Review: Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands
Game: Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands
Format: Xbox 360
Developer: Ubisoft
Publisher: Ubisoft
Movie fans with a gaming habit will have noticed that a certain adaptation is scheduled for release in a few days; Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Based on the 2003 film of the same name, it’s being hyped as a video game adaptation that will actually be good.
Back to the game though, at the time of release this multi-platform title was praised for its graphics and fantastic time control mechanisms as well as the strong character building of both the Prince and Farah. For many at the time it was game of the year and is still one of the highest ranking games for the Xbox, Playstation 2 and GameCube.
Since then, there have been three more releases: The Warrior Within, The Two Thrones and, more recently, the 2008 title simply called Prince of Persia. So now we have Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, but where does it fit into the franchise?
Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands is very much the spiritual successor to The Sands of Time over the rather divisive 2008 release. Of course, this is also a movie tie-in that, whilst not directly related to the Jerry Bruckheimer film, is Ubisoft’s first foray into the movie tie-in since the rather sub-par Avatar games.
Those amongst us that have experienced The Sands of Time will know what to expect: jungle-gym-esque rooms full of mazes with obstacles to vault, jump, swing and wall-run over, punctuated with the occasional sword-swinging battle against the resident enemies of the game. So how does this hold up against the much-loved original?
Once you get the hang of controls you can become a master acrobat.
The opening is impressive, sweeping over the vast landscapes of the desert city to reveal the place where you’ll predominantly be for the rest of the game. Graphics are as polished as one would expect them to be, conveying scale and the grand atmosphere to come. I have to be honest though, the first twenty minutes or so is a complete slog.
The controls feel heavy, the jumps delayed and the Prince felt more akin to controlling a block of stone than the lithe acrobat I expected. Personally, I thought the Prince was a little too on the boxy side for my liking also, a complete contrast for me against the well spoken voice of Yuri Lowenthal, but that’s just me.
The game was a complete slog until the realisation that this was, in almost every aspect, The Sands of Time. After a quick revision of the original, that I thankfully still own, the controls of this title made a little more sense. The controls are an emulation of a title released some seven years ago. After this epiphany, oddly enough the game opened up a little more.
Some moments of the game look visually stunning.
Nearly every aspect of this game can be compared closely to The Sands of Time, but for the sake of the review I’ll put aside the comparisons as much as I can. Firstly, let’s deal with combat. In any previous game in the franchise, combat hasn’t been the most praise worthy gameplay aspect. In a similar fashion, I doubt anyone is going to be singing the praises of this system too much. It is, on the whole, very simplistic. You essentially hit things with your sword… who could want more?
Occasionally you have to kick someone with a shield before damage can be done, cinematic aerial slashes can be performed by jumping on the enemies and on occasion, one can throw minions over balconies and banisters to their doom. It may not be complex, but it is fulfilling as the game will throw a multitude of enemies at you. Slashing down swathes of sand-creatures in one swipe couldn’t be more satisfying.
Kicking an enemy off the side of a building = satisfying out of ten
An inescapable comparison is the Prince’s control over time. As a spiritual successor, the Prince once again can stop and rewind time to prevent his demise. This may be a welcome addition for the nay-sayers of the 2008 ‘death-defying’ game in which it was impossible for you to commit suicide. Instead, you have a certain amount of chances to rewind time should you fall into trouble, but once those chances are gone, the Prince will die.
This chance to rewind time is combined with other special powers gained throughout the game that must be activated in order to navigate the levels. The most prominent of which is the ability to freeze water. This new ability is used to freeze sheets of water to create suitable areas for wall-running. You can also freeze jets of water that act as substitutes for the traditional flag-pole style objects that the Prince regularly swings from.
How he grips on to either of these, I’ll never know; perhaps a good pair of gloves and some spiked boots? All of this combines to make a game far more challenging but rewarding in some sense than the 2008 title.
Be prepared for some icy moments after gaining power over water.
