A worthwhile attempt, but I await the third with much anticipation.
User Rating: 8.4 | Prince of Persia: Warrior Within PC
The first sequel to a game is, essentially, the most important part of that game’s series. A failed sequel will cast away the game’s casual players and end up causing a huge loss in popularity. Take for example Devil May Cry and its sequel. Last year, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time was released and won all audiences among all platforms. With the release of its sequel, Prince of Persia: Warrior Within, many are beginning to speculate if the prince’s makeover will cut it with its previous fans. The answer is unfortunately more involving than a yes or no. The beauty of Prince of Persia: Sands of Time was the attractively designed levels, storybook-style story, and epic feel that made it into one of the best platformers of the year. Prince of Persia: Warrior Within takes an entirely different approach with its main character, the prince, and tries to mainstream it even more than it was. Heavy metal music, a main character breathing off “baditude,” and a tone as dark as a Mortal Kombat game. For those who enjoyed the original for its lighter tone and story, Warrior Within would be better to just skip and await the third in the series. For those curious about the new changes, read on. The most impressive change to the series is the added attacks and combos. The Prince of Persia is no longer a simple teenager that flies around. This prince comes fully packed with neck breaking, blood splashing, head flying, combo busting action that never seems to get old, unlike its predecessor. While all of these new moves allow some refreshing gameplay, there’s no stopping the fact that the repetition never ceases to exist entirely. I can still push one button with my eyes closed and have destroyed the meaningless lives of 5 ninjas. Even the bosses can only be defeated by the repetition of one specific move. This is a common gameplay mistake that many developers make in most platformers that are in the market today. It’s as if they expect you to make the gameplay fun if you want, otherwise you are expected to repeat one combo until the hordes of enemies that the game throws at you fade into sand. Complaints aside, the gameplay offers some extreme Mortal Kombat combos and blood gushing fatalities that will please the “dark tone” game fans. Unlike Sands of Time, its sequel will take you around 20 hours to complete. This isn’t due to an extremely long story exactly, but more of that you will find yourself roaming about the world they’ve created trying to either figure out where to go, or change the current time you are in. Much like Ocarina of Time, you will be playing in both the past and present. The past is much more elegant and pretty to look at, whereas the present is a vegetation filled decaying temple awaiting its death. Switching back and forth can become quite confusing and attempting to find your way through the story with your trusty “map of vagueness,” can make life more than frustrating. Thankfully, the game offers quite an exciting twist and several different changes of pace throughout to keep you interested and fighting to hit that twentieth hour. The story will attract a darker audience and those who can stand the prince using ridiculous dialogue such as “Come on! You can do better than that!” Making the prince an extremely unlikable character was certainly a wrong turn by the design team, but apparently it had to be done. The only redeeming quality about the prince is that he still retains his swift skill with a sword and his impressive acrobatics. The new characters are a nice addition and combine to make an enjoyable story. Warrior Within, much like its predecessor, has one redeeming quality that will attract all audiences and hopefully be the reason to give it a chance; the puzzles. The most memorable moments I have from both games are doing the most amazing series of flips, wall-runs, curtain surfing and unpredictable twists and turns that make anyone’s inner child light up with joy. I can admit to enjoying the puzzles in Warrior Within more than those in Sands of Time mainly due to the well designed and textured environments. The darker tone makes the puzzles seem more difficult and intense. A few camera problems cause these puzzles to be even more difficult than they should be, adding to your already high frustration level from the map issue. Core gamers will be fine with the normal difficulty level that offers an excellent challenge that leads up to an intense final boss. Casual gamers should be advised to stick with the easy difficulty level if they plan on ever getting through the story. Warrior Within offers a new take on the Prince of Persia series, hoping to attract those it lost due its light tone in the previous title. It delivers new entertaining additions to the gameplay, more intense puzzles, and an extensive, dark and mystifying story. Unfortunately, the game’s somewhat disappointing attempt at “baditude” and Ocarina style past and present worlds can make it become quite annoying and frustrating. A worthwhile attempt, but I await the third with much anticipation. 85/100 
