WARNING: THIS REVIEW COVERS ALL POP GAMES RELEASED (ON CONSOLE by Ubisoft) SO IT IS LONG. BE PREPARED
When I first started doing reviews, I knew eventually that I would do this one. I had planned to make it later than now, but given that I just got and played The Forgotten Sands, this seemed an appropriate time.
Before I get started, I want to give you a bit of backstory on my experience with Prince of Persia, so that you may take my opinions in the proper context. The first PoP game I ever played was Warrior Within. My brother picked it up on impulse one day ? neither of us had ever heard of it at the time ? and we both played through it. It didn?t take us long to see that it was fucking awesome and we quickly tracked down the other instalments in the series. Later, we would get our hands on the ?new? Prince of Persia and as of yesterday, The Forgotten Sands. As of right now, I have beaten Sands of Time four times, Warrior Within six, Two Thrones twice, Prince of Persia once, and I am in the final area in The Forgotten Sands. There, now you know, and I can begin.
There is a pretty standard view on the Ubisoft?s little gem, and for the most part I agree with it. Without wishing to be redundant, I will give a review on every game in the series here, spending the most time on the latest one.
The first game, chronologically, was Sands of Time. Referred to by many (myself not included, but we?ll get to that later) as the best PoP title, Sands was very well designed, very pretty, genuinely funny (I STILL catch myself quoting the prince talking to himself), and told an excellent and intriguing story.
There were a few things wrong with it, of course; the combat was one step shy of horrible and the final boss was easier than half the fights that it took to get to him. The whole thing was also rather short; my longest run took me just shy of seven hours, and my shortest one is less than five. Even so, the great story and epic environments rank this very high on my list of games
Warrior Within was the second game in the series, in which the prince endeavours to shake off the demon on his back by making it so the Sands of Time were never created in the first place. It is much darker and grittier than any other PoP title to date and it earned a lot of flak from the community for it. Without wishing to spark an argument, I?ve never seen why. The combat was leagues better, with the parkour merging seamlessly with the prince?s sword abilities, and the environments were much more varied and no less epic. The game is also nearly twice as long, as it forces you to traverse several giant areas of a frankly massive castle twice, once in the past and once in the present. The story is interesting also in that you have the choice of two different endings, both of which feel equally appropriate, though one is much more obviously a setup for the sequel.
I could go on praising WW all day. The atmosphere, while admittedly completely losing the humour the first game carried wonderfully, is aptly dark and haunting, and during the Dahaka segments there is a real sense of survival horror as you run as fast as you can to get away from this giant evil creature. The only flaws I find in the game come in the form of the story, but it just carries the predictability over from the first game and to their credit, Ubisoft at least made the prince intelligent enough to see the twists only slightly after the player does.
Two Thrones is the ?final? instalment in the series, attempting to combine the brightness and levity of SoT with the combat style of WW. It succeeded, mostly. The game never gets quite as entertaining as the original, and while the speed kill system was a welcome addition, and the time spent as the Dark Prince adding a new interesting form of combat, it never matches up to the visceral fluidity of its predecessor. Two Thrones has all the elements that made each of the other two good, but it doesn?t do any of them as well.
The one place TT does improve is the story. Unlike certain other trilogies I could name, the ending actually feels like an ending, and even better, it feels like it is going all the way back to the original and tying everything up. Admittedly the segment in which you defeat your dark half for good is a little less than ideal (read: fucked up), but for the most part, it is still very strong.
The next bearer of the name is easily the runt of the litter. Prince of Persia is related to the original series in name only. You?re not dealing with the Sands of Time anymore, the prince is essentially a vagabond (and yes, Ubisoft, we see what you did there with the donkey), and the game...well, sucks. The parkour sequences exist and are awesome, yes, but they are very linear, even more so than the SoT ones. Furthermore, the entire game consists of going through the same motions what feels like a few hundred times. The main areas are all very similar and the combat...
If I was to rank the Prince of Persia games on combat, this one would be so far below the rest (even the original) you would need a magnifying glass to see it. Never before have I hated enemy encounters so much in a game. Your movement is restricted severely, enemies have no variety and the strategy doesn?t even really exist anymore. As much as your inability to die courtesy of Elika (a character that manages to lower the score of this game by herself) does improve the flow, it also takes all of the challenge out of combat. Get hit and the game hands you a quick-time-event to recover. Fail that and Elika will save your sorry ass. Or at least, I assume she would. The game hands you so many chances to recover that you really have to be trying to get beaten in combat.
I really don?t know why Ubisoft decided to name this monstrosity after the trilogy that bound me to them forever. I bought it on faith, I beat it, and now I?m selling it.
This brings us to The Forgotten Sands. I can sum up my review of this game in one sentence: why did they fix what wasn?t broken? It seems that Ubisoft decided just continuing their extremely high quality combat style wasn?t good enough and they had to try to revamp it. The result is an utter collapse of everything that made the series new and innovative. Remember how you had to track down those health upgrades in little side-quests in the original? Remember how you?d keep your eye out for the secret entrances and how rewarding it felt when you got extra health for your efforts? Yeah, that?s gone. In its place is an upgrade system. Oh joy, now this is like playing an RPG, except without the whole ?role-playing? thing.
