Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands is an attempt to return to what is undoubtedly one of the greatest platforming videogame trilogies of all time – Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time trilogy. It is supposedly set in the interval between the first game of that series and the second (The Sands of Time and Warrior Within, respectively), a period between the transition of the prince as the naive young man of game 1 and the weathered, rough-edged, taunt-spewing maniac of game 2.
The story itself is very familiar and nothing very adventurous at all. You arrive in your brother's kingdom, only to find it under attack by unknown enemy invaders. As usual, the you are sworn to protect some magical power which the invaders want. As a last resort, your brother, King Malik, sets free that which he was supposed to protect – the Army of Solomon, comprised mainly of sand warriors that spread to every place where sand exists. Hint hint See the 'sands' connection yet? Now it's up to you to stop the army because it takes over (and destroys) the whole world. So as I said, nothing new, nothing truly engaging, but it gives you a reason to go from Point A to Point B.
The last Prince of Persia game released in 2008 was accused of being too easy. Well, that's definitely not the case here. The difficulty level gradually builds up, with some of the later levels requiring very precise timing and sharp reflexes, and you will have to use time reversal quite liberally. However, unlike the original Sands of Time game, the platforming difficulty is not based so much on timing as it is on the complexity of the actions. As you progress through the game, you will earn the ability to freeze water and use it to swing yourself up and about. You will also earn the ability to solidify certain regions of the environment while the others disappear. As the game progresses towards the last few levels, you will have to hit the right button in mid-jump, which may require quite a bit of concentration. It can also be a little frustrating when you hit a number of platforming actions correctly and then get to one of the final jumps only to hit the wrong button and fail. However, the game doesn't let this become too big an issue by providing you with plenty of solid regions to rest and observe the surroundings and figure out your next move in peace.
Combat once again returns to the one-vs-many mode, and you will be required to take on a number of opponents at once. There is a little variety in the kind of foes you will encounter, and there will be some formidable opponents that will require being attacked in some particular ways. However, let it be said that the combat, though much better than Sands of Time, is nowhere near as spectacular as the free combat style of Warrior Within or The Two Thrones, or even Prince of Persia (2008). There are barely any combos that you can string together, you only fight with one weapon, your sword which receives a power boost towards the end, and you cannot perform too many acrobatics while in combat. However, the game does give you some magical powers which you can equip by earning enough experience points by killing enemies. These do have a noticeable effect on your combat, and include powers such as equipping yourself with stone armour or raising a whirlwind to blow your enemies away and disorient them. Powers can also be used to increase the amount of damage your sword does, as well as to increase your maximum health, increase the number of energy slots you have and increase the duration of time reversal or the duration of time for which you can keep water frozen.
After having a constant ally in Elika in the previous game, this one feels a little lonely. Sure, there is the mystical Razia who guides you every now and then, but the Prince's character, which I should remind you is the one between Sands of Time and Warrior Within, is at his best when he can run off some smart, witty sarcastic comments in dialogue. Otherwise, the prince is generally kinda quiet, making the appropriate combat noises and talking to himself every now and then. While we're on the topic of voicing, I must say that I could not pick any flaws with the voice-overs. The prince, his brother Malik and Razia have all been voiced perfectly. The music, though, is a bit of a let-down. It's either too soft or not inspiring enough.
The game's finale, really, is its high point. The epic final boss battle is tremendous, requiring good platforming skills and quick thinking. It's far from your start slash and dash, and it's really quite fun when it's over to just sit back and take in the intensity. I was quite disappointed with the final cutscene though, which I felt failed to tie up a few loose ends. However, as I always do, I waited for the credits to end, and sure enough, after the credits, another cutscene tied things up. I only wish it was BEFORE the credits.
All in all, Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands is a solid platformer that you should definitely play if you're a fan of the Prince of Persia series at all. Don't expect it to be as good as its predecessors in many ways, but in many other ways, it sure is, offering new challenges and interesting attempts and introducing fresh gameplay styles.
The story itself is very familiar and nothing very adventurous at all. You arrive in your brother's kingdom, only to find it under attack by unknown enemy invaders. As usual, the you are sworn to protect some magical power which the invaders want. As a last resort, your brother, King Malik, sets free that which he was supposed to protect – the Army of Solomon, comprised mainly of sand warriors that spread to every place where sand exists. Hint hint See the 'sands' connection yet? Now it's up to you to stop the army because it takes over (and destroys) the whole world. So as I said, nothing new, nothing truly engaging, but it gives you a reason to go from Point A to Point B.
The last Prince of Persia game released in 2008 was accused of being too easy. Well, that's definitely not the case here. The difficulty level gradually builds up, with some of the later levels requiring very precise timing and sharp reflexes, and you will have to use time reversal quite liberally. However, unlike the original Sands of Time game, the platforming difficulty is not based so much on timing as it is on the complexity of the actions. As you progress through the game, you will earn the ability to freeze water and use it to swing yourself up and about. You will also earn the ability to solidify certain regions of the environment while the others disappear. As the game progresses towards the last few levels, you will have to hit the right button in mid-jump, which may require quite a bit of concentration. It can also be a little frustrating when you hit a number of platforming actions correctly and then get to one of the final jumps only to hit the wrong button and fail. However, the game doesn't let this become too big an issue by providing you with plenty of solid regions to rest and observe the surroundings and figure out your next move in peace.
Combat once again returns to the one-vs-many mode, and you will be required to take on a number of opponents at once. There is a little variety in the kind of foes you will encounter, and there will be some formidable opponents that will require being attacked in some particular ways. However, let it be said that the combat, though much better than Sands of Time, is nowhere near as spectacular as the free combat style of Warrior Within or The Two Thrones, or even Prince of Persia (2008). There are barely any combos that you can string together, you only fight with one weapon, your sword which receives a power boost towards the end, and you cannot perform too many acrobatics while in combat. However, the game does give you some magical powers which you can equip by earning enough experience points by killing enemies. These do have a noticeable effect on your combat, and include powers such as equipping yourself with stone armour or raising a whirlwind to blow your enemies away and disorient them. Powers can also be used to increase the amount of damage your sword does, as well as to increase your maximum health, increase the number of energy slots you have and increase the duration of time reversal or the duration of time for which you can keep water frozen.
After having a constant ally in Elika in the previous game, this one feels a little lonely. Sure, there is the mystical Razia who guides you every now and then, but the Prince's character, which I should remind you is the one between Sands of Time and Warrior Within, is at his best when he can run off some smart, witty sarcastic comments in dialogue. Otherwise, the prince is generally kinda quiet, making the appropriate combat noises and talking to himself every now and then. While we're on the topic of voicing, I must say that I could not pick any flaws with the voice-overs. The prince, his brother Malik and Razia have all been voiced perfectly. The music, though, is a bit of a let-down. It's either too soft or not inspiring enough.
The game's finale, really, is its high point. The epic final boss battle is tremendous, requiring good platforming skills and quick thinking. It's far from your start slash and dash, and it's really quite fun when it's over to just sit back and take in the intensity. I was quite disappointed with the final cutscene though, which I felt failed to tie up a few loose ends. However, as I always do, I waited for the credits to end, and sure enough, after the credits, another cutscene tied things up. I only wish it was BEFORE the credits.
All in all, Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands is a solid platformer that you should definitely play if you're a fan of the Prince of Persia series at all. Don't expect it to be as good as its predecessors in many ways, but in many other ways, it sure is, offering new challenges and interesting attempts and introducing fresh gameplay styles.