Please take your seat, Ms. Croft, you're about 5 years late for class. Now that we've learned how to recycle material, we're going to learn how to make an excellent game. Excellent games usually consist of solid controls, stunning visuals with smooth animation, but most importantly, it must be fun. Ms. Croft, I see your head nodding. If you want to be as cool and nimble as The Prince one day, you'll need to pay attention. Yes, that's right, The Prince has outdone you with his first appearance, though you've had, what, a 5 year head-start on him? The Prince has charisma, he has grace, something you could never grasp. And for the most part, the tombs he explores are rather exciting, at least compared to the dank places you seem to favor. So Ms. Croft, if you could turn around without taking five minutes and look at the blackboard, we can begin our lesson on Prince of Persia The Sands of Time.
The game begins with King Sharaman of Persia attacking the city of the Indian Maharajah. As the city is being attacked, the traiterous Vizier tells the King that treasure lies within the castle walls. Eager to prove his worth to his father, the young Prince steals from the tombs The Dagger of Time. As Sharaman presents The Sands of Time as a gift to the Sultan, Vizier tricks The Prince into unleashing the Sands, effectively bringing the curse to the castle. Now The Prince must undo what he did. Armed with a sword and the dagger, as well as a plethora of athletic abilities, he sets out to face certain danger, but even his death can no longer stop him. At his side is the beautiful Farah, daughter of the Maharajah. She seems innocent, but will she betray The Prince at her first opportunity? Only time will tell.
And so The Prince sets out, across a palace of ancient Persia. His adventure will take him through high towers, deep inside dungeons and even mammoth underground caves. The palace is packed with booby traps and sand monsters, all ready to take a nice big chunk out of The Prince's healthbar. He can spring along walls for a short distance, just enough to get him over area's when he just can't jump that far. When he's falling, he'll grab onto anything to keep him from plunging to his death, and he'll do it on his own. He doesn't need to have someone tell him when he should be clinging to a cliff for his dear life, he knows by himself. The Prince can even perform stunts while hanging, Ms. Croft, like swinging his sword and leaping towards ledges. He'll climb small platforms on his own, and when they get to big, he's able to scamper right up them and grab the ledge. That's right, he doesn't need to take ten minutes to line himself up, push a direction on the analog stick and away he goes. Sure his game may be more linear than yours, but it's a more polished experience.
He's also quite good with the sword. The Prince can unleash devastating attacks towards any enemy in his vicinity, simply by pushing the analog sticks. He'll get surrounded by enemies quite often, so his ability to fight like a cornered tiger comes in very handy. He's able to interrupt attacks, then dash in another direction to take care of another enemy. He can roll on the floor to avoid most blows, and he'll even do some back-flips if he needs some more room to maneuver. He can even vault over an enemy and hit them on the way down. He's a joy to watch in battle, and control as well. To put enemies away for good once he's knocked them down, he must stab them with the Dagger of Time, which absorbs the sands. The sands that The Prince absorbs can be put towards several time functions. During battle, he can stab enemies with the dagger, which causes them to stop in time, and as a result, The Prince can dispatch that enemy easily since it can't fight back. He can slow down time, speed it up, which results in the massacring of many enemies extremely quickly. Perhaps the best ability to stop and rewind time. It's a simple trick, but a real time-saver. Remember in your games, Lara, you would save your game, attempt a jump, die, and have to sit through multiple load screens to come back to the same spot, only to die again? Well, The Prince simply presses a button on his dagger, and he can rewind time to the exact point he needs it to be. This really helps in unfair deaths and jumps that he judged wrong. It saves him a lot of aggravation, believe me.
The Prince is quite good looking, as is everything he comes into contact with. As he progresses through the game, The Prince's uniform will get dirty, tear and he'll have scars from battles. But if you let him rest for a moment, he'll dust off his pants and be as good as new. Curtains will sway with the desert breeze, or as The Prince dashes by. Water reflects all sorts of images, even distorting them appropriately. The palace itself is something like a dream, it is in fact, perfect. It has soldier's mess halls, gargantuan libraries dark dungeons, countless courtyards high above the desert floor and mammoth royal halls. It looks just the way it should, if you can understand me. If I were to go back and time and visit a palace like this one, it would look exactly like this. The creatures are ferocious looking, with their glowing eyes and shining blades. The CG is good, even though it may be a bit underused.
You could also learn something from the sound in this game, Lara. Just because he's exploring caves and castles doesn't mean their can't be any noises. As The Prince makes his way down an underground river, he'll hear bats chirping, waterfalls roaring and rocks tumbling. As he climbs around the ruined ramparts trying to return to the castle, he'll hear the wind blowing and sand swirling around. There isn't much music, but it's always there during combat to liven the pace and make things more exciting. Speaking of combat, the swords clashing sounds really cool. Every hit that The Prince lands sounds great, as if he's actually striking some sort of a sand creature. It's sure better than a dull popping posing as gun fire. The dialogue is funny, clever, and well-acted, which does a lot to relieve frustration to get the player through some tough areas.
There's really no replay value at all here, though the original Prince of Persia game can be unlocked. It's fun for a while, but it might not hold your attention. If there's any reason to play this game again, it's because The Prince simply handles so well. This game is so smooth, you just want to play it again and again. And you'll be able to, since there aren't any major challenges or gameplay changes. It may be a little short, but it makes up for it in unbelievable gameplay. The Prince has you beat Lara, and for the time being, many other action heroes. So don't feel too bad. I'd recommend that you buy this game, but if you're still not sure if you're going to like this, then give it a rent.