Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

The Good
This was one of the first PS2 games I remember buying other than ICO.

I'll jump right on the graphics as usual. AMAZING! I new the PS2 was capable of these sort of graphics, but it's so much better when you actually get to see them in motion. I love the way the prince moves effortlessly across walls, it's so smooth and natural looking that no other games acrobatics can match it. The environments were dreamlike and absolutely surreal at times. The glowing ,sparkly fog in some of those levels could only work in this game. The character models could have been better as far as the hands were concerned, but that is such a small gripe compared to how wonderful they look. The monsters are all very imaginative and very challenging. Fara and the prince look exquisite and are some of the best I've ever seen on the PS2.

Now on to the sound. Half and half. Sometimes it's at the right volume, and sometimes it's far too low. I know some of it was for dramatic effect, but it can be to quiet for it's own good. The voice acting sometimes sounded rush but rarely stilted or stiff. But overall it was very well done and incredibly convincing. I also like the music, even if doesn't fit the age it's in.

The con-trolls were very intuitive and easy to learn after a few tries. There isn't much other than that to discuss in the con-troll department.

Now on to the gameplay. THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST ROCK SOLID GAMES I HAVE EVER PLAYED!!!! Seriously! Jumping from walls, running on walls, jumping off platforms precariously perched over bottomless pits, swinging from poles, and the revolutionary realtime rewind all come together for a amazing experience ! And something else I didn't experience in any other game before was how the story was told with minimal cutscenes. You'll be pulling a lever and the prince will start his tale from that particular point. The distance between save points was annoying, but not aggravating. Overall no major complaints here! Oh, and the load times are always short! No long waits! And one last note, the original Prince of Persia is a unlockable ! I never got past level two, but it's the original! Come on !

The Bad
Some of the sequences where you have to jump between walls was kind of hard. And some of the fights early on in the game could drain your patience if you didn't have a lot of it. And in the original game that you can unlock, I can't make that last jump in level two.

The Bottom Line
Get it ! you'll love it ! The best Prince of Persia game since the original is the best one since! No other sequel will ever match what this one did.

The Good
In Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time you play the prince who of coarse is the son of the king of Persia with a vizier helping them who has more intentions than clear by breaking in the Maharajah’s vault and unleashing the sands of time which turns all but The Prince, Farah the maharajah’s daughter and the vizier because they each have a special artifact that protects them The dagger of time, a Medallion, And a staff.

But the dagger doesn’t just protect the prince from the curse it also allows the prince to reverse time when he gets in a sticky situation and you will need it a lot it’s not so helpful in combat but in the platforming elements it is which sometimes it can be difficult to figure out exactly where you are supposed to go the game has a very storybook type feel having the prince narrate the story.

The Bad
One of the strange things that happens because he tells the story when you die you’ll say something like “No no, no that’s not how it happened” then how does it happen? As if in the middle of the story the listener blurted out “And then you died?”

The combat also isn't particularly good with a lack of moves and the fact you have to finish the enemies with the dagger of time and the only things you can do is a regular attack and what is called a vault in which you jump over the enemy and attack as you come down which later enemies can block which can lead to some frustrating moments but was fixed in Warrior Within but that’s for another review.

The Bottom Line
Overall if you liked the original or you are looking for a fun new action game pick this one up.

The Good
The best feature about Sands of Time is by far the graphics and the way it has been programmed. Don't believe the recommendations for the game.... all you need is a good graphics card. I ran it on a slow 400 MHz Celeron and it ran at full graphics at full speed. The GeForce4 did all the work.

Great controls, movement/animation, graphics, sound/music, time-rewind, fight moves, fantastic level designs, etc... It must also be said that the way The Sands of Time captured the feel of the original games was very well done.

The addition of the 'dagger of time' adds another element into the game by allowing you to rewind time if something didn't happen as expected. Very cool.

The Bad
At the start of the game you sit and play with a sense of awe. However after 20 levels of repetitive puzzle room -> too long fight sequence -> save point, it starts getting a little tiresome. Then towards the end, the puzzles start picking up their level of difficulty, and things get interesting.... especially once you have to fight without your 'dagger of time' :) Thankfully by th time the fantastic ending comes, you're well back into it. :)

One thing to note is that the porting of this PS2 game to the PC left behind some flaws. There two points in the game I personally got stuck, and it was due to the game responding too fast/slow. The only way past the situations is varying the number of background applications, enabling 'haste' mode, trying different camera angles, and a whole lot of luck. I assume that this wouldn't be an issue on a faster machine.

The Bottom Line
A kick ass action-puzzle game with graphics that will leave you gasping for more. Imagine a sword yielding Persian, with the ability to rewind time if something goes wrong, and the agility of tony hawk, merged all into one.

I thoroughly recommend it.... well worth the expense.