Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

There has been a recent trend with the developers lately; many of them are bringing classic games back from the graves. Over the past year, players have gotten to play new Metroid, Rygar, and many other classics games, and the best thing is that they have all been astounding! Ubisoft wanted to continue that tradition when they decided to bring back the Prince of Persia. Just like the other talented developers, they have done a marvelous job of taking that classic game and bringing it into full 3D!

The story is as involving as the game itself, and here is a quick summary of it. There is a legend that many centuries ago a young Prince discovered a magical dagger. He was tricked into using that dagger to unleash a deadly evil upon the Sultan’s Kingdom. That Prince went on a quest with an Indian Princess to restore the palace and time itself back to normal. He must be very careful because there are many dangers that face him, and he must use that dagger to master time, or else he will lose everything.

The Prince is the son of the Persian King: Sharaman. He is very gifted in sword fighting and an even better athlete. He is very eager to please his father and bring him glory. Since being tricked into unleashing the evil upon the land, he must now restore it back to normal. Farah is the Indian Princess who was captured on one of the King's conquests. She is sticking close to the Prince to help him restore everything back to the way it was. Vizier is an evil traitor who tricked the Prince into unleashing the Sands of Time upon the world. His wish is to destroy the land and rule it.

What makes this game great is the tight control that the Prince has. He has a variety of moves at his disposal and they all feel very natural, from running across walls, swinging on bars, to hanging on ledges. The best part of this action game is the combat engine that is used. At any given time the Prince can take on several enemies at once, doing back flips over them and defeating them without taking much damage. The combat is always smooth and very easy to get acquainted with.

The Dagger of Time is the best part of this entire game. When players have this dagger filled with some of the sand they will be able to control the very fabric of time. There are many different powers that players have available to the control: rewind, slow motion, free, fast-forward, and visions. Rewind is the best one, because it allows players to go back a few seconds and correct any stupid mistakes they make. Slow motion allows players to slow down time for everyone but you. Freezing time is great when there is a hard enemy and you need to get that extra edge. I really liked Fast-Forward because this allows players to go extremely fast and defeat multitudes of enemies in a few seconds. The visions allow players to get hints on what to do in some of the levels.

While The Dagger of Time puts a lot of power into gamers hands they will always have to keep a constant eye to make sure that they have enough sand to use them. The way that players refill the sand is by beating the Sand Creatures and extracting the sand from their bodies. So there is usually a constant supply of sand available to the players.

The fantastic thing about all of these powers is that they are an integral part of this game, and they never feel like they are gimmicky. Each of these powers comes in handy from time to time, and players will be glad that they have these powers available to them.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is drop-dead gorgeous! The artwork in this game is nothing short of spectacular! Players will find themselves stopping to admire all of environments that they are put into. All of the levels are teeming with details, for instance at times players will see candles flicker, water running, or many other things that make it look surreal. The player models have a nice polygonal count and are swarming with detail as well.

The thing that makes the graphics look even better is the awesome character animations and camera control. No matter what the players are doing the prince will always respond in a smooth way, with no jerky animation. It is always amazing to see the Prince pull off several of his acrobatic movies because they are silky smooth and look great. The camera is also very good in this game, if players do get a bad angle all they have to do is touch the C stick and move it to the best angle available.

If you have a Dolby Digital Pro Logic II set up you will defiantly want to hook their GameCube to it to get the full effects from this game. The music has a very “Arabian” feel to it and really sets the tone throughout the entire game. The music really makes players feel like they are in an ancient Arabian nation. The sound effects are awesome as well. Everything, from the swords clashing, to the loud explosions, and walls collapsing down sound very crisp and clear.

The voice acting for this game is top notch as well. There is a ton of dialog in this game, and it is nice to hear the Prince speak all of this instead of trying to read it all. Plus at times it is funny to hear the witty remarks the Prince will say.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is rated T for Teen for blood, suggestive themes, and violence. The game requires 15 memory blocks for saves.

Gameplay: 9.6
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time plays like a dream. Even though this is a third-party title, this game feels like it was made specifically for this system. Everything in this game is balanced to perfection and it feels great when are pulling off some very sweet moves while taking out an enemy.

Graphics: 9.5
The game is gorgeous! Everything is highly detailed with eyes-watering goodness. The best part about this is that the framerate never drops while you are in heavy action.

Sound: 9.4
If you have a good audio setup I highly suggest you hook your GameCube up while playing this game. Everything sounds very good, and the sound effects are top notch!

Difficulty: Medium
This game teeters that fine line between easy and hard. At times players will be able to blast through a level in no time, and other times players will wish they had the ability to rewind time more. But this is what makes this game so great, it is not fun to have a game that is so easy that you are able to beat it in one or two nights.

Concept: 9.7
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is a rare game that revolutionizes this genre! Having the ability to control time is one of the best ideas that have been implemented flawlessly! The solid level design makes this feature even better and gives this game something that will be praised for years to come!

Multiplayer: N/A

Overall: 9.6
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is a MUST HAVE game if you own a GameCube. Every aspect of this game is outstanding, the concept, level designs, controls, graphics, ect. I can go on and on about how wonderful this game is, but you probably guess that already. What are you waiting for, go buy this game NOW! You will not regret it trust me!