My first encounter with Sands of Time was at my grandparents house, just after they bought themselves a PS2, and this was one of the only games on it (yes, my grandparents are cool like that). It was a little too tricky for ~7-year-old me, so I never got past the first hour or so, but I nevertheless loved leaping and climbing with reckless abandon and would often replay that first hour whenever I visited their place, never tiring of it thanks to how satisfying the movement is.
Having finally seen the rest of it, I have to say that, as a true hallmark of action-adventure platforming, Sands of Time, for the most part, lives up to its sky-high praise with some of the finest wall-running, swinging, and shimmying that the genre has to offer. Some top-shelf level design mixed with a wonderful soundtrack and halfway-decent combat help cement this game as the classic that it is.
At least it would, if not for the unreliable camera and abysmal sound mixing. Thankfully, the camera at least provides an alternative view in the form of a fixed point, usually above the play area, looking down on you from above, but that's not always helpful during the game's numerous platforming segments. Granted, it's not unplayable, of course, but the camera gets in the way of the action much more than it should.
As for the mixing, no matter what tweaks I made to the volume sliders, the characters were always talking at a whisper volume, which, compounded with the lack of subtitles, caused some key lines to be almost indecipherable. While I could always get the gist of the conversation anyhow, the inconsistent volumes of the ambience, action, and dialogue would make Christopher Nolan jealous.
Still, there's certainly room for improvement in the sequel(s), and I have noticed that Warrior Within at least has an option for subtitles, so, thankfully, lessons were learned.
Overall, SoT is a great, well-directed, superbly designed, and scored adventure with tight pacing and fantastic platforming throughout. The story isn't great, and the Prince himself doesn't go through as much of an arc as I would have liked, but the frame narrative and ending scene are strong and lend a unique flavour to the game that sets it apart from its contemporaries.
Technical issues got in the way quite a bit, of course, but the gameplay foundation is immensely solid and satisfying to play from start to finish. For the impact Sands of Time would have on the industry, you can argue that there really is no better blueprint for action-adventure games than it.
8.5/10
Having finally seen the rest of it, I have to say that, as a true hallmark of action-adventure platforming, Sands of Time, for the most part, lives up to its sky-high praise with some of the finest wall-running, swinging, and shimmying that the genre has to offer. Some top-shelf level design mixed with a wonderful soundtrack and halfway-decent combat help cement this game as the classic that it is.
At least it would, if not for the unreliable camera and abysmal sound mixing. Thankfully, the camera at least provides an alternative view in the form of a fixed point, usually above the play area, looking down on you from above, but that's not always helpful during the game's numerous platforming segments. Granted, it's not unplayable, of course, but the camera gets in the way of the action much more than it should.
As for the mixing, no matter what tweaks I made to the volume sliders, the characters were always talking at a whisper volume, which, compounded with the lack of subtitles, caused some key lines to be almost indecipherable. While I could always get the gist of the conversation anyhow, the inconsistent volumes of the ambience, action, and dialogue would make Christopher Nolan jealous.
Still, there's certainly room for improvement in the sequel(s), and I have noticed that Warrior Within at least has an option for subtitles, so, thankfully, lessons were learned.
Overall, SoT is a great, well-directed, superbly designed, and scored adventure with tight pacing and fantastic platforming throughout. The story isn't great, and the Prince himself doesn't go through as much of an arc as I would have liked, but the frame narrative and ending scene are strong and lend a unique flavour to the game that sets it apart from its contemporaries.
Technical issues got in the way quite a bit, of course, but the gameplay foundation is immensely solid and satisfying to play from start to finish. For the impact Sands of Time would have on the industry, you can argue that there really is no better blueprint for action-adventure games than it.
8.5/10