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Prince Of Persia: Warrior Within
Prince of Persia: Sands Of Time was an awesome return of one of the coolest video game characters of all time. It followed the adventures of the prince as he set out to undo the damage he has done by unleashing the sands of time. Not only was the storyline excellent but the setting was awesome and the gameplay unsurpassed. Never before has exploration been fun and entertaining and the unique control system allowed you to pull off amazing looking stunts with minimal effort. Unfortunately despite winning numerous awards and being critically acclaimed by the gaming media the game was a slow seller and never really became the huge hit it was expected to be. This of course meant that for the sequel a few things had to be added to make give it more mass market appeal and as we all know sex and violence sells. Now it might just be me but I really didn’t think these were quite the elements that were lacking in the Prince Of Persia series. I mean I can’t remember playing Sands Of Time and thinking, “wow what this game really needs is some blood, swearing, half naked bimbos and a heavy metal soundtrack”. Too bad that’s exactly what Ubisoft has decided to do for this sequel. While they were at it they also deemed it fit to replace the sarcastic but likeable prince from the original with an angst ridden Goth that has a serious attitude problem.
This game was described as being a more “mature” version of the original but pretty much all the new stuff is things that would appeal to an immature audience strangely enough. As you’ve probably noticed this review kicked off with a very bad start but it’s hard not to be disappointed especially as Sands of Time is one of my all time favorite games. While I wasn’t expecting just another version of the original and there are some great new ideas in this game in the end it just doesn’t feel the same anymore. Looking on the bright side the graphics still look amazing although the artists has gone for a much darker look this time around. The game opens up with the prince discovering that his tampering with the timeline has marked him for death by the “Dahaka”, a large demonoid creature that’s in charge of eradicating inconsistencies in the timeline. Desperately trying to change his fate the prince sets out for the island of time to stop the sands of time being created but things doesn’t quite turn out to be that simple. To be honest the storyline has it’s moments but seems a bit cheesy at times. Still it explains the change of scenery and allows for a bit more variety than the original game. The prince’s welcome to the island of time is anything but friendly and right from the bat you’ll have to come to grips with the new “free-form fighting” system. This basically allows for a lot more combos and moves to be pulled off during combat and can result in some spectacular fighting sequences. It also showcases the newer bloodier version of combat where instead of dissolving in a cloud of dust enemies will spurt out copious amounts of red stuff before expiring. While fun initially combat can soon become a chore and the emphasis is a lot more on fighting than on puzzle solving and exploration like the original. While I had fun with the combat in Sands Of Time I enjoyed the other aspects of the game more so I was very frustrated with having to keep battling hordes of enemies in this game. There are some cool segments where you might tackle a boss character (something that was missing from the original) or fight a particularly cool enemy but these are few and far between. For such a hyped combat system things soon degenerate into button bashing when you are surrounded by multiple (annoying) enemies. Speaking of enemies I wasn’t that impressed with some of the creatures in this game. Don’t get me wrong there are some nice character designs but some like the female assassins are a pain in the ass. Not only will they jump around like grasshoppers on speed and lay into you with a vengeance but they also utter these ridiculously corny dialogue snippets. I mean stuff like “the pain it feels so good”, “harder prince harder” and other gems seem to have been cut straight from a porn film. The inclusion of some “babes” (and I use the term lightly” also shows how desperate the designers were to make this game appealing. Just take a look at the girl in the metal thong to see what I mean. Besides the new fighting style the prince also has a few other tricks up his sleeve like being able to carry a secondary weapon, swinging from ropes and even a cool transformation later on in the game which makes for a few nice twists in the storyline. I still had a lot of fun exploring the environments and figuring out the puzzles but the new non-linear gameplay style made for some very tedious situations where you have to travel back and forth in time to get anywhere. Seeing the same scenes in the past and present is cool the first few times you explore them but not when you do so over and over. Making the players traverse the same locations is just a cheap way to artificially inflate the length of the game. Scattered about are treasure chests which when broken will unlock new goodies like artwork and stuff but these are hardly worth the effort and I never went out of my way to search for them. There’s even a “bonus” ending for the dedicated players who search out all the life upgrades although once again I just didn’t feel like all this extra hassle. The coolest feature from the original game was obviously the way the prince could manipulate time and thankfully he still has the power to do so despite giving the dagger back to Farrah at the end of the original. The manual explains this away by saying it’s the amulet he got from her in return which allows him to do so but whatever the reason I’m glad for its inclusion. Being able to rewind time to correct a careless mistake or slowing down time to better judge a tricky jump or get the edge in combat is still a blast and looks great to boot. You get a few more new powers like a new sand attack later on but it will be the rewind and slow motion powers that gets used the most. Of course you still have a limited supply of sands so don’t think the game will be that easy. In fact I found this game to be a lot trickier than the original with much more deadly traps and vicious enemies. Since your save spots are limited to the fountains scattered about prepare yourself for some frustrating situations when your sands run out. Every so often the Dahaka will also make an appearance to spoil your day and these chase sequences can be pretty tense. I’ve already briefly mentioned the audio but it’s not just the annoying voice overs that spoil things. The game also has a new soundtrack consisting of rock and metal tunes which seem very out of place after playing the original. I almost burst out laughing when Godsmack started blasting through the speakers during the Dahaka chase sequences. Even worse is the sound bug which cuts the audio every so often leaving you playing in silence. Lastly the prince now has a serious “woe is me” attitude and acts like a jerk most of the time. You can forget about hearing those witty remarks that made the original such a blast to play. Even though I really hated what this game has become at times there is still the odd occasion when you look at your surroundings in awe. Running alone a wall, grabbing a pole, swinging across a few gaps, dodging some traps and rolling under a door seconds before it closes is still a heart stoppingly exciting experience that never fails to get the pulse racing. Dangling hundreds of feet in the air with only your slippery palms and a thin ledge standing between you and death also adds to the atmosphere. While the original was split up into very distinct “combat” and “puzzle” parts the lines have been blurred a bit this time round so you might have to kill some foes while traversing a narrow ledge or slice a rival in half while wall-running across a gap. Although Warrior Within is not a bad game it just never lives up to the standard set by the original. Although bigger it isn’t quite better despite all the new features and extras. Judging by the ending the prince has some further adventures in store for him and I hope he has learned his lesson with this game and returns to his roots for the sequel
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System Requirements
TAGS: Prince Of Persia: Warrior Within, Dahaka, Kaileena, Shahdee,
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