Do you like to play video
games?
Catch the live games by purchasing tickets to all
MLB games
including
Yankees and
Mets.
BuySellTix also has tickets to all
concerts
including
Dave Matthews Band.
‘Prince Of Persia – The Sands
Of Time’ is the new update of the classic Prince Of Persia
series created by Jordan Mechner, also responsible for the
unforgettable Karateka back in 1984. The original Prince Of
Persia was released back in 1989 for IBM and Macintosh
platforms as a 2D side scrolling affair and was an instant hit
with its fresh ideas and puzzles. Since then, a sequel titled
‘The Shadow And The Flame’ was released in 1993 before Prince
of Persia 3D hit in 1997. The 3D version wasn’t a big winner
with many of the games followers and supporters, making some
think the series would finally be laid to rest for good.
However, with the current gaming technology out there and the
feeling they really had found something unique in this series
and could not retire it quite yet, work started on ‘The Sands
Of Time.’ The result of this continuing venture is nothing
short of spectacular.
Screenshots
THE PLOT
You are the Prince, the youngest son of King Sharaman of
medieval Persia. At this time, the lands are war-torn and
treachery is leading to much blood being spilt. You come
across an ancient dagger which has a special power of being
able to house the Sands of Time. Whoever wields this dagger is
granted the power to control Time, by using up the Sands
within it. However, with your desire to win respect and glory,
you are tricked by The Vizier, a traitor in the Maharajah’s
service, in using your dagger to unlock the ancient Hourglass
which releases the Sands of Time curse upon the Sultan’s
kingdom. Contact with this Sand instantly transforms any man,
woman, or beast into evil Sand Creatures who cannot be killed,
but can be destroyed only by the Dagger of Time. With nothing
but your sword, your newly found dagger and a seductive archer
princess you meet along the way, you must now survive this
cursed kingdom that has turned against you as you attempt to
undo your fatal mistake of rescuing the palace’s cursed
chambers and restore peace to the very fabric of Time itself.
GAME BASICS
This Prince is exceptionally acrobatic and agile with all his
movements. It is an absolute joy controlling this graceful
character in this game. There will be a great many skills
needed to master in order to navigate through the levels of
play. Running up walls, running along walls, jumping from wall
to wall, swinging on ropes and poles, hanging and maneuvering
on small crevices, climbing columns, trees and ladders, etc...
All this animation is performed seamlessly and ultra-smooth.
It’s so refreshing to actually have a character climb or
descend a ladder with the Prince’s speed. There is positively
no clunkiness whatsoever with the controls here. All of these
moves will become second nature in no time at all.
You’ll be aided with the use of your dagger which contains
sand tanks inside. Each individual tank allows for a rewind of
time. In this rewind of time, you’ll be given a maximum of 10
seconds in which to rewind your time to. This is especially
useful when a slight slipup occurs or an important jump is
missed. You can simply rewind back to the spot where you
started. One of the best features of this game, this comes in
handy countless times and relieves the frustration of having
to start back at the previous save spot when slipping up
somewhere. Your dagger has the ability to grow as you progress
in the game too. Sand Clouds are scattered throughout the
levels for you to grab. Collecting eight of these will cause
your dagger to grow one additional sand tank. Every time you
collect one, it will fill all your current empty tanks.
Destroying a sand creature with a final dagger blow, called a
Retrieve, also fills one tank at a time.
Along with these sand tanks, there are also Power Tanks
contained in your dagger. Once you have retrieved enough sand,
the dagger will grow its first power tank. However, these
tanks function a bit differently than your sand tanks. Sand
contained in these power tanks provide you with additional
powers including the Power of Delay (slow motion), the Power
of Restraint (freezing an opponent), and the Power of Haste
(fast-forward acceleration to defeat enemies at super speeds.)
More on those in a bit but once you begin your battles with
the sand creatures, all of these tools will become very
helpful.
Save points are located throughout the game at specific spots.
These points are all placed at manageable distances and there
seems to be enough of them to keep the game flowing. I believe
there are in the vicinity of 40 checkpoints before the end.
Checkpoints are marked by a Sand Vortex and once the Prince
enters this vortex, he’ll be given a brief, hallucinatory
vision of the future to come. These are basically hints for
the next area and can always be re-looked at by re-entering
the vortex anytime if you find yourself stuck. Yet another
power the dagger bestows upon you, the Power of Destiny (these
visions.)