Forgotten Sands gives you control over how the Prince develops his abilities with a pretty straightforward upgrade chart. Instead of hunting for extra health, you can now buy it. The only thing you hunt for are sarcophagi, and half the time you can see them on the screen, it?s just a matter of getting to them. For shame, Ubisoft.
This series has a tradition of fairly predictable plots held up by deep and well-voiced characters and for the most part, Forgotten Sands upholds that. Everything moves along pretty much as you?d expect, as do the characters. The one unfortunate point is that only the prince feels like there?s anything to him. Razia and Malik are almost mechanical in their predictability, very obviously there to drive the plot rather than be a character.
Since I mentioned it before, I would be amiss not to talk about the combat. While there is certainly an element of manoeuvrability and choice in place, it is nowhere near the seamless parkour blend that Warrior Within and Two Thrones possessed. As much as I miss having the sand powers to rely on (now being fuelled by the ever-overused ?energy?), the four elemental abilities you pick up, as well as the basic and advanced moves the game teaches you, all work quite well. It feels a little bit sticky, especially compared to its predecessors, but it?s still better combat than your average game.
The other place that Forgotten Sands falls short is in the parkour itself. While the new moves and abilities you pick up work very well and add a challenge that was absent before, it is once again a little sticky. The prince doesn?t move exactly as you tell him to, occasionally jumping in a direction your controller is not pointing, and quite a few times I got stuck on the scenery and had to reload the last checkpoint.
Forgotten Sands has the most in common with Sands of Time. Its combat is better, obviously, but not as smooth or as visceral as Warrior Within or Two Thrones. It?s also easily the lightest and funniest game since the original. On top of that, it?s short. I devoted half an evening last night and an evening tonight and I?m going to beat it tomorrow. It doesn?t necessarily feel too short, but I do certainly wish there had been more to it.
One thing that will piss off a lot of fans is that despite supposedly taking place between Sands of Time and Warrior Within, there is nothing to tie the game to the original series aside from a couple of passing references early on to Azad and Farah. Ubisoft made a point of telling us it was a part of the series, so to make it a completely unnecessary addition feels like a bit of a slap in the face.
Despite the flaws, it is still a strong game, and I don?t regret buying it rather than renting it. You might, but I didn?t. The series has always been of consistently high quality, and the only thing that can be really said against Forgotten Sands is that it?s not quite as good as the ones that came before.
Final Verdicts:
Sands of Time: 4/5
Warrior Within: 5/5
Two Thrones: 4.5/5
Prince of Persia: 2/5
Forgotten Sands: 4/5
Odds are good you?ve already made up your mind, but if you?re a fan of the series and looking for a recommendation, definitely rent Forgotten Sands. You can probably beat it and the challenges before you have to take it back. If you have the money to spare and you own the rest, pick it up.
When I first started doing reviews, I knew eventually that I would do this one. I had planned to make it later than now, but given that I just got and played The Forgotten Sands, this seemed an appropriate time.
Before I get started, I want to give you a bit of backstory on my experience with Prince of Persia, so that you may take my opinions in the proper context. The first PoP game I ever played was Warrior Within. My brother picked it up on impulse one day ? neither of us had ever heard of it at the time ? and we both played through it. It didn?t take us long to see that it was fucking awesome and we quickly tracked down the other instalments in the series. Later, we would get our hands on the ?new? Prince of Persia and as of yesterday, The Forgotten Sands. As of right now, I have beaten Sands of Time four times, Warrior Within six, Two Thrones twice, Prince of Persia once, and I am in the final area in The Forgotten Sands. There, now you know, and I can begin.
There is a pretty standard view on the Ubisoft?s little gem, and for the most part I agree with it. Without wishing to be redundant, I will give a review on every game in the series here, spending the most time on the latest one.
The first game, chronologically, was Sands of Time. Referred to by many (myself not included, but we?ll get to that later) as the best PoP title, Sands was very well designed, very pretty, genuinely funny (I STILL catch myself quoting the prince talking to himself), and told an excellent and intriguing story.
There were a few things wrong with it, of course; the combat was one step shy of horrible and the final boss was easier than half the fights that it took to get to him. The whole thing was also rather short; my longest run took me just shy of seven hours, and my shortest one is less than five. Even so, the great story and epic environments rank this very high on my list of games
Warrior Within was the second game in the series, in which the prince endeavours to shake off the demon on his back by making it so the Sands of Time were never created in the first place. It is much darker and grittier than any other PoP title to date and it earned a lot of flak from the community for it. Without wishing to spark an argument, I?ve never seen why. The combat was leagues better, with the parkour merging seamlessly with the prince?s sword abilities, and the environments were much more varied and no less epic. The game is also nearly twice as long, as it forces you to traverse several giant areas of a frankly massive castle twice, once in the past and once in the present. The story is interesting also in that you have the choice of two different endings, both of which feel equally appropriate, though one is much more obviously a setup for the sequel.
