The First Masterpiece of the 128-bit Era
The Plot: Most action-adventure games have stories, at least by the barest possible definition. There are protagonists, antagonists, conflicts, and endings. Usually, you are forced to agree that the protagonist is a decent, good person (or at least a likable anti-hero), the antagonist is some sort of hellion with terrible designs on the fate of the world, that the conflict between the two creates a rising sense of tension, and that everything is wrapped up neatly in the end. The Sands of Time leaves us without such firm footing. Our hero, the Prince, is one of the most self-centered jerks gaming has provided us with. The primary antagonist remains, until the very end (when the Viceroy makes a token stab at villainy), the environment our Prince has unwittingly unleashed though his stupidity, a fact he never quite acknowledges. Therefore, the conflict must be between the Prince’s arrogance and his incredible agility, dexterity, and skill in combat. And the ending is the beginning. More or less. I’d hate to spoil it any more than I already have.
The Sound: Although the Gamecube version of this game does have some weird mixing issues - some of the voice actors occasionally sound like they were recorded inside a tin can - everything fits together. The few bits of music that pop up throughout the game absolutely enhance whatever mood is intended, and the mixture of traditional Persian instruments and musical theory with light “modern” technological intrusions acts as almost a postmodern commentary: this is a fantasy adventure, but you’re still playing a video game. And the wonderful, extraordinary effects! Words are a poor substitute for actually hearing the game, so I will just say that they never make a single mistake, never strike a wrong note, for the entire adventure.
The Control: Until the (nearly impossible) Ninja Gaidaen came out for the Xbox a few months later, a third person action/adventure game had never managed to blend the right mixture between precision, challenge, and most critically, forgiveness in a 3D adventure game. Although there are a few large fights in the game, most of the Prince’s time consists of platform jumping, puzzle solving, and doing insane, physically impossible things like running across walls or leaping back and forth between two walls to reach a higher plateau. I do not remember ever feeling so confident in my movements prior to the release of The Sands of Time. My deaths were not the controller’s fault -- the onus was entirely mine.
The Ambience: I chose to describe the game as a work of ambient perfection rather than “graphical marvel,” or other such phrase. Light bloom hadn’t ever been used as effectively. The gradual shift from night to day is not only amazing to watch, but has an even more spectacular purpose: to remind you that, during the Prince’s entire ordeal, he has been stuck in the same castle, for one of the worst nights in his spoiled life. Few games have ever used something so potent, so emotionally devastating, as that one moment, as you head for your final encounter, with all your friends dead, with your father slain by your own hand, with all the horrors witnessed and all the death nearly avoided, perched high atop the ruined castle. Right then, it hit me (and, I think, the Prince) that all his work, to desperately return life to what it was before he had unleashed hell, might have been entirely in vain. But something kept us going; the chance to make everything right again. Who doesn’t wish, sometimes, for a “do-over?” The Prince and I had a chance right then, no matter how helpless, and it wouldn’t have meant anything to me if I hadn’t seen that sun rise. Is the game a little short? I didn’t think so; although the entire adventure can be beaten in around 12 hours, those 12 hours have been so meticulously crafted that almost none of it had been spent in vain. Like any good fable, it lasts a night or two, but ends with just a hint that their are dozens more fables to be told, dozens more adventures to be had... the feeling that we, as gamers, haven’t seen the last of the Prince. Luckily, they did make a sequel.