My word, was this nostalgic!

This really is kind of the "forgotten" Sands if you think about it, as it's always felt to me like the fanbase never really acknowledges it much. Originally intended to be the video game tie-in for the franchise's then upcoming film adaptation, following the community's somewhat lukewarm reception to the divisive 2008 reboot it was repurposed into an interquel for the series’ PS2/Xbox entries in an effort to win back those disappointed by the new direction. Unfortunately, that plan didn't quite pan out for Ubisoft since player interest had already been stolen by the property's own spiritual successor Assassin's Creed at that point, causing it to go somewhat overlooked.

A shame it never managed to rekindle the audience's old enthusiasm, because it does a phenomenal job of recapturing those prior thrills. The early hours are endearingly familiar with level designs that feel pulled straight from its sixth-generation predecessors. I mean that in the best of ways. While many excellent titles have outright borrowed this style of acrobatic, parkour platforming over the years (i.e. Uncharted), returning to the brand responsible for popularizing it in the first place reminded me of both how none of its plethora of imitators have been able to capture the same magic, and exactly how deeply I've missed it in this format. Not to mention they ironed out a lot of the flaws and tightened the controls so that those weird moments where you'll inexplicably fly off to the left or right of your target when trying to jump straight are far less common.

While that's all it needed to do in order to ensure I had a perfectly suitable good time the entire way through, what truly sends me so over the moon about this is the manner in which it continued to pull me into the experience further as more of its own unique ideas were introduced. There's nothing here that tops anything from the original SoT trilogy, but the added mechanics of solidifying water, restoring destroyed parts of the environment, and the flight ability which can launch you across large gaps at enemies add a nice, stronger reaction-based element to the mix. The game's most thrilling moments require you to rapidly swap between all three in quick succession to avoid plummeting to your death.

The sole thing this doesn't get right is the combat. Gone are the smaller, more intimate and challenging encounters of the past. Instead, what I could best describe as a Dynasty Warriors-esque approach was taken where the emphasis is on clashes against large groups of foes. The problem is the enemies are generally pretty weak and slow. Meant to give you a power fantasy as you tear through them with the Prince's new elemental magics rather than provide a real threat. A novel concept, but their overall ineffectiveness paired with the speed in which you'll max out the RPG leveling system and turn yourself into an unstoppable killing machine leaves the action feeling overly simplistic, save for the later areas where their numbers are at the highest. Oh well, at least it's always amusing to use the knockdown attack on one and watch them topple into each other like dominoes thanks to the light ragdoll physics.

All in all, this is exactly what I was hoping for! A wonderful memory refresher as to why I loved these adventures back in the day. Can I just take a second to talk about how good this looks too? My jaw dropped at some sights. It amazes me how this now 13-year-old title can still be so beautiful. Don't get me wrong, you can see the age in stuff such as the character models, but as far as the environments go this is legitimately one of the prettiest treats my eyes have had in a while. Proof that a great graphic style is truly timeless. When you consider that this was made with the intent of recapturing the series former glory it's hard to not view it as a resounding success. It's a strength that will allow it to continue to grow more valuable as it gets older, due to that inherent throwback quality only becoming more evident as time goes on. By its own merits alone though, it stands as a worthy successor to that trio of hits from the 2000s and a fantastic playthrough for those unfamiliar with them as well.

9/10