Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands

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It's kind of hard for me to review this game because there are so many things I like about it, but a handful of things that make me shake my head and wonder what Ubisoft was thinking. In my opinion this is the third best Prince game out of the five that start with the Sands of Time game. The Sands of Time is still my favorite(I wish they would make a reboot of that one graphically) followed by The Warrior Within, then the last Prince of Persia on the PS3, lastly The Two Thrones. So, what to start with... the good or the bad... let's get the bad out of the way.

Graphics: Come on Ubisoft! This is 2010, not 2005! The graphics on Forgotten Sands should have been much better with the technology that is available today. Ubisoft is capable of making beautiful games. I'm not sure what happened here. It's not terrible, but it is below par for action/adventure games of this day and age. What this game needs graphically is a nice polish. It some levels it is graphically beautiful and in others it's kind dull and pitiful. It's not a huge disappoinment and it doesn't detract a whole lot from the game, but it is something that needs to be noted.

Story: It's pretty much the same kind of story that took place within The Sands of Time game. I loved the story in that game, but the problem here is it's been done before. Couldn't they come up with something a bit more original. Again, it's not a huge disappointment and it probably won't detract away from the fun you're going to have playing it, but it might was well not even have a story. I found myself not really paying much attention to it.

Gameplay: First, let me say the Prince, as in the other Prince games, moves with acrobatic grace. However, that doesn't help the combat system. The fighting moves seem sluggish and uninspired at times. The enemies you fight for the first good portion of the game(probably the first half or so) are dumber than rocks as far as a.i.(no, I don't mean Allen Iverson either LOL) is concerned. I mean seriously none of the low level enemies have any kind of finding strategy. Yes, the screen will fill up with 20-25 enemies at a time, but you never really feel like you're in any serious danger, and that's not b/c the Prince is a complete badass. I think Ubisoft could have learned something from God of War 3's combat system. All is not lost, though because the later enemies do provide a rather robust challenge. Thankfully it's not overly challenging.

On to the good stuff...

Gameplay, again: Yes, a big portion of the gameplay is awesome. The Prince's magic attacks are awesome and a whole lot of fun wiping enemies out with. The whole climbing and wall running is just as much a blast as before. It can get quite challenging, and even frustating at times, later on the game when you have to combine different powers to get through a certain level/portion of the game. Being able to freeze water and climb up it is challenging, without being overly so, and fun. Timing and stringing together your powers to further your progress is a big part of what makes Forgotten Sands so much fun.

Rewind Time: It was kind of crappy in the last Prince game when you had unlimited rewind time. I think it took away a lot of the challenge that the game offered. Not so, in this game. You can rewind, once your rewind bar is maxed out, about 5 times or so. This adds more challenge to the game without it becoming frustating. Don't mistake me that there isn't parts in this game that will frustate you. There are sections were you may have to attempt to climb something or do a combo power sequence X (i.e. 7 or 8) number of times. Fortunately the fun and challenging parts far outweigh the frustating parts.

Music: I love the music in Forgoteen Sands. Possibly the best in the series. It has a real Arabian feel to it and the mood of it fits every level perfectly. It's probably one of things, besides all the climbing and wall-running, that kept me glued to the game from beginning to end. Excellent musical score, but somewhat shoddy graphics. It makes no sense.

Length: It's rather meaty quest. I'm not sure how long it took me to go through it, but if I had to guess I'd say in the neighorhood of 12-15 hours. I got this about 3 p.m. CST yesterday(starting playing immediatly) and just finished it a few hours ago. I actually liked the ending and I hope they continue with this new direction for the Prince. I won't give anything away about the ending, but I think you'll be satisfied with it.

Fun: Oh yeah! It's a helluva lot fun, even taking into account the missteps that Ubisoft made. I'm kind of burnt out on it right now, but I definitely see myself going through it again with this Prince. The bottom line is you're going to have a fun adventure with the Prince as wall climb/run and fight through hordes of enemies to save the day. For some this may be a rental only, but if you're a diehard Prince of Persia fan(like me) or big fan of action/adventure game(me, too) then I'd say it's safe to add this to you're collection. Despite a few missteps, it's still a awesome game loaded with fun!

I give Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands 4.5 stars or a 9 out of 10 for fun factor and 4.25 stars or an 8.5 out of 10 overall. I had a blast with it I think you will, too!

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I'm a big fan of the Prince of Persia series, so this game was highly anticipated for me. I bought it on street date and played for about six hours. The next day, I finished it in another 4 hours. Needless to say, I was a bit surprised that the game was so short. I played the two challenge arenas and beat them both in an hour. I repeated playing the "waves of enemies" level until I got my character leveled all the way up. I was curious if I could play through the game with all the abilities unlockedno dice. You can only have one save game and there is no level select after you finish to try to get trophies that you missed. Basically there is no replay value.

The story is ho hum. His brother is slowly turning into an all-powerful monster and you know that's who'll you be fighting. The graphics look great sometimes, but more often they look like a polished ps2 game. The camera gets locked into bad positions that hinder you from solving puzzles and hurts you during combat. The combat is very repetitive and button-mashey. Did I mention the puzzles aren't very hard?

There are some positives. I will always enjoy running on walls and leaping all over the place as you do in the other games. Two new elements are added to the prince's powers that jazz-up the platforming in a very rewarding way. I also like that they got rid of the "balancing your character on ledges and beams" mechanic that has been tired since Tony Hawk.

If you're a fan of the series or just curious, do your wallet a favor and wait until this game is $30 or less. Otherwise you may be trading this back to Amazon like I will.

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From the opening scenes these graphics look straight out of the movies. So far the prince has been trying to catch up w/ his brother in his fathers castle. It is the typical PoP type of stuff with lots of wall running and acrobatics. The swinging leaps from bar to bar look incredible and the controls are great.

