Reader Reviews
Your views on Disgaea, Bishi Bashi Special, Mario & Luigi, X2: The Threat and more.
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (PS2)
by Peej
Y'see! I don't only play retro stuff! Now and again I will dip my toe quite firmly into the waters of a new game, just to see if you youngsters have managed to produce anything with as much credence as us old timers. Anyway, enough sucking on bonfire toffee and wibbling on about rheumatism, on with the review.
Prince of Persia: Sands of Time is a rather successful modern update of an old gaming franchise which first saw the light of day back in the early nineties when a powerful PC had as much computing power as today's powerful handheld consoles do. Back then, the game was basically a sideways flick-screen platform game with some nifty animation, a reasonably original setting and some very horrible angular spikes, which you'd often find yourself impaled on.
There was the inevitable sequel, and a few years ago some post-Tomb Raider boom-baby decided to try and update the franchise into 3D with a main character that looked like someone who had a successful millinery business. But now, the lovely huggable Ubisoft have updated the franchise once more and turned the slightly fey Prince into an arse-kicking man on a mission.
There's a slightly yawn-worthy back-story to the game involving an all powerful dagger, an hourglass, the obligatory saucy bit of brisket all done up in skimpy clothing and some natty time manipulation, but hey, skipping cut-scenes was what the start button was made for so let's talk about the game itself.
Though appearing quite samey in places, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time takes the platform gaming genre way back to those heady Lara Croft-loving days when the Tomb Raider franchise wasn't some tired saggy old waste of plastic, and represented the very nadir of climbing/shooting/jumping. The prince is a lively fellah and is capable of some quite astonishing gymnastic feats, he's good with a sword, he can manipulate time and rewind it to get himself out of sticky situations and well, the guy's probably dynamite in bed too. Don't you just hate him?
But seriously folks, this game is definitely something special. Ubisoft's pact with Satan seems to be working out quite well, as they seem to have turned from a quirky francophilic publishing house into an impressive force in today's gaming market, and Prince of Persia does nothing to besmirch their new reputation as a publisher to take very seriously indeed. The game itself is fun to play, the controls don't take a degree in rocket science to use, the puzzles are both logical and achievable, even by a lowbrow like me (yes, OK I had to get some help early on with one problem but once you've worked out the dynamics of the game things fall nicely into place). Graphically there are no complaints but sonically you'd have to pick holes in the prince's annoyingly nasal prim and proper accent (must've schooled at Oxford, then?) It'll probably take the average gamer a fair chunk of time to complete unaided but the journey there will be well worth it.
And to return to where we came in, if you're really a nostalgia freak and want to live in my world, the original hoary old classic is hidden in there somewhere too, but don't expect miracles. The prince might be able to control time in the game but there's no way you'd want to return to 1992 and be stuck playing the retro version for long. [Particularly since it's a rancid port barely worthy of the extra effort involved in finding it. -Tom]