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We review Ubisoft's Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Read it now or forever hold your peace.
November 30, 2003 | 10:00 PM PSTby: Phillip Levin
From Ubisoft, the minds behind Splinter Cell, the Xbox Game of the Year, comes Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Sands of Time is the next-generation installment of the classic Prince of Persia franchise. The game takes the precious 2D platforming/adventure franchise to the next level, introducing next-generation technology to a beloved original, the end result a modern masterpiece. The Prince of Persia franchise first started out nearly 15 years ago. Created by Jordan Mechner, the game pitted players as a Persian Prince who must rescue a beautiful Princess from the evil clutches of Vizier Jaffar – in less than one hour.
The Sands of Time retains a lot of the original’s formula, in perhaps what is one of the best video games to date. Though it is upon perfection, Prince of Persia has a few shortcomings to name. Still, Sands of Time is a must own for all GameCube owners.
Features
Even after completing Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time -- a rather short, but awesome experience -- it's hard to say exactly what makes The Sands of Time so compelling, entertaining and fun. There are many factors which make The Sands of Time a good game but, to put it simply, there’s an extra “magical” spell that Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time puts on players, so that, once things are all said and done, all players can do is stand in awe, with their mouths hanging so lifelessly open.
In Sands of Time, players control the noble son of the King of Persia, named simply, Prince. Prince is a humorous character, if not a bit arrogant in the beginning, with whom players will become quickly attached. Though this character is not charming, there’s something about him that drives players’ affection for him. As players slowly progress into Sands of Time, they’ll enjoy the witty dialogue that he speaks, which is used to tell the game’s story. It’s often serious, dramatic – Prince will often have brief outburst, shouting, the whole nine-yards – but Prince has a sense of humor, and it’s quite clever of Ubisoft to take advantage of it. For example, Prince often brings up that this is “not a game” and even acknowledges his talking to himself. It’s always more of a sarcastic tone that Prince carries with his voice, but it’s entertaining, nonetheless. Quite entertainingly funny while it is taking place.
Prince isn’t just traveling a massively, huge Palace for kicks, though. He’s there on business. The game’s storyline is compelling and gripping, for sure. To bring his father honor, our Prince learns that fighting will not suffice, but instead, Prince decides to find a treasure for his father – what better than a mysterious dagger that Prince stumbles upon? After retrieving the dagger, he accidentally unleashes the deadly Sands of Time, turning all the palace’s inhabitants into deadly creatures of sand. This is where the game takes off, as Prince must adventure his way through the Palace with a beautiful Princess trying to turn back the sands of time to save the lost.
Already an intriguing storyline by itself, Ubisoft’s storytelling is responsible for a lot of what makes the plot line so compelling. The developer unfolds the story through a variety of full-motion videos (FMV), cut-scenes and dialogue from the Prince himself, as said before. Extra cool and clever, Ubisoft has created an ingenious storytelling atmosphere. When Prince accidentally plunges to his death, a retry screen will come up before players, along with Prince saying something like “No, no, that’s not what happened”, or “That’s not right. I didn’t die. Let me retell this part” – or something to the extent of these things. It’s quite clever and absorbing. Even better, the game features some surprising plot twists here and there. We won’t spoil anything, but gamers will enjoy watching Prince’s story unfold throughout Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.
This rich, entertaining storyline is backed by some of the most solid gameplay in an action adventure game to date. Prince has a variety of special moves available at his disposal. With the Dagger of Time, Prince can, simply put, control the very essence of time. He doesn’t travel through time, as Link did in the adventure Ocarina of Time, but more or less manipulates time itself at any given second to sway the odds in fighting and platforming to his favor. Another reason to play Prince of Persia, alone, is for the ultra-sweet time manipulation the game features.
What about time does he exactly control? For starters, he can slow down time. Prince can fight enemies in slow mode, ala Capcom’s Viewtiful Joe – only better. He can also freeze single enemies or waves of them at a single time. But, the real meat and potatoes of this formula is the ability to rewind time. By holding down the L button, players will watch Prince, before their very eyes, reenact his movements – backwards. Players will have fun doing this for the first few minutes, once they get this ability, simply rewinding time for fun and experimenting with the ability, for sure. But there’s a reason behind this ability. Say Prince accidentally plunges into a pit of spikes or takes one last stab by a sand creature; he can then rewind time to the moment before the lethal event to prevent it. Very clever, indeed.
Since the majority of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is platforming, the ability to rewind time, if Prince is to accidentally fall to his death, is essential. Though some gamers may find that the new ability may steal away the original’s fear of falling to Prince’s death or challenge, they should consider this. Prince of Persia, magically, retains a lot of its challenge in Sands of Time. Puzzle designs, platforming and more remain challenging and rewarding – so satisfying that players will often need a “breather” when playing Prince of Persia. We’d go as far as to say that The Sands of Time is not only life stealing, but breath stealing – it will leave players short on breath.
A few of the puzzles in the game require the use of a Princess, who can slip through cracks and do a few other useful things. These kinds of cooperative puzzles are a nice touch to Prince of Persia, for sure.