Swordplay and enemy fighting seems pretty basic with options to kick, stab or hold a button down for large attacks. The sound is incredible and save icon seems to appear often. I will update this as I go along in the game. So far lots of fun, smooth controls, great graphics & sound with lots happening around you.

Lots of classic themes that you've come to love w/ the poP series timed doorways, lethal traps, retractable spiked floors, problem/puzzle solving and finding hidden treasures to upgrade items at your choosing (health,rewind time,sword power and unlockables). The freezing of water is way cool and really makes you think about how to get through certain areas. There is also another Dharkara (sp?) type of creature following you around the outside at times. The only thing missing i've noticed is the slowing down of time option. The prince possibly could of used a few more detailed features on his charcter but the game surroundings make up for it I think. Your blue and red power up orbs seem to be at random so it makes gameplay a bit more interesting as far as recovery goes.

BTW the version I have came with an exclusive Sandwraith skin and it looks like you may be able to unlock a skin of Enzio from Assassin's Creed later in the game. Has a UPlay option in the game where certain happenings get you certain points to use later on as upgrades.

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Prince of Persia's rebooted franchise has established a very familiar formula at this point. Put a kingdom in peril, insert the prince, make him jump ,roll,dodge, leap and parkour about, whilst fighting baddies then the stir in a great narrative and epic final battle.The result is usually a stunning game which will keep you enthralled for hours.

The Forgotten Sands is no exception, although I felt that it plays it too safe. This is the old prince and game play style you may remember from previous games and I think fans of the series will enjoy this "episode" short as it is.

Graphics This is a great looking game. The palace is remarkably detailed from giant tapestries and minuets to detailed stonework and gorgeous water effects. One could easily overlook the care that went into the backgrounds and models as they blast through the levels . Maliq and side characters also look spot on. And from an animations standpoint the Prince is too. Every detail of his movement is lifelike and well executed.

That said, the prince apparently visited Janice Dickenson' s plastic surgeon. Not sure what happened here but he looks like a different.....and much uglier dude. Now of course this may be partly the fact that he is in "HD next gen" for the first time. Thankfully, the voice is familiar and you will probably forget this minor snafu early on. Besides, you spend more time looking at the back of his head than his ugly mug anyways.

Audio-

This game sounds great, but the really star of the show is the music..which really makes many dull moments come to life and it certainly stands up to rest of the series. Epic music-thumbs up there

Controls-

Right off the bat you already know these controls if you have played a POP game which a few exceptions.

1. I had to invert the Y axis in the menunot sure but I could have sworn that this setting was default on previous gamesno biggie-

2. You will be using allot of shoulder buttons later in game. Your hands will cramp up so get the tiger balm ready and give your digits a break after a while.

GameplayWell its very standard POP The game incorporates a few new moves and new mechanics. The core of which is freezing water, well freezing is not really correct. You make water solid, so it's like freezing minus the cold. This mechanic is great because it offers some challenging new puzzles where you have to time the freezing , on and off to get through one waterfall than jump to another etc. There are a few other new mechanics but this one is the most frequently used.

Combat-

The combat is an issue, I can see that they wanted to streamline and simplify it however I think they over simplified it. The enemies are a total pushover.Sometimes they just stand there waiting for you to cut them down while holding their swords likes they are about swing but first they want to give YOU a chance to kill them....???? W T H ?

The addition of powers like the fire trail and freeze blast thing makes this WAY TOO EASY. Combat is almost an annoyance in this game and certainly takes backseat to platforming. Which is OK,...but Warrior Within was able to balance this and I don't see why they chose to go the opposite way here. I prefer the deeper combat system and I question this choice by the developers .

AlsoI couldn't help but notice that all the mid-bosses are all the exact same enemy...roll away let him hit the wall the slice his ankles, jump on him stab him and repeatIncluding the Efreet-

wow talk about lazy, if there had been more diversity this may have salvaged the combat a bit.

One last thing on game play; I thought the boss fight in the last game was WAY TOO HARD.....this game it was quite the opposite.....in fact I cant recall a recent game where the final boss was such a push over.

Story-

The story is pretty straightforward and has very few twist turns or anything interesting to it that would actually make me care. The only dynamic is the whole "Brothers" thing and even that falls flat. It almost seems like the story was an after thought.

This is a shame because in my opinion it's the games biggest issue. The thing that made "The Sands of Time" a great game was the AMAZING narrative . It was as if a story from Arabian Nights had come to life and put YOU right in the middle as the hero. This series is built on a great character and great storytelling but sadly here it really fails to sweep you up. This is a minor "Episode" of the princes life and rather mediocre one at that.

Conclusion-

This is not a bad game, it just suffers from a few minor issues and a mediocre story. Fans of POP will be right at home with this game and I suspect will find some enjoyment with the new freeze water power. My advise--->Rent it-

It is a good game just not up to snuff with the rest of the series....don't waste 60 bucks -because although it has some unlockable modes etc. chances are after you beat this game you'll move on. It had allot of potential but I felt it was just short of the mark of being a rightful heir to this series throne.

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Some people complain about the graphics, but the game wasn't designed to be a PS3 game really. It was the same game for pc, etc so the graphics were great to me. I didn't think it was too short at all. It took me about 2 months to get through the entire game the first time, but I didn't play hours on end since I am a working adult. It isn't Zelda length by any means, but a decent challenge. It is a fun game, but not overly challenging. The most challenging part is the puzzles in certain parts of the game. It is a great addition if you are a prince of persia fan like myself. The story kept me interested throughout the game. The game has dropped in price so it is a great buy now.