You Health is measured by a Life Bar which you can replenish
by drinking water from fountains or anywhere you can find
water. Hard falls, enemy attacks and traps all cost the Prince
some life. It’ll be Game Over if this bar empties unless of
course you have some sand tanks left for Rewinds. As long as
you have sand tanks left, the game is never truly over. Your
Life Bar also has an ability to permanently grow if you can
manage to find Magic Fountains. These Magic Fountains are
located in secret, off the beaten path spots, so always be
aware to seek out every nook and cranny of your environments.
CHARACTERS
There are approximately sixteen different enemies you’ll come
into contact with on your journey. Most of these range in the
form of various sand creatures whom all have different weapons
and fighting techniques. Included in that number are also
bats, birds and scarabs who will pester you along the way.
You’ll come to hate all these particular characters and it’ll
be a pleasure dispensing of each and every one of them.
Aside from the Prince and the Vizier, who ultimately wants the
Dagger of Time to fulfill his ultimate diabolical plan, there
is one more major character in this story. A beautiful
daughter of a conquered Indian Maharajah named Farah. She was
also able to survive the unleashing of the Sands of Time by
holding an ancient artifact, a medallion which is basically a
bow and arrow. In time, the Prince will end up teaming up with
this girl as the two of you work together to reverse the
curse. She will aid the prince by squeezing into small cracks
and holes he cannot fit into while also helping in battles
with her trusty bow. However, keep a close eye on her in
battles since if she dies, you fail.
FIGHTING
Once a battle begins, the controls over your prince change a
bit. At your disposal are a whole host of attacks and
strategies to use against your enemies. First there is your
sword which most enemies can sustain a few strikes from before
being grounded. Once they are grounded, you’ll then need to
use your dagger to eliminate them. If you forget about them on
the ground helpless, they will come back to life until you use
that final dagger blow. You have a Block stance also which
will deflect all enemy attacks against you except for
particular enemies later in the game who swipe at your feet.
Your prince is extremely quick so use this quickness to your
advantage. He can roll out of harms way and even do back-flips
and jump off walls.
There are a couple of advanced attacks including a Vaulting
Attack in which you vault over an enemy and on your descent,
strike that enemy from behind. This is a great way of
disposing of many attackers, but beware of certain sand
creatures who can block this attack. A Wall Rebound Attack can
be used when fighting near a wall where you can direct your
prince towards the wall and he’ll launch himself straight
outwards from the wall with sword pointed. This is also a nice
maneuver. Then there are Counter-Attacks that work well as you
wait until your enemy strikes and quickly launch your own
powerful assault.
Besides your regular attacks and those advanced attack moves,
you will also have the ability to launch Power Attacks if your
daggers power tanks are filled up. The slow motion Power of
Delay slows everything down for a 10 second period of time
giving you an advantage over your enemies. The freeze Power of
Restraint happens with an initial dagger blow instead of your
sword. This will freeze him in time and while he’s at your
mercy, slice him with 2 sword strikes to utterly destroy him
without even needing a final retrieve. Last but absolutely not
least is the most powerful attack you have at your disposal,
the fast-forward Power of Haste. This attack can only be used
when your dagger has grown a full compliment of power tanks to
go along with your sand tanks and they all need to be filled
at the time to use it. Performing this nifty trick gives you
the ability to go into hyper-speed and eliminate your enemies
with one quick blow each. Using this will consume all of your
power tanks, but there will come certain situations when it’ll
be so worth your while.
All in all, the animation is brilliant in the battles. Usually
in the area of battles, there will be water fountains or pools
of water if your life bar is getting down. However escaping
enemies long enough to take a drink can prove to be a tough
task as enemies have the ability to disappear once far enough
from them and reappear close-by wherever you are, similar to
teleporting themselves. These battles are quite intense and
ferocious as waves of enemies attack you at once and do all
they can do ganging up against you. There is sometimes a
feeling of button mashing during the battles, but there really
are strategies to be had against different enemies to dispose
of them easiest. However if you develop no strategy
whatsoever, the button mashing can work for a while too.
PUZZLES
When the prince is not engaged in combat, he’s usually trying
to figure out puzzles. You’ll be trying to figure out how to
open the next door or how to get to the next switch. There
will be many places you’ll be in trying to get out of and vice
versa. You’ll need to survey the environment and situation as
to what move will be next. Included in many of these puzzles
are obstacles that will block your way in the form of booby
traps which were originally installed as part of the palace’s
defense system designed to shred soldiers from any attacking
army. From the moment these defenses are activated, the Prince
ironically finds himself dodging these traps all throughout
the palace.
