Awesome parkour wall running! Tricks & traps! A must have game!
"Wow!"
We must have uttered this single word to ourselves on 100 different occasions during the time we spent playing through Ubi Soft's masterful new action-adventure, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. This breathtaking 3D sequel to creator Jordan Mechner's classic titles is very faithful to its predecessors and simultaneously new and innovative in remarkably creative ways. It bears some resemblance to other outstanding adventure games such as Ico and yes, even Zelda, but mostly it's a spectacular extension -- in, fact, the evolution of -- the Prince of Persia franchise. It's also one of the very best titles of the year.
The Facts
Official next installment in the Prince of Persia franchise
Play as an acrobatic Prince who can run on walls, swing off poles, jump and flip, and much, much more
Wield several different powerful swords and do battle with groups of magical enemies
Use the Sands of Time to slow, stop or even rewind time and avoid death
Travel with a Princess -- fight alongside her and protect her
Solve a wealth of challenging environmental puzzles with your wits and acrobatics
Avoid deadly traps like spikes, wall-blades and more
Navigate high-rise beams and be careful not to fall off and plummet to your death
Includes the entire classic Prince of Persia 1 game
Features one level from the original Prince of Persia completely remade in 3D
Behind-the-scenes making of featurette...
Gameplay
It was almost 15 years ago that the original Prince of Persia shipped and dazzled players. Here was a smart and stylized action-adventure game during a period of relatively primitive, shallow software. This title featured elegant and challenging environmental puzzles, deadly traps, brutal swordplay and astonishing acrobatics. It had an intriguing premise, a Persian Prince on a quest to rescue his princess from the evil Vizier Jaffar and with only an hour to do it -- a time clock counted down to zero during the entire quest. Fun and intuitive, it defined a genre and became a classic.
Ubi Soft's Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, the 3D grandson of the original, is every bit as clever, as well made, as wholly entertaining and enjoyable -- and then some. This long-in-development sequel not only retains the established play mechanics and charm of its 2D predecessor, but it actually betters them -- and by a considerable amount. A commendable accomplishment given that the first is considered by many to be one of the greatest videogames ever created.
The title features a very intelligent, thoughtful presentation. Prince's story is told through a variety of crisp, ambient full-motion video cut-scenes and witty in-game dialogue. The character talks to himself, yes, and he even acknowledges this oddity sometimes, which is amusing. This direct method of storytelling works tremendously well because it never breaks us from the action. Plus, because the story often unravels from the very lips of our hero, we always know what he's thinking and feeling and it makes him more real and more likable.
Prince, as it turns out, is not the cliché hero. He has his own agenda. He's proud, if not conceited. He wants to please his father. And it's this ambition that starts all of the trouble. The game begins in medieval Persia shortly after the Prince and the king have defeated the Maharajah and looted his palace. When the Prince takes a mysterious dagger he accidentally unleashes the Sands of Time...Read full review
