A detailed retro review
User Rating: 8 | Prince of Persia: Warrior Within PS2
Prince of Persia: Warrior within maybe be one of the underrated games in the Sands of Time franchise. Not saying it is at all bad, but it took a very drastic change to the formula and tried something very new. But all the changes, it was still at heart a Prince of Persia game. It is hard to tell of they truly wanted a trilogy but, warrior within was a worthy entree in the Sands of Time trilogy. Let's start with the Plot: It was be some years after the events of Sands of Time and the Prince has lost much of his child innocence. He has became dark, somewhat ruthless, and losing desire to live. He has incredible guilt from opening the Sands of Time and he is unable to erase his error due to constantly being hunted by a mysterious creature known as the Dahaka. Who is the guardian of the timeline. The Prince should have died in the first game, but he never did. However; in all the distress he finds a sliver of hope from an old man, to stop the sands from ever being created. And from there he voyages to a mysterious island were he seeks an audience with the Empress of Time. He travels by boat which is attacked by a group and sand wraiths who try to stop the Prince. He is left shipwrecked and washes ashore the island, and makes haste in pursuit of a mysterious woman who could defiantly wear much much more clothing. The Prince follows her in a portal where he is transported back in time. The game doesn't even become too convoluted with time travel as one may think. In warrior within it is simple and makes sense within the concept of the narrative. Which I will get into more with the gameplay. The Prince finds an other woman who goes by the name Kaileena. And she explains to him about the Sands of time and the creation of them. She also says that his task is impossible and that he should not try to interfere with the timeline. But the Prince has nothing more to live for and faces the dangers ahead. Essentially the Prince must activate two water pressure switches so the door to the sands of time can be opened. And without giving the ending away that is pretty much the plot, there is defiantly less plot than in the first game. Where the first game had narration that gave the game a story book feel, warrior within doesn't have that. Instead the Prince is not a very talkative character. It really does show that the Prince has matured more as a character and for that I give props to the writers. The Prince is still a very likeable character and there are moments in replaying through the game (for the review) that I genuinely felt sorry for him. If Sands of Time is a story about resembling the Hero's Journey (Hero with thousand faces: Joseph Campbell) then warrior within is structured as a Shakespearean tragedy. The Prince is much like Macbeth who deals with an inevitable and tragic fate. I won't go into a terrible amount of detail, but if you do research on Aristotle's elements of tragedy warrior within borrows much of the templates from the research, which storyline wise makes the Prince a very relatable character. The game stays true to a dark gothic theme. Everything from the characters outfits to even the design of the weapons is something to note. But what is most captivating is the world within the game. Even for a game made over 10 years ago, it is simply beautiful. With the addition of concept art galleries it truly shows that Warrior within is an artist marvel of a game. As for the gameplay, the plat forming is much of the same as it was in the Sands of Time. For those who haven't played it, warrior within features parkour style of movement. The Prince can swiftly run across walls, run up walls, balance on beams, and much more. But the control that the player has in these moments simply feel right. The movements are fluid and simple to execute but difficult to master, mastery that comes from failed attempts and multiple play throughs. The world has a playground like feel which is something that few games truly achieve. The other aspect of gameplay is combat, which in my opinion is the best aspect of the game. The can preform combos with a single weapon in which he always has equipped, and in addition preform a whole new set of moves with the use of a secondary weapon. The Prince is also able to attack off walls, around columns, off other enemies and even can preform submissions and take-downs. The amount of possibilities in combat feel almost infinite. And it all feels fluid, again easy and simple in execution but difficult to truly master. With all of of that, Warrior Within is set in a semi open world environment giving the player the freedom to explore much of the game world plus opening new areas as you progress. Warrior within is not a perfect game by no means however. The game has some minor frame rate issues and compared to the other two games in the Sands of Time trilogy, it lacks the narrative charm. But the game has truly aged very well speaking how it is over 10 years old. Is warrior within the best game in franchise? I would personally say no but it is still worth a play through if one ever gets a chance to try it. And with an HD remaster, although I have not tried it, there is probably never a better time to experience Warrior Within. 
