Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands (Xbox 360)Released: May 18, 2010
Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
Publisher: Ubisoft
# of Players: 1 (offline)
ESRB Rating: T for Teen
Price: $59.99 (new), $44.99 (used)
Available: Now (also available for other systems)
Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands marks the fifth game to be released for major consoles in recent years. The series itself has a pedigree of incredible action, adventure, platforming, puzzle based games that never fail to entertain. Does this one live up to that same pedigree or does it fall short? I'm here to let you know.
The plot of this game is very straightforward. On a trip to visit your brother, Malik, in his kingdom to learn to become a better leader, you arrive to find it overrun by an invading army. Upon finding your brother he says he plans on letting loose the army of King Solomon, which has been sealed away for centuries in a vault. The prince warns his brother that he won't be able to control the army but Malik doesn't listen. Upon breaking the seal containing the army, they begin to spill out into the vault, springing up from the sand released from the vault. Malik and the Prince both take half of the seal and are seperated. The Prince meets a female Djinn named Razia that tasks you with sealing away the threat of Solomon's army once again. While the plot is simple enough, it doesn't do much more than drive the gameplay forward. All of the Prince of Persia games had incredible storytelling and this one feels like they did not put a whole lot of effort into it. It isn't a bad story per se but it doesn't make the gamer enthralled in the world which is a shame as its incredibly fun to get around.
Also, Ubisoft really dropped the ball on the "tie-in" here. According to Ubisoft, this game is part of the Sands of Time trilogy that they had released back on the PS2. It takes place during the 7 year gap between the Sands of Time and Warrior Within. However if they hadn't told us this, no one would be any the wiser. This game does not tie in at all and after the fresh story presented in the last game released under the Prince of Persia moniker, I'm seriously disappointed that they didn't handle this better. They traded a new start for the franchise for a generic story that focuses on becoming a better leader and having to make the sacrifices that are necessary for that. They tried to say this game involves the Sands of Time but it doesn't. When you first meet Razia in the game she gives you the power to rewind time. What a cheap way to incorporate that.
The largest part of this game is the platforming/puzzles. These are executed quite well. If anything the only complaint is that they are a bit too easy. It is still fun to navigate through the game and figure out the solutions to the puzzles, no matter how close to simplistic they might be. You eventually get the ability to rewind time if you make a mistake, freeze water so that you can climb or swing on it, and you get the ability (near the end of the game) to make platforms appear that have crumbled with age. These mechanics work well together and don't feel unrelated. The only problem is they crop up a lot. I find it hard to believe that behind a bunch of walls (that get broken in cutscenes) have a spout of water behind it. Not just a spout, but almost like an actual fountain, for no reason whatsoever. That is a bit much. It is a minor detail but it still holds true.
The combat in the game is very well crafted and I have no serious complaints. There is your standard attack (x button), your kick to stun or knock over enemies (y button), your jump (a button), and you have 4 different magical spells you can activate by pressing the corresponding direction on the D-Pad. Each has a different element associated with it and a different use (i.e. the earth element spell coats you in stone armor that makes you impervious to attacks for a limited amount of time). How you get these spells is through an interesting RPG mechanic worked into the game. After killing so many enemies or finding some of the sarcophagi, you will have earned enough experience to get an upgrade. By hitting the Back button you are taken to an upgrade screen. You can upgrade any of the magic spells to lvl 4 or get added bonuses like making your standard attack stronger. This provides a great flow to the game's combat as you feel like you are getting stronger as the enemies start to get tougher.
The visuals of this game are superb, crystal clear detailed environments. The voice acting excels as does the soundtrack. This game has a lot of polish on it and its evident from playing for only a few minutes. Cut scenes display excellent next-gen graphics with no tearing issues whatsoever. This game looks and sounds gorgeous.
Now the achievements. Achievements can make or break the replay value of a game. Do you care to go back and collect the ones you missed just so you can play the game again? Well in this case the achievements for this game are way too easy. Maybe a 3/10. Most of them can be gotten in one playthrough if you are paying attention to the environment and achievements themselves. Even if they weren't easy to get, this is definitely a game that you would want to play through again to get whatever you missed.
All in all this is a good game, its not phenomenal and its incredibly short, clocking in at around 6-7 hours to complete. This is a great return to form for the Prince though and if you are a diehard Prince of Persia fan, I strongly recommend it. For everyone else, it will entertain you to its completion but unless you truly fell in love with it, this is a game that you probably would not play through often, if at all.
Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands for the Xbox 360 scorees a 74 out of 100
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