Written by Jeff Buckland, 12/8/2003
Played on:
Windows
Jordan Mechner's classic action-adventure game Prince of Persia was a resounding success and managed to be ported to all kinds of computers and consoles back in the late 80's and early 90's. Its unique visuals, moody music, and non-standard gameplay hooked players quickly, and the excellent animation looked more lifelike than almost any game at the time. Well, Mechner is done making games, but Ubisoft have put together an excellent revival in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.
PoP uses plenty of pixel shading to create some unique effects and to soften the game's edges, making it look a little like a cartoon while maintaining awesome detail. The visual appeal is one of the game's stronger points, and without the game's high-tech features, it just doesn't look, or even feel, near the same. Ubisoft knew this too - the game actually will not run on a video card without pixel shading, which means that the GeForce 4 MX series of cards won't work at all. Other than those, GeForce 3, GeForce 4 TI, GeForce FX, and Radeon 8500 and higher cards should all work fine.
The game runs at a pretty decent frame rate, although high-res modes will probably be limited to those with some powerful computers. The gameplay itself kind of depends on the action to be smooth, so if you just don't have the horsepower to play this game at least at the recommended specs, I might suggest you pick up one of the console versions of the game. I wound up finding a couple of bugs in PoP, one of which crashed the game, but it wasn't terribly frustrating or save-corrupting.
The biggest problem with Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is that this game was designed as a console title first, and a PC title second. We do get mouse-and-keyboard controls, and gamepads are supported, but the camera controls while using the mouse are difficult to work with. I found myself constantly fighting the game to put the camera where I wanted, as it forced specific camera angles at certain areas.
Combine this with an absolute method of control (pressing left moves your character left on the screen, not to his own left), and it meant I would regularly fumble the controls - and it'd cause me to die fairly often. If you have a gamepad and still want the improved graphics of the PC version, set it up for that and save yourself a bit of pain.
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time has a unique visual style that I have never seen before. Combine this with the game's hazy, dream-like effects, and it's simply a wonder to watch. The art is fantastic, and the slightly comic style of the characters and enemies mixes in beautifully. This is an excellent combination of art and technology working together to make something better than the sum of the parts.
Of course, it wouldn't be Prince of Persia without the trademark fluid animations - and Ubisoft knew this. The animations here are very well done, especially for the Prince himself. Not only can he dual wield his scimitar and dagger with expert flair, but he flips, swings, tumbles, and jumps with a smoothness that is just plain cool to watch. This game is a joy to play, even though the game's tough jumping puzzles might stump you for a while.
During the game's introduction, we find out that the King of Persia is taking a trip to see the Sultan of Azad. On the way, he raids the palace of an Indian Majarajah, taking a huge hourglass called the Sands of Time - his idea is to present it to the Sultan as a gift. The Vizier of the Indian kingdom has surrendered and come with you, and says that to unleash the Sands of Time, the Prince must insert the dagger he plundered into the hourglass. It turns out that he's right, actually, but no one else knows what the result will be. And yes, the result is mass chaos that kills almost everyone around the Prince and spawns up all sorts of evil. It becomes your job to retrieve the Sands of Time and take out the tricky Vizier. The Prince still carries the dagger, which gives you the ability to control time in several ways - this is what most of the game's unique style of action revolves around.
PoP stays pretty true to the original games as far as gameplay is concerned - you will jump, flip, climb, and swordfight your way to victory. But this time, instead of fighting to save a girl, Farah will travel with you, helping you and firing her bow at enemies from a distance. She doesn't always follow you everywhere, as she isn't capable of doing all the Prince's high-flying acrobatics. Usually she'll find a crack to sneak through, and will meet up with you a little ways down the road.
