't have the luxury of being able to turn back time. Death comes swiftly.

Sand of Time is a challenging game, platform-wise; combat is a simple, button-mashing joke. The Prince moves with such graceful fluidity - much more life-like than any rotoscoped animation could hope for - so if you succumb to an unpleasant death due to a mistimed jump or dodge roll, there's only you to blame. The camera can be irksome, though, with constant shifts aiming to provide you with a clear view of what is directly in front, but inadvertently serving to send your head spinning as you continuously relocate yourself, deftly avoiding traps and other deadly hazards. When it comes to the boss fights, I'm very disappointed, too. Not that I had much expectations - I can count the number of bosses in the console versions with one hand. The bosses here are all immune to the time manipulation effects of the Sands and are only made vulnerable when you use your power (otherwise they are invincible). In other words, the Sand of Time element is made completely redundant. And having to repeatedly face one particular boss four times throughout the entire, short game tells me that the developers were a lazy bunch of people.

They did implement GameCube connectivity, though... if you consider a slowly refilling life bar or three bonus rooms yielding potions to be something worth pursuing. I don't.

My expectations were high. After all, I'm a self-confessed "Metroidvania" fan, I love the challenge of action adventure games and Shmups, and I thoroughly enjoyed the console Sands of Time Trilogy. This GBA port works - it has most of the hallmarks of a good action platformer, sans combat, and watching the Prince leap about the place (unfortunately not much parkour here) whilst narrowly avoiding sharp or fiery objects is pleasantly reminiscent of his more fleshed-out console antics. If it wasn't for the room design being so repetitive and the ironically, equally repetitive bosses thrown in for the sake of mixing things up, Sands of Time may have been the perfect portable adventure to complement the Trilogy.

At least it's miles better than the "classic" Prince of Persia, though.

VERDICT - 7.0/10

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 02/04/08

Game Release: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (EU, 11/14/03)