Prince of Persia: Sands of Time Review
From LoveToKnow VideoGames
The classic series from computing's retro days, Prince of Persia finally makes the leap into a true 3D world. Using realistic physics, the acrobatic prince will climb walls, run up ledges, swing from ropes and poles and wield dual weapons to defeat the monsters created by the Sands of Time. With two sequels following it (Prince of Persia: Warrior Within and the recently-released Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones Review), this game has left a legacy that may never be repeated.
Prince of Persia: A Dagger
Prince of Persia: Sands of Time plays like a medieval storybook. The presentation is truly magical and is an experience unto itself. Beginning with the prince's father ransacking a Maharaja's castle, the story quickly develops and leaves the prince alone to retrieve the mystical Dagger of Time, a sand-filled weapon rumored to have the ability to rewind time. Without spoiling more plot details (you'd never forgive me!), the prince ends up alone with the dagger back in Persia and must locate the stolen Hourglass of Time.
The dagger is actually an ingenious gameplay mechanism. The meat of any Prince of Persia game has the prince leaping across pits, climbing walls and swinging from poles to reach his goal. This game is no different, only it's in 3-D. Oops, did you just fall into a pit of thorns? Never fear, just rewind time a bit and give it another go. Each rewind consumes some sand, which can be refilled through combat or special "sand swirls", but don't use it up!
Princely Duties
The greatest feature of Prince of Persia: Sands of Time is the completely realistic and immersive environment. You travel through the bowels of the castle, around the zoo and atrium and through the towers. Along the way you'll use the objects around you to maneuver through your world. Poles can be climbed, ledges can be nabbed with your fingertips, you can even run along walls and wall-jump! This gives you enormous freedom to solve the puzzles presented in each room, it's as thrilling as it is fun. Although each puzzle is fairly linear (as is the entire game), we owe our thanks to Ubisoft for adhering to this, as a completely open-ended Prince of Persia would be nearly impossible to complete...
And then there are the battles, the glorious battles. Using acrobatic ninja-like moves, the Prince cartwheels, kicks, wields dual weapons, launches from walls and runs over top enemies in a truly cinematic (and Matrix-esque) style that will have your eyes bugged out for half the game. Unfortunately these fantastic moves lose their charm deep into the game and many battles become routine and, well, boring. Small price to pay when it comes to the overall presentation of the game.
Time for The Prince?
I'll make it quite clear to you: buy this game. You won't regret it, not even for a moment. The minor flaws it suffers are far too inconsequential to mar an otherwise perfect game. Yes the battles get repetitive. Just take a break, eat a sandwich or something. Yes you'll finish in 8-10 hours. But it's an adventure you'll never forget.
Related video Game Links
Learn More
This page has been accessed 1,881 times. This page was last modified 04:22, 12 November 2009.
© 2006-2009 LoveToKnow Corp.
Print this page
Follow ltk on twitter
Visit us on facebook