Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears! I am very pleased to announce the GRAND OPENING of the new game review series:It's Dangerous To Go Alone! *trumpet fanfare sounds* Yeah, so here's how things will work: The group consists of me (SubBoss), LordCynical, RPGShark, and CupcakeCarnage! Weekly, one of our fine reviewers will share his or her experience with a title, be it a brand-new experience or an old retro favorite and give THE WORD on whether our fellow consumers should go check it out. Reviews will occur mainly when we feel like it, usually depending on what the current release schedule is, so that weekly thing? Can't promise complete consistency. But hey, you might just get multiple reviews in a week! Huzzah! Alright then, so that's the gist of things. If you have any questions, concerns, complaints, or desires to shove someone in mud, please feel free to send your comments. We'll be eagerly waiting to see exactly how much you agree with us! Isn't agreeing with us fun? Okay, enough chit-chat, let's get to the main story.
As an opening first review that just so happens to fall on a movie release day, I've decided to do the time warp back to 2003 to talk about a game known to many as Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.
Cover for the game
As you may or may not be aware (you probably are), a movie adaptation of this game was released in theaters today. In honor of the movie and the release of the Sands of Time series' newest game, The Forgotten Sands, I have decided to take a retrospective look at SoT itself. (Oh, and in case you were wondering, the movie is a damn good movie and easily the best video game-based movie ever. Go see it.) So, let us begin this wonderful dissection, shall we? Oh, and in case the picture didn't alert you, I played this game on the Gamecube. So the PS2 or Xbox experience may be slightly different, don't say I didn't warn you.
Premise and Story
Sands of Time (hereby abbreviated to SoT for laziness purposes) is set in an unspecified period in ancient Persia, when the Persian Empire ruled high and mighty over the land prior to getting curb-stomped by the Spartans. The game begins with the titular Prince at the head of an invading Persian army sent to conquer an enemy city. With the invasion raging around him, the Prince must slip inside the inner defenses, allowing the game to present a brief and helpful tutorial. Of course, the city falls, the Persians win, and the Prince gets honor and glory, blah blah blah. The army heads back to Azad with slave girls and a mysterious, shiny, really big hourglass in tow, while the Prince admires a shiny and special dagger that he found in the inner city. Back in Azad, the second cousin of Jafar, know only as the Vizier, tricks our unsuspecting hero into opening the hourglass with the dagger. Oh, now shit's getting real, man! The Sands of Time are unleashed and essentially turn everyone in the palace into sand zombies, with the exceptions of the Prince, the Vizier, and the captured princess-turned slave girl Farah. The Vizier wants the dagger, which is revealed to have the power to use the Sands to turn back time, but the Prince escapes and allies himself with Farah to survive and stop the Vizier. Seriously, no one realized this guy was evil? When you see him, you'll know what I mean. Thus, the story only contains three characters of any importance, but the interactions between them really create an interesting narrative. The pairing of the Prince and Farah is an especially notable one, as the two play off one another with realistic human bantering, taunting, and nagging that creates very witty and at points intentionally hilarious dialogue. The characters feel real and human, and you'll find yourself getting somewhat attatched to them. (Although Farah did accidentally shoot me in the face at one point and killed me. Damn you >_>)
Gameplay
But we're here to play a game now, aren't we? SoT is defined by people who spend their time setting such definitions as a "realistic platformer." Now, a nonrealistic platformer is something like a Mario game where you tackle levels that are designed as part of a game, with floating blocks and the ability to fall from any height. A realistic platformer is one where the levels are integrated into natural, real-world areas, and falling from more than 10 or so feet will cause your kneecaps and leg bones to forceably declare a holiday from service. In this reviewer's opinion, SoT is the best realistic platformer one could ask for. (Here I am carried away and drawn and quarted by legions of Uncharted fans. Let it be said that I have never played Uncharted.) The levels are blended seamlessly in with the architecture and structure of the massive Persian palace that you're in, creating a sense of immersion. The Prince is a platforming whiz with a long jump and the ability to run on walls and flip acrobatically from poles and the like. Once you've completed a long series of jumps, wall-runs, and acrobatics, I can guarantee you WILL feel like a total bad-ass. This is natural and it's good; it's all in a day's work for PERSIA MAN! But even this badassery pales in comparison to the game's central feature- the Dagger of Time. As long as you have sand in the dagger, the Prince can rewind time at any time for up to around 10 seconds as everything runs backwards. This, in effect, allows you to awesomely erase mistakes and redo things that you screwed up. Fall off a ledge or miss a jump and are now a bloody smear on the tile below? Just rewind time and watch yourself fly backwards back up the fall's path until you end up right back where you started. It is simply AMAZING and one of the best gimmicks I have ever seen, and it is integrated perfectly with gameplay, creating a natural flow of platforming and rewinds that keeps the rhythm going and the pace fast and exciting. You'll also have to solve some puzzles of the lever-pulling, block-pushing variety. Some are more clever than others, so you'll have some likes and dislikes in that regard. Farah also helps out, and generally her AI is pretty good, helping you to solve some of the more intricate puzzles. Overall, the platforming is top-notch and one of the best platforming experiences you'll have in a game. I promise badassery.
