Overview

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Review

Release Date: 11.06.2003
Platform: PlayStation 2
Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
Publisher: Ubisoft Entertainment

Reviewed by Richard Brownell on 12.4.2003

Review Rating: 10/10

User Rating: 8.38/10

Very few games really reach the heart of gamers. Many are enjoyable for what the are, but gamers ignore what they could have been. "The graphics were good," a reviewer might say. Were they good enough though? Did they push the envelope? Was there solid gameplay lurking behind that eye candy? What about the story. In all of these regards, Prince of Persia delivers. It doesn't hold back and you'll find that you won't hold back when you play it.

With Prince of Persia, Ubi Soft has strived for an immersive experience. Even clicking "New Game" in the title menu does not lead to a new screen. The options merely fade out and the camera zooms in on the background scene. You are already playing! Narration follows and sets the stage for what the rest of the game will be like. As the Prince, the player navigates through palaces to solve the puzzles of the Sands of Time.

Unlike past 2D titles though, this one includes the above-mentioned narration. The narration continues throughout the game as the Prince constantly tells his story. If he dies, he calmly states "No, that isn't how it happened." If he solves a puzzle, he continues his story. The player isn't forced to sit through this dialogue while the action stands still. Instead, he can usually continue with the game as it goes on.

This is all in an attempt to project a cinematic experience. Every time the Prince enters a new area, a sweeping camera pan shows off the level for the player to see in a way that will hopefully help the player solve the puzzles, which are quite frequent. Occasionally, a cutscene will occur, but only for the heavier story sections that require certain actions to take place.

In terms of gameplay, Prince of Persia thankfully brings some much needed innovation to the 3D action genre. Too long have games been stuck with a few bland moves that are repeated endlessly for the twenty or so hours of boring storyline and mindless (or near impossible) puzzles. As the Prince, you'll find a nice selection of moves and techniques to bring you through the numerous areas in the game. The player simply points the joystick in the proper direction and the Prince will do the rest of the work. It takes quite a lot of gameplay to see every twist, turn, thrust, and parry that the Prince has available.

One thing gamers should find heartening is that skillful looking techniques are not very difficult to pull off. For instance, ever done any wall walking? Neither have I, but I would imagine it is pretty tough. In this game, complete the move correctly by merely holding R1 and the wall walking will continue with a cinematic camera angle, usually designed to help you see where you need to reach or jump to. The same goes for certain combat moves like jumping over somebody (which allows you to slice the enemy up as you come down) and a few other moves. In particularly dramatic times, the game may go into slow motion during the special move.

The theme with Prince of Persia is not necessarily simplicity, but ease of use. The Prince has a number of interesting moves at hand, but none require memorization of 18 button presses. Button mashing won't do very well though. In the beginning, yes; but as the game progresses, the Prince needs to use all of his abilities to survive through the battles. They get quite difficult, which is why Ubi Soft has included a unique system of replaying after death.

Remember the original Prince of Persia? Falling down at any point where you aren't supposed to, particularly more than a single level, causes the Prince to die. This game is no exception, as despite the 3D level design, each stage is distinctly divided into multiple levels. Fall down where you shouldn't and you die. But there is hope! For one, death usually means you start at the entrance of the room, not at the last save point. Ubi has also included a special power in the dagger the Prince uses called simply "rewind." This works much like a VCR, except you can only rewind a small amount of time. This is usually just enough to save the Prince for certain doom. The dagger only has a small amount of these though, which can be replenished by capturing the sand from a defeated enemy. Once the dagger's power is depleted and the Prince dies, he starts at the entrance of the room again.

That isn't all the dagger can do. It also has other unique powers such as the ability to slow down time. This may be reminiscent to some as it is a feature that many companies seemed to have thought of this year. Viewtiful Joe comes to mind, although it works a bit differently in Sands of Time. If the dagger and sword combination isn't cool enough, perhaps getting a new sword every once in a while will change your outlook on things. Upgrades are sweet indeed.

Immersion is such an important factor in Prince of Persia. Important enough to absolutely require good music. Were the music to be sub-par, the rest of the game would surely suffer. In this regard, Prince of Persia excels. The music is a nice bland of Middle Eastern music and Western influence. You may notice some other world music influences in there as well. The action doesn't leave much time to listen to all the little nuances in the music, but it is excellent from what you can hear.

When a game reaches as high a level of enjoyment as Sands of Time does, it is hard to judge based on the small things. This is the PS2 version, so comes with its small share of loading times. As with all 3D games made thus far, 3D models may overlap at times. Things might not work right, but these small problems do not detract from the overall enjoyment of the game. One thing that may cause a bit of a problem is a save point bug. As any good gamer should do, I recommend using multiple save slots. The 33% save point is bugged and may cause your character to die a horrible painful death every time you load it.

Other than that, Prince of Persia is nigh flawless. There is no such thing as a perfect game, but Ubi Soft did their best to come close with this one. The cinematic and immersive experience contained within is enough to make any gamer looking for quality amidst the heaping piles of games squeal. Just don't forget the special feature: the ability to unlock Prince of Persia 1.

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