Review By

Daniel Weissenberger

In his review, Brad really nailed the chicken/egg relationship between Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and ICO. ICO is one of my favorite games of all time, and it's the game I've used when trying to demonstrate to disbelievers that yes, videogames can be art. And until Sands of Time came out, it was the only game ever made that I felt comfortable referring to as beautiful.

ICO was a revelation to me because, like Brad, I had played all the pseudo-Prince of Persia games, but found all of them lacking the simple joy of gameplay that the original Prince of Persia offered. It wasn't until ICO came along that I found a game with a control scheme and mechanics so well-designed, fluid, and intuitive that I was able to lose myself so completely in the world of the game.

Now the Prince of Persia franchise has come full circle and delivered a product that is every bit a pleasure to play as the original was. Brad called the control scheme the best ever devised. One thing he didn't mention, though, is what an achievement the fighting system is. Ever since the industry made the jump into 3D, developers have been struggling to make fighting make sense. Well, it's finally been accomplished here. Despite the fact that the Prince finds himself perpetually outnumbered four-to-one, with the tight, quick controls and surprisingly wide variety of techniques at the player's disposal the frequent fights are never overwhelming.

Much like Brad, I can't heap enough praise on the animation in this game. In fact, this game could serve as the prime piece of evidence for anyone trying to once and for all win the hand-animated/motion-captured argument. The Prince himself is so luxuriously animated that he's imbued with characterization unprecedented in games of this type. I'm not sure exactly how the animators managed it, but each time the Prince runs along a wall, his arms raised for balance, I swear it looks like he's not sure he's going to make it. There's a frantic desperation in the athletic stunts that adds an amazing level intensity to all the action, keeping the gameplay fresh in even during repeated runs through the game.

Brad is correct in referring to the game's villain as disappointing. I can't understand how this mistake was made—the Vizier in the original Prince of Persia was a much more impressive villain, despite his total lack of dialogue. The developers even made the strange choice to half-develop the character, but not until the final battle. Revealing that the villain was dying of consumption could have provided excellent motivation for his villainy had it come up earlier in the game. Arising as it does, it ends up just making the final fight seem terribly anticlimactic: The unbelievably athletic soldier beating up the cancer-stricken old man doesn't exactly have a heroic feel, does it?

Also, and this is a more minor character note, I was impressed by the developers' decision to portray the Prince and all the characters in an historically accurate way—in that their morals bear no resemblance to our own, and by our standards, the hero is a loathsome character. They're pro-conquest, slavery, and the wholesale slaughter of their enemies. Even late in the game, when the Prince has theoretically become a better person, he never really acknowledges any responsibility for his part in causing all the problems in the first place, and all of his actions are motivated only by self-interest or revenge.

I do disagree with Brad on one major point in his review—his inability to suspend his disbelief when dealing with the game's architecture. Frankly, I feel he was being too hard on the game. While it's true that the game's levels are all clearly designed around the Prince's abilities, I completely accepted it as one of the limitations of the genre. His comparison to ICO's environment here is a little off-base. The hero, ICO, was no more able than the average fit young man, and the game's environments were necessarily more realistic. The Prince of Persia team were obviously trying for something a little more fantastic—how many real-life environments could off an opportunity to run along a wall, leap to parallel bars, flip from one to another, then land on a ladder? In this case, the ends justify the means—the stunts are incredible, even if the locations are preposterous.

I haven't played a game as good as Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time in a very long time. If the plot were better realized and there had been a memorable, threatening villain, I would describe it as perfect, the way I describe ICO. Even with its minor flaws, this is the best action game around, and gets my vote for the best game of the year.

I'm having trouble with this game. On one hand it's very addictive...the way Tetris is addictive. The puzzles, time trials, and platforming are sheer heaven in a problem-solving kind of way. The story feels a little tacked on, and the Princess, as the NPC you have to follow barely adds any much-needed humanity to the game. The combat however really lets this title down. It goes on far too long, and follows the kill-absorb-leap over the back of the next assailant-repeat school of thought. Hardly exciting after the 4th level. I dip in and out of this game, and am now half way through, but imho it is hardly a compelling title, and seems a little formulaic once the inclusion of time powers loses its novelty.

RATING: 6.5
Published: June 7, 2004

To address the issue of audio, I think it's great that they used in-game commentary instead of all the cutscenes because it gives the game a more continuous feel.

The graphics are perfect. the animation is perfect. I deed feel, however, that the combat was a little convoluted early on (the first fight was frustratingly difficult), but as I learned the different techniques, It became like second nature.

All people who appreciate art should play this game.

The second time I thought, eh.

I have to agree with Brad. The level design began to feel video-gamey an hour in. The "castle defense" mumbo jumbo failed to suspend my disbelief; I started to notice the designer's logic. This is never enjoyable. Good level design is like good prose (or at least good pre-modernist prose): the author's presence is never felt.

The Prince's effortless feats also began to feel too effortless. Though his leaps and near misses look cool, I increasingly felt disconnected from them—as if my simple button press really couldn't translate into such an astonishing manuever. Compare this to Ninja Gaiden, which has a similar wall-running, back-flipping M.O., but provides a dexterity challenge so my efforts mirror the gymnastics of Ryu.

Comparing the two games for their combat is not even worth a full three-sentence paragraph. Ninja Gaiden is a skateboard to Prince of Persia's roller skates.

The Prince's style is classy, but poor design, coddling controls, and too much boring combat limit the fun.

RATING: 7.5
Published: October 6, 2004

Imagine being at the best rock concert of your life. The band is rocking, the crowd is getting into it, the joint is terrific. Then, the guitarist suddenly plays this hideous screeching guitar feedback noise. And he obviously thinks its cool, because he does it every five minutes. In between those jarring notes, it's perfection. But he keeps on doing them. And worse, the crowd keeps asking him to do them more often.

There. Now you have a pretty good idea of what Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is like. And those jarring chords? Of course, they're the combat.

In between combat, the game is perfection. There's a stunning fluidity to the game as you swing from pole to pole, run off walls and roll under blades. And then it comes to a crashing halt for the combat. Again, and again, and again.

And the combat is what the punters wanted more of for the sequel? The mind boggles.

It's a good game, but it's far from a classic, because the combat wrecks it.

RATING: 7.0
Published: July 29, 2005

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