Prince of Persia review

Multi-enemy fighting works naturally and looks thoroughly impressive.

It’s a very strange concept, holding a dagger that can literally turn back time. Sure, it sounds like a gamesplayer’s dream, being able to rewind your performance until just before you mistimed your movements or misjudged a fatal jump, only to continue from that point and hopefully rectify your error, but that’s exactly what’s possible in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.

As the story takes the fabled prince (from previous Prince of Persia games dating back to 1989) and throws in an ancient artefact known as the Dagger of Time, that allows the sands of time to be unlocked. When this happens, the sands of time turn anyone unprotected (i.e. that doesn’t hold a Dagger of Time or an equally impressive item) into a sand creature of time… okay I added that last ‘of time’ for fun.

Return to platforming (of Time)

Hit the jump button in combat and you'll leap over your enemy and can attack in mid air.

Many of us will remember with fondness (or annoyance at some parts) the original Prince of Persia that showed off smooth animation and a highly agile protagonist, and agility wise, our new Prince is even more impressive. Running along walls, leaping from one to another after swinging from bar to bar, each move is a joy to behold, and navigating the widely varied levels is highly satisfying, as you swoop your way from one side to another, jumping from thin beam to thin beam and bouncing off the walls to meet a group of sand creatures head on.

There are plenty of methods for taking out your enemies, obviously mainly based on slashing them with your sword (although they generally have to be stabbed with the dagger of time to destroy them, much like staking a vampire). Certain enemies are excellent at blocking your attacks however, so you can vault over them to slash them from behind (mid jump), and further developed enemies have such strong armour where jumping against a wall and kicking yourself into them sword first is the only way to make them vulnerable. Overall this gives a good variety to the combat, although most of it does happen in distinct blocks, i.e. you’ll enter a room and have to defeat as many monsters as keep appearing before leaving.

As if time control wasn’t enough

Magnificent looking areas mixed with cleverly devious level design is a proven success story.

Your health bar, signified by a blue line on the display naturally drains as you take damage, but finding water either in the form of a fountain, or just a pool will replenish the bar. Equally, certain secret areas lead you into a strange world that allows you merely to walk to the centre of the paths and drink from a slightly more extravagant fountain, which increases the maximum health. Certain glowing areas scattered around the world increase your maximum sand storage too, allowing you more uses for the Dagger of Time before refilling it (which occurs whenever you defeat an enemy). The final extra seems to be in the form of another glowing area that doubles as both a save point and a vision point. Saving is self-explanatory, but the visions you gain by walking into one allow you to see into the future, giving you hints as to how to progress with the game’s navigational puzzles, which can come in extremely useful if you can’t find a way out of the room. Other puzzles include a solar system type view that must be rotated multiple times to allow for beams to be placed in specific places to get across the room, as well as some very clever platforming puzzles that never seem to become tedious because of the varying styles.

Our favourite multi-purpose Dagger (of Time)

Freezing time for an enemy allows you to slash them into pieces without any fighting back.

The Dagger can also be used to put things into slow motion, if needs be, to help you concentrate on your multi enemy fights (that always seem fluid and serve to impress), freeze time entirely (aside from you of course) and freeze a certain enemy, allowing you to then proceed to chop them in half, scoring an easy kill.

There are a couple more difficult enemies to fight, which certainly count as bosses, but are dispatched easily enough after a few failed attempts at harming them, which do break up any risk of monotony with the same enemies over and over again. Fortunately, different enemy types, although normally humanoid can be distinguished easily because of the distinct look of each one.

Who’s the fairest of them all?

Levitation certainly wasn't in the handbook when they were handing out superpowers.

From the first second of gameplay, the graphics of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time stand out as being beautiful and detailed. A soft glow surrounds certain items much like in the recent Tron 2.0, which enhances the visual appeal making it seem more real. Clouds of dust, smoke and sand sweep across the vista, while the detail on some of the locations is truly stunning, not to mention the superb water and fire effects. Even elements as simple as camera movements take your breath away the first time you see them, purely because of the blurry look of speed and stylish cinematography.

Controlling whether you go into first person view (to look around) or just get an overview of the area gives a sharp camera motion accompanied superbly by a swooshing sound and enough (motion) blur to satisfy anyone’s music collection. Sound is an important part in the game, with the ambience of a full-on battle going on for the first few areas, and a feeling of magnitude brought about by the wind and natural sound effects of later on.

Symphony of a prince

Sand creatures disintegrate when killed. At least no one has to go around clearing bodies, although a vacuum wouldn't go amiss.

Vocally, all characters suit and manage their parts well, even with the odd ‘dodgy’ line creeping into the script, fortunately delivered as well as possible, although I had to turn down the other sound levels to be able to hear the voices properly, since they are a lot quieter than they should be, at least using the default configuration.

Musically, there is an array of ambient stylish music that fits the acrobatics and puzzle solving, while action is accompanied by forceful, yet still fitting melodies that elevate the importance of the battles as they should, even though the battles can go on for a little too long sometimes.

More prince for your pound

Space and time warp around the prince. Either that or we're in a hall of mirrors.

If you are lucky enough to come across a certain secret passage during the game, you can unlock the original Prince of Persia to play on your dear PS2, which is a nice bit of nostalgia, but unfortunately, PS2 owners have been short changed when it comes down to extras. In other versions of the game, the second Prince of Persia game can also be unlocked, as well as a ‘making of’ feature that only serves to highlight that perhaps the PS2 version is not the best version. (Actually the second game isn’t half as good, you’re much better off with the first one – ed.)

This is of course all academic if you only have a PS2, thouh the actual game itself suffers from a minor slowdown on very rarely. Ultimately, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is a superb addition to any platform game fan’s collection and even with only around seven hours of gameplay for a single run through, the experience you will have rivals and beats almost every other game of the genre.