Prince of Persia: Sands of Time

Developer:    Ubisoft Montreal
Publisher:     Ubisoft
Played on:    Prince of Persia TRILOGY HD

When Ubisoft announced a reboot to the old Ms-Dos Prince of Persia series I rolled my eyes thinking this was going to suck, however, I couldn't be more wrong, Sands of Time turned out to be one of the best games in that year.

You play as the Prince of Persia (duh!) as he and the Princess Farrah of India navigate a huge death-trap filled Palace inhabited by sand zombies, trying to reverse time and prevent a cataclysmic event he created.

Running through the Palace is not an easy feat as you'll often have to climb, jump, wall-run, crawl or hang from ledges while still solving the occasional puzzle to get where you want to go, thankfully, the the artistic graphics and smart level design never makes this seem like a chore, the same can't be said for the combat though, there's too much of it and gets old, especially considering the somewhat limited range of moves and the fact that you're always using the same weapon throughout the game.

The game's main drawpoint is the ability to reverse time, which is a genius concept for a game like this, in a game where you'll constantly be falling over or get caught in traps it greatly reduces the game's trademark frustration levels, and due to a limited number of uses of this ability, it's still able to maintain a decent challenge level.

Though the story sounds pretty generic, the characters and dialog thankfully are not, I love how likable the characters are, they're constantly getting on each other's nerves, but at the same time you feel them forming a genuine attraction to each other, giving the game an almost whimsical feel to it and it's one of the few games I've played where the main characters actually feel and act like decent human beings instead of gruff battle-hardened soldiers, it's a very welcome breath of fresh air, coupled with brilliant story-book writing.

Overall Prince of Persia is a smart game and was handled with care by the developers, it's just a shame about the boring combat.

Trivia: Did you know the PS2, Xbox and PC versions had a remake of the original Ms-Dos Prince of Persia game as unlockable? Unfortunately this was removed in later releases such as the Prince of Persia TRILOGY HD for the PS3 

Pros:
- Some of the best 3D platforming ever, made even more fun by the use of the time travel feature
- Great story-book feel to the game
- Great Soundtrack
- A great love story that flourishes in a believable way between two very likeable characters
- Farrah is quite possible one of the best female characters to have ever been featured in a videogame

Cons:
- The combat isn't very fun and there's too much of it

Final Grade: A- 

Packaging review: Found in the Prince of Persia TRILOGY HD review

10 comments:

  1. Anonymous27.9.12

    I agree with you on all the parts, great review and totally deserves that grade, thanks for reviewing!
    My dad used to play Prince of Persia with my brother and me on his lap.
    Also I would like to give you props for the header, was about time you also got one. Keep working on your blog and it will repay!

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    1. Thank you and yes, I love my random header generator, took me all night to make it in HTML though :P

      Delete
  2. Anonymous27.9.12

    Well I think it payed off. I have one more tip for you. Please remove the captcha off the comments and if you want you can add them on approval. Captcha knows to get annoying.

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    1. huh, I thought I had that removed already

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  3. The review makes me regret that I missed out on this game back in the day. If I ever see it at a used game store or something equivilant, I will have to pick it up. Thanks for the good read.

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  4. Great review! i've never been a hardcore gamer, mostly due to lack of resources, but the games that i have played hold a very special place in my life. Sands of Time is one of them. i had a tons of fun with it and i agree with what you said about reverting back time. It was a great feature.

    Your header is awesome. Nice idea.

    ps: do you accept suggestions for reviews?

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    Replies
    1. Thank you for the feedback and actually I have many headers, it randomly generates one for each time you refresh the page.

      And yes, I do accept sugestions, though obviously, I can't review a game if I don't own it :)

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  5. Well if you ever played any of the STALKER games from GSC Game World or ever get around to it, i would love to read your thoughts on it. Any of the Unreal Tournament games would be a blast, as well.

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    1. heh, I'm afraid I never played them, nothing against the series, in truth they've been on my Amazon wishlist for years, but for some reason I never got around to them.


      As for Unreal tournament, shamefully, I was never a fan of Arena Shooters, you know the sort, UT, Quake 3 etc.

      Sorry for letting you down :\

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  6. Not at all.
    Maybe one day you'll get to the Stalker series. I'll be around.
    Cheers.

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