The gem of the Christmas season!
User Rating: 9.8 | Prince of Persia: Warrior Within GC
I first played the Sands of Time when I went over a friends house. Then I bought it myself. I was amazed with the visuals, gameplay, and it's amazing story. When I heard of the sequel I was kind of worried. Most sequels for video-games are pieces of s***. Like FFX-2 had one of the worst stories in a Final Fantasy game which kinda scarred the company for life. But I saw screenshots and movies and I was amazed with what I saw. The same Prince from Sands Of Time was returning which I loved because he was cool. But he had a darker look which some might find disappointing. I loved it. I found the Prince in the Sands Of Time too cocky and was not mean enough. So the Prince in this one was a factor in making me buy it. The major factor was the new deeper combat system. Called the "free form fighting system". This was what convinced me to buy it besides the new darker look and the story. Graphics 10/10: Simply the environments are amazing. Much bigger than the Sands Of Time and more beautiful. The character models are more detailed in the Sands Of Time even though they're using the same graphics engine I believe. The weapons which I included because they're good looking. The enemies are bigger more mean looking than in the Sands Of Time. Simply amazing Sounds 8/10: Now I dont focus much on the sound of a video-game. The music I've heard are the main complaint besides the voice-actor of the Prince. I found the music fitting for the drak theme. Mainly because I'm a metal fan and a Godsmack fan myself. The voice acting in the cutscenes of the game are good. But in some parts of the game mostly in boss battles or in combat generally you would hear one liners from the enemies. But the most horriffic of the one liners is from the Prince himself. Such as "I'm the Prince Of Persia... and the King Of Blades" which is laughable once heard 20 times really fast. Gameplay 10/10: The gameplay is one of the most important aspects of a video-game. The gameplay in Prince Of Persia Warrior Within has stayed pure as the original with some tweaks to the combat system. The combat system is now more open. The team wanted you to have to master the system because some enemies are strong against some attacks. The combat system now includes handling two weapons at once. With two weapons you can stab, slash their heads off, etc. Or you can throw the weapon you picked up to kill the enemy in one hit. The second part of the gameplay that has stayed pure is the puzzles and platforming. The old good stuff from the Sands Of Time return. Such as wall running, rope swinging, levers, traps, stuff like that. Some new things is like the running along the wall with a rope to increase you wall running distrance. Or the sliding down a curtain to slow your fall. All these add up to an amazing gameplay experience. Story 10/10: The story of Warrior Within is as rich as the story in Sands Of Time. The Prince after the events in the Sands Of Time is now hunted continuously by an immortal incarnation of Fate. The Dahaka. He is constantly on the run away from this beast. This is the main reason he is now a dark shell of his former self. To destroy the Dahaka for good he must travel back in time and stop the creation of the Sands Of Time in the past. To do that he must go into the underworld of the Island Of Time. There are many plot twists throughout the second half of the game. Replay Value 10/10: The replay value in the last game was not that high. But in this game you can play this game more than once without getting bored. The game has many unlockables such are hidden artwork or the secret weapons. The combat system allows you to explore with every single weapon and see what the combos of each one are. Also the story will never get boring so it'll be good to see the plot twists over and over again. Rent or Buy?: If you're a fan of the series buy. If not I would rent it first. This game is still a worthy sequel though it doesn't surpass it's predecessor. Any action adventure fan would love to add this game to their collection. 