The Sands of Time retains a lot of the original’s formula, in perhaps what is one of the best video games to date. Though it is upon perfection, Prince of Persia has a few shortcomings to name. Still, Sands of Time is a must own for all GameCube owners.
Features
- Prince of Persia makes its next-generation appearance on Xbox, PlayStation 2 and GameCube
- Play as Prince, a Persian Prince, as he makes his way through an epic adventure unfolding an intriguing storyline, battling enemies, rewinding time, making lethal obstacles look like childs-play and slowly fall in love with another royalty.
- Use the Sands of Time to slow down time and rewind it to prevent your own death
- Combat system that allows Prince to pull of acrobatic moves that are simply awesome
- Play the original Prince of Persia game
- Progressive Scan support
- Dolby Pro Logic II support
- Rated T for Teen
Even after completing Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time -- a rather short, but awesome experience -- it's hard to say exactly what makes The Sands of Time so compelling, entertaining and fun. There are many factors which make The Sands of Time a good game but, to put it simply, there’s an extra “magical” spell that Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time puts on players, so that, once things are all said and done, all players can do is stand in awe, with their mouths hanging so lifelessly open.
In Sands of Time, players control the noble son of the King of Persia, named simply, Prince. Prince is a humorous character, if not a bit arrogant in the beginning, with whom players will become quickly attached. Though this character is not charming, there’s something about him that drives players’ affection for him. As players slowly progress into Sands of Time, they’ll enjoy the witty dialogue that he speaks, which is used to tell the game’s story. It’s often serious, dramatic – Prince will often have brief outburst, shouting, the whole nine-yards – but Prince has a sense of humor, and it’s quite clever of Ubisoft to take advantage of it. For example, Prince often brings up that this is “not a game” and even acknowledges his talking to himself. It’s always more of a sarcastic tone that Prince carries with his voice, but it’s entertaining, nonetheless. Quite entertainingly funny while it is taking place.
Prince isn’t just traveling a massively, huge Palace for kicks, though. He’s there on business. The game’s storyline is compelling and gripping, for sure. To bring his father honor, our Prince learns that fighting will not suffice, but instead, Prince decides to find a treasure for his father – what better than a mysterious dagger that Prince stumbles upon? After retrieving the dagger, he accidentally unleashes the deadly Sands of Time, turning all the palace’s inhabitants into deadly creatures of sand. This is where the game takes off, as Prince must adventure his way through the Palace with a beautiful Princess trying to turn back the sands of time to save the lost.
Already an intriguing storyline by itself, Ubisoft’s storytelling is responsible for a lot of what makes the plot line so compelling. The developer unfolds the story through a variety of full-motion videos (FMV), cut-scenes and dialogue from the Prince himself, as said before. Extra cool and clever, Ubisoft has created an ingenious storytelling atmosphere. When Prince accidentally plunges to his death, a retry screen will come up before players, along with Prince saying something like “No, no, that’s not what happened”, or “That’s not right. I didn’t die. Let me retell this part” – or something to the extent of these things. It’s quite clever and absorbing. Even better, the game features some surprising plot twists here and there. We won’t spoil anything, but gamers will enjoy watching Prince’s story unfold throughout Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.
This rich, entertaining storyline is backed by some of the most solid gameplay in an action adventure game to date. Prince has a variety of special moves available at his disposal. With the Dagger of Time, Prince can, simply put, control the very essence of time. He doesn’t travel through time, as Link did in the adventure Ocarina of Time, but more or less manipulates time itself at any given second to sway the odds in fighting and platforming to his favor. Another reason to play Prince of Persia, alone, is for the ultra-sweet time manipulation the game features.
What about time does he exactly control? For starters, he can slow down time. Prince can fight enemies in slow mode, ala Capcom’s Viewtiful Joe – only better. He can also freeze single enemies or waves of them at a single time. But, the real meat and potatoes of this formula is the ability to rewind time. By holding down the L button, players will watch Prince, before their very eyes, reenact his movements – backwards. Players will have fun doing this for the first few minutes, once they get this ability, simply rewinding time for fun and experimenting with the ability, for sure. But there’s a reason behind this ability. Say Prince accidentally plunges into a pit of spikes or takes one last stab by a sand creature; he can then rewind time to the moment before the lethal event to prevent it. Very clever, indeed.
Since the majority of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is platforming, the ability to rewind time, if Prince is to accidentally fall to his death, is essential. Though some gamers may find that the new ability may steal away the original’s fear of falling to Prince’s death or challenge, they should consider this. Prince of Persia, magically, retains a lot of its challenge in Sands of Time. Puzzle designs, platforming and more remain challenging and rewarding – so satisfying that players will often need a “breather” when playing Prince of Persia. We’d go as far as to say that The Sands of Time is not only life stealing, but breath stealing – it will leave players short on breath.
A few of the puzzles in the game require the use of a Princess, who can slip through cracks and do a few other useful things. These kinds of cooperative puzzles are a nice touch to Prince of Persia, for sure.
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