Combat
Ahh... hehe. About that. Combat gets its own section because it's the skeleton in SoT's closet, the pimple on its otherwise beautiful face that it doesn't like to talk about and will sweep under the rug. When I first got this game I had heard many stories about how absymal the combat once, but I decided to give it a chance. At first, it seemed fine. The Prince's fighting style revolves around his acrobatics- he leaps over enemies' heads and jumps off of walls, striking with quick blows from his sword and the Dagger. Again, the Prince proved to be a badass, leaping over sand zombies to strike them in the head. However, about halfway through the game, enemies are introduced that can knock you out of midair and block any leaping attacks, forcing you to fight on the ground. This point is where things get ugly. The Prince is not particularly great at one-on-one ground fighting, but the game will then toss about five enemies at you at once and see how you do. The Prince also tends to lock onto a single enemy at a time, leaving your butt exposed for a nice sand zombie chew. Also, to get more sand for the dagger, you must knock down an enemy, then plunge the Dagger into its chest and eat its sand, killing it. This is cool at first, but once large groups of enemies show up, you must do this for EVERY kill you make, otherwise the enemy gets back up with revived strength. Thus, tedium and leaving yourself open join forces. The Prince also has special moves that can kill without the eating, but they use up a seperate sand meter, and once that's gone you're back to the old problems. Throw in some scenarios where you're trapped in a small room with a bunch of foes and foes that block most of your basic attacks until a specific moment and you're led to moments of hair-pulling frustration as you lose for the umpteenth time. Farah is somewhat helpful, but is a liability when you have to protect her. There's no other way to say it, the combat SUCKS, but the platforming and non-combat stuff is so good that you'll forgive SoT for this one offense. Just grit your teeth and shoulder through the fights, you'll get back to the good stuff soon.
Graphics
As a retro game this doesn't really apply, but for graphics snobs I'll put up this notice anyway. SoT's graphics are pretty good... for 2003. By today's standards they're not exactly beautiful, but they hold up better than one might think. Details are pretty good, but its no Resi 4 or Wind Waker. The way the levels are integrated into the Persian palace and archetecture deserves another mention, though, as it's a great touch and adds to the immersion. The Gamecube version's sound gets a little weird sometimes, but it's no big deal.
Overall Difficulty
SoT can be both easy and hard when it wants to be. Several platforming challenges are devilishy tricky and can trip you up several times over, but that's nothing a quick time rewind can't fix. This method keeps the diffculty up without ranging into the frustrating. However, some combat scenarios (I'm looking at YOU, Mr. Elevator up the tower) do wander into the dark and forbidden realm of frustration with some of the things the game expects you to do with its weak combat system. Thank goodness that you can rewind time in battle too, but even that's not enough to prevent your ass from being handed to you because of a horde of ridiculous enemies. However, these challenges don't show up often enough to break the diffculty level. The overall effect is a moderately challenging game with a couple high peaks and low valleys of difficulty throughout.
Conclusion
Overall, SoT is a quite stellar game that is one of the gems of the Gamecube/PS2/Xbox generation. It has interesting characters, good writing, fantasticallly crafted levels and platforming, and a true sense of being a total badass. It also has one of the best gameplay hooks ever in the Dagger of Time (which you will wish that you had in real life, trust me), and it has the sense of breaking new ground and trying new ideas to great success that many games lack. However, the combat is extremely poor and some moments can be quite aggravating. It's a testament to how truly great the main game is, however, when I can recommend it without any hesitation. SoT is a prime example of a height of the platforming genre, and it will leave you quite satsfied and ready to take on the sequels (none of which I have played as of yet). If you're at all interested in realistic platforming, I'd say to give SoT a try, especially considering you can get it for around $10 nowadays. I'm off to go tripping through time, see you! Remember, It's Dangerous To Go Alone!
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