Reminiscent of games like Tomb Raider and ICO, you can move
objects like blocks and statues to wherever you think could be
helpful to you. There are pressure tiles that when you step on
them opens doors for a limited amount of time to get through.
There are switches hanging from ceilings you’ll need to figure
out how to get to and also switches built into walls which
when you pull them outwards, will open a distant door, but as
soon as you leave that switch, the door slowly retracts down
leaving you little time to get through traps and through it.
None of the puzzles are all that tough to figure out, but they
will take some time here and there.
GRAPHICS
The graphics presented here are absolutely mesmerizing. Not
since the game ICO has a title shown this much detailed and
lush graphical environments. At many points, you’ll be finding
yourself stopping and simply taking in the tremendous eye
candy. Its style is very artistic and it’s obvious to tell
they spared no expense to enrich this dazzling display. There
are a couple of different camera angles to help in your quest
as well as having the ability to rotate the camera to exactly
the angle you need at that point in time. Try using the
Landscape camera once in a while to take a grand view of the
area. This is a real impressive outlook.
At the same time, the way your prince interacts with these
environments are so smooth. Draping curtains will brush by as
you run along a wall. Poles will give a little from your
weight while swinging on them. Dust kicks up from your feet as
you wander along. These and many more small details are done
brilliantly to just add to the wonderful experience and
spectacular visions. I seriously cannot say enough about these
detailed graphics but to say check them out on your own and
try to refrain from drooling.
SOUND
The sound here works well for the game. Music has that
middle-Eastern feel to it and is a perfect fit. The sounds get
more intense when a battle begins with charged-up guitar riffs
and quiets back down during normal game-play. The story is
also narrated throughout by the prince. He proceeds to have
conversations with Farah, while also finding time to talk to
himself, which really adds to the feeling of getting into this
story and being this character. Some of this dialogue is
really funny too with him making snide remarks at Farah. Good
stuff.
NEGATIVES
You really have to search out for any negatives with this game
and even these can be termed as reaches. One thing I noticed
that maybe could have brought a bit more interest while
playing is being able to collect more things. Basically the
only things to collect are those sand clouds. I would have
loved to seen some weapon upgrades or changes. Eventually you
do upgrade your sword a couple of times, but this is all
planned out for you in the linear style as you have no choice
by that point but to upgrade. Had the prince been given a
choice of switching his sword out for some of the defeated
sand creature’s weapons? Now that would have been damn cool
since they do have some pretty cool weapons that simply
disintegrate as you conquer them.
After a while, the battle sequences get a bit repetitive with
how long and drawn out they are. Instead of having these big
battles dragged on and on with waves of enemies thrown at you,
I would have loved to seen more smaller battles with creatures
popping up at totally random times more throughout the game,
such as while you are navigating down a corridor or something.
Have one or two creatures pop out and surprise you to keep you
on your toes. In the end, the big battle sequences here play
out like a tedious chore after a few of them.
Also one can complain about the length of time with this game.
No, not the sands of time, I’m talking about the real time
it’ll take you to finish this game. My first time through and
taking my time took me about 15 ½ hours to complete. With my
second replay, it only took me just over 7 hours to finish. So
the game is relatively short. But like I said, that is really
finding something to pick on here.
EXTRAS
Extras vary depending on the platform you are playing. My PS2
version includes an unlockable version of the original Prince
Of Persia 1 game along with a 3D enhanced level of the first
level of that same game. I believe the Xbox includes an
unlockable version of the sequel Prince Of Persia 2, but not
the first. And it also is said to have that same 3D level from
POP1, plus Xbox includes a making of featurette. The Gamecube
looks to have all the PS2 extras, plus that making of
featurette as well. Not sure why they mixed all this up among
platforms, but aside from nostalgia purposes, not much time
will be spent playing through these now clunky, albeit classic
versions anyway.
OVERALL
Overall, this game is just a pleasure to play. Guiding the
agile prince around so effortlessly is more fun than one would
normally think. The eye-popping environments are just plain
gorgeous and breathtaking while the combination between combat
and problem solving seems right on for the most part. Though
this game plays out in a linear fashion much like many
platform adventure games, fans of games like ICO and Tomb
Raider will not want to pass on this title as this really
surpasses each of them in terms of gameplay. I would even
offer advice to gamers out there who are not normally fans of
platform adventure games to go out and give this one a whirl.
They could be surprised how addicted they are once they start
it. This game is an absolute winner and in the end, one of the
best titles of the year. 4.5 solid Planets all around.
Game News
