A must-play
I was interested in the Prince of Persia games for a long time, but never got around to actually buying them, until now.
First of all, I played Warrior Within before Sands Of Time. That's why the change in atmosphere didn't bother me at all. I don't even think the change is that big. And even after playing Sands Of Time, I believe the second game in the PoP series is a the better one (haven't played Two Thrones up till writing this review).
The first thing that springs to eye is how beautiful the game looks: two different time periods with their own distinctive colors and lightning. The environments are not only beautiful to look at though. Here you find some of the cleverest level design I ever played in. And the Prince moves through them with some fantastically fluid movements. The controls are very intuitive and make for some nice combos.
Which brings us to the game-play. Solving puzzles, avoiding traps and fighting enemies wasn't this much fun since the early days of one Lady Croft. It gets a bit repetitive to the end, but this never spoils the fun. The Dahaka chases are a very exciting interlude. They could have been very frustrating, but instead are very balanced and on the right difficulty level. You beat them one step at a time, but are never left feeling as if you're never going to make it. The boss fights are good I guess, but I'm absolutely no fan of them, so they're no fun for me.
The story was top class too, including some nice twists, and reminding me of the time-traveling antics in such movies as Back To The Future and Frequency.
Only two minor criticisms:
- the rock music soundtrack just doesn't work for me
and
- the select button holds the most useless map in gaming memory
JaQ