PoP Two Thrones is a worthy sequel to the Prince Of Persia series but still lacks an element the other two games had.
The story to the two thrones continues right from where warrior within left off. The Prince destroyed the Dahaka and managed to eliminate the Sands of time. On his journey home he has with him someone he met on the island; Kaileena otherwise known as the Empress of time. He and the empress return only to find the shores of his kingdom aflame and crawling with violence and chaos. Kaileena is then taken away by villainous henchmen and the Prince must find her. However, when he rushes through the violent streets and finds where she is he discovers his old enemy, the Vizier is alive again. The Prince then realizes that since he destroyed the sands of time it brought him back to the past (before warrior within, during the sands of time) where the vizier was alive. The Vizier kills the empress and re-releases the sands of time to empower himself with. The Prince must yet again destroy the vizier's reign of power on one last journey.
One thing I have noticed about the Prince of Persia series is that it stays consistant in terms of controls. The controls remain comfortable for new and old players of the series, which is a very good thing. Combat stays the same as well other then a few added elements here and there. Square still slashes your mains word while triangle allows use of secondary weapons and the dagger of time. O allows you to pick up and throw weapons and X allows for jumps and acrobatics during combat. I praise Ubisoft for creating a combat and control scheme that is very easy and comfortable.
The dagger of times powers never really changed either. You can stillf reeze enemies in time, reverse time, slow it down, etc. I would have liked if the dagger had newer powers because the same powers were existing in The sands of time and Warrior within.
However, the game does have new elements the other two games did not have. I will first focus on the biggest change the game has, which is the regular prince and the dark prince. As the game progresses the Prince eventually becomes infected by the sands in the dagger of time. Because of this an evil-looking prince emerges who uses chains as weapons rather then swords. The dark princes combat is much more powerful then the regular princes ttechnique but there is a catch. Your health constantly draisn and in order to stay alive you must kill enemies and absorb the sand they leave behind when you defeat them. It can be very frustrating at points but since the dark prince is so powerful it isn't an incredible difficulty.
Much like the past-to-present aspect of Warrior within; The Two thrones requires both princes to be active at certain points in order to progress. The prince changes back to his normal form when he touches water. Some areas in the game the prince can reach by himself with his wall running and acrobatic climbing which of course makes a return. However, some points the dark prince will need to be unleashed so he can use his chains to hit hooks or ledges the prince could not reach on his own; overall it is a pretty unique and cool buddy system.
A few new enviromental changes have been made. The usual wall holes, cliffs to swing from and pillers to jumpf rom there atill there but now there are holes in the wall which you must dig your sword into, platforms in the wall that you must jump from and various other elements that spice up the gameplay a bit. There are also charriot-llike portions in the game in which the prince is riding a carriage pushed by horses and fighting off enemies while avoiding obstacles. It is a creative new addition to the PoP series but it isn't anything jaw-dropping.
The enemies are your typical sand-demons nothing really new there. They still offer a signifficant challange but that is really no surprise. One element Ubisoft added to this chapter of the PoP saga is a Manhunt-like execution mode. The Two Thrones is a game that has a lot of stealth portions that were not yet seen in this series. When you sneak up on an enemy you hit the triangle button to initiate a stealth kill and press square each time the screen goes blurry. It is very effective and very violent; probably one of my favorite additions to the game.
The score to the two thrones is a combination of the two previous scores. It has the orchestrated eastern sound of sands of time but occasionally throws int he modern thrash guitar of warrior within. Overall I found the score to be forgettable but it does fit the game very well. If you are expecting to hum these tunes while at work or at home then you will be incredibely dissapointed.
The graphics of the Two thrones in my opinion lack a bit. They still look very nice for a Playstation 2 game but they do not fit the vibe of the PoP series like the other two games style did. Sands of time's graphics fit the whole fairytale aspect while Warrior within's fit the darker deadlier setting. The Two thrones is just lacking that special element in terms of style but on the technical side the graphics are very good.
Another great addition to the Two thrones is sand credits. When you find sand portals in the game and defeat the enemies around it the Prince sticks the dagger of time in the middle of the sand portal. These can give you power ups and new powers for the dagger of time, or they can give you sand credits. the sand credits can be used to buy movies and various artwork on the extras menu of the game. It gives the game more replay value which is a very good thing.
I consider the Two thrones to be the weakest in the trilogy because to me it was not as innovative as the first two games. Sure it has all of the deadly traps, amazing acrobatics and great combat of those two games but it did not change enough. I felt the story was not as strong as it was in the previous games and that it could have been delivered much better. I do not hate the game for I have had my fun moments playing it but I just feel it lacks the innovation the games before it brought to the table.
Another complaint I have is the return of the preppy-prince. Throughout the game the prince and his darker self have various talking sessions. Although some of this dialog is amusing and entertaining it is a tad bit annoying to hear the Prince complain about things that should not matter at this point and time. The darker prince was not poppular with most fans but atleast the dark prince was focused.
With those two complaints aside, The two thrones is still a great game. It is a great end to the Prince of Persia trilogy and an experience any fan of the PoP series or fan of adventure games n general should witness.