Level design overlaps somewhat with the 2008 title. Yet, despite this the differences in the game’s difficulty as well as in the design of the Prince himself lend the game a completely different feel. This is the area in which Prince of Persia excels. The level design flows and increases in difficulty as the game develops, always seeming to keep the right side of challenging.
When you get into the ‘zone’ and manage to string together segments of traversing the obstacles flawlessly without having to resort to rewinding, the feeling of mastery leaves you speechless. That said, the game will always keep you on your toes; just when you think things are becoming too easy, it will throw something your way that will make you stop and consider the level a little longer.
Some enemies are a little bigger than your regular sand-minions.
That said, not all is rosy within The Forgotten Sands. Should players have fallen in love with Sands of Time or even the 2008 storyline, this game may come as a little bit of a disappointment. Sure, this title may emulate the Sands of Time in everything from combat to level design but it falls flat in character development. The interplay between the Prince and Farah and even the 2008’s Prince and Elika is entirely missing from this game.
Without the stunning interplay between the Prince and a companion, this game can come across as little more than a soulless movie tie-in. The gameplay is important, of course, but when this is a follow up to such a successful game, and in light of a big screen release, such faults could be crippling for a Prince of Persia fan.
It is relatively easy yet satisfying to massacre enemies from the sky.
The auto-saves too, need mentioning. Whilst I myself had few problems, with only a couple of irritating restart points after dying, others online have noted more troublesome glitches. As the game only has one slot which is continually auto-updated as you progress, should anything go wrong there is no opportunity for the player to reload from a personal save.
Having a personal save alongside an auto-save would have easily got around this. Even offering a choice of previous auto-saves would have been nice. Unfortunately, should the game auto-save when you are dying, the results can be irritating, forcing the player to restart the whole game.
Review Round-Up
Graphics: 4/5 The graphics in this game can’t really be faulted too much. Everything looks nice with cinematic attacks working well within the combat system. There is a great gradual addition of colour as the game progresses; the Prince initially starts out in Gears of War brown settings, graduating into lush green gardens later into the game. All in all, it is what you would have expected.
Sound: 3.5/5 The sound is atmospheric and works within the game, however it lacks any sort of mesmerising qualities. You won’t be humming any of the tunes after playing this, but for general atmosphere it works. Voice acting is well done, with a welcome return from Yuri, but his voice doesn’t suit his new bulky appearance.
Gameplay: 3.5/5 Combat is satisfying as a frustration reliever and when you can flow combinations of jumps, swings and wall-runs you’ll be shouting about how awesome you are. But be prepared for the traditional throwing of the controller when things don’t go so smoothly.
Longevity: 3/5 Once this game is completed there is little in the way of replayability outside of completing the game on a higher difficulty or grabbing those last niggling achievements. Extras offered aren’t too much of a bonus unless you love Ubisoft’s staple Ezio enough to see his behind swinging around instead of the Prince’s.
Overall: 3.5 rewinds out of 5
Whilst it starts out as quite a disappointment, Forgotten Sands picks up as the game progresses. People who have a long-standing love affair with Sands of Time might not be as forgiving, however.
When you look at it, what you have here is a sequel that might find tough times being released as a dreaded movie tie-in. Had this been a stand-alone release it might not have felt quite so soulless. That said, if what you want is a more up to date version of Sands of Time sans the romance, this will be the game you’ve been waiting for.
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“Prince of Persia, The Sands of Time” was probably one of the movies which turned my disappointment other way around. To be honest when I entered the cinema I was expecting crappy story and not a lot of action. Those expectations were destroyed when the movie started to with back story to prince and then a battle scene. The battle scene was made in really awesome way and I was left pleased. Through out the whole story it was just ups and downs, they didn’t leave the watcher waiting for action or any other events for long, since the action scene just kept on coming on and on. The ending was pretty interesting and it wasn’t another misleading and disappointing story. I just loved it.