I could go on praising WW all day. The atmosphere, while admittedly completely losing the humour the first game carried wonderfully, is aptly dark and haunting, and during the Dahaka segments there is a real sense of survival horror as you run as fast as you can to get away from this giant evil creature. The only flaws I find in the game come in the form of the story, but it just carries the predictability over from the first game and to their credit, Ubisoft at least made the prince intelligent enough to see the twists only slightly after the player does.
Two Thrones is the ?final? instalment in the series, attempting to combine the brightness and levity of SoT with the combat style of WW. It succeeded, mostly. The game never gets quite as entertaining as the original, and while the speed kill system was a welcome addition, and the time spent as the Dark Prince adding a new interesting form of combat, it never matches up to the visceral fluidity of its predecessor. Two Thrones has all the elements that made each of the other two good, but it doesn?t do any of them as well.
The one place TT does improve is the story. Unlike certain other trilogies I could name, the ending actually feels like an ending, and even better, it feels like it is going all the way back to the original and tying everything up. Admittedly the segment in which you defeat your dark half for good is a little less than ideal (read: fucked up), but for the most part, it is still very strong.
The next bearer of the name is easily the runt of the litter. Prince of Persia is related to the original series in name only. You?re not dealing with the Sands of Time anymore, the prince is essentially a vagabond (and yes, Ubisoft, we see what you did there with the donkey), and the game...well, sucks. The parkour sequences exist and are awesome, yes, but they are very linear, even more so than the SoT ones. Furthermore, the entire game consists of going through the same motions what feels like a few hundred times. The main areas are all very similar and the combat...
If I was to rank the Prince of Persia games on combat, this one would be so far below the rest (even the original) you would need a magnifying glass to see it. Never before have I hated enemy encounters so much in a game. Your movement is restricted severely, enemies have no variety and the strategy doesn?t even really exist anymore. As much as your inability to die courtesy of Elika (a character that manages to lower the score of this game by herself) does improve the flow, it also takes all of the challenge out of combat. Get hit and the game hands you a quick-time-event to recover. Fail that and Elika will save your sorry ass. Or at least, I assume she would. The game hands you so many chances to recover that you really have to be trying to get beaten in combat.
I really don?t know why Ubisoft decided to name this monstrosity after the trilogy that bound me to them forever. I bought it on faith, I beat it, and now I?m selling it.
This brings us to The Forgotten Sands. I can sum up my review of this game in one sentence: why did they fix what wasn?t broken? It seems that Ubisoft decided just continuing their extremely high quality combat style wasn?t good enough and they had to try to revamp it. The result is an utter collapse of everything that made the series new and innovative. Remember how you had to track down those health upgrades in little side-quests in the original? Remember how you?d keep your eye out for the secret entrances and how rewarding it felt when you got extra health for your efforts? Yeah, that?s gone. In its place is an upgrade system. Oh joy, now this is like playing an RPG, except without the whole ?role-playing? thing.
Forgotten Sands gives you control over how the Prince develops his abilities with a pretty straightforward upgrade chart. Instead of hunting for extra health, you can now buy it. The only thing you hunt for are sarcophagi, and half the time you can see them on the screen, it?s just a matter of getting to them. For shame, Ubisoft.
This series has a tradition of fairly predictable plots held up by deep and well-voiced characters and for the most part, Forgotten Sands upholds that. Everything moves along pretty much as you?d expect, as do the characters. The one unfortunate point is that only the prince feels like there?s anything to him. Razia and Malik are almost mechanical in their predictability, very obviously there to drive the plot rather than be a character.
Since I mentioned it before, I would be amiss not to talk about the combat. While there is certainly an element of manoeuvrability and choice in place, it is nowhere near the seamless parkour blend that Warrior Within and Two Thrones possessed. As much as I miss having the sand powers to rely on (now being fuelled by the ever-overused ?energy?), the four elemental abilities you pick up, as well as the basic and advanced moves the game teaches you, all work quite well. It feels a little bit sticky, especially compared to its predecessors, but it?s still better combat than your average game.
The other place that Forgotten Sands falls short is in the parkour itself. While the new moves and abilities you pick up work very well and add a challenge that was absent before, it is once again a little sticky. The prince doesn?t move exactly as you tell him to, occasionally jumping in a direction your controller is not pointing, and quite a few times I got stuck on the scenery and had to reload the last checkpoint.
Forgotten Sands has the most in common with Sands of Time. Its combat is better, obviously, but not as smooth or as visceral as Warrior Within or Two Thrones. It?s also easily the lightest and funniest game since the original. On top of that, it?s short. I devoted half an evening last night and an evening tonight and I?m going to beat it tomorrow. It doesn?t necessarily feel too short, but I do certainly wish there had been more to it.
One thing that will piss off a lot of fans is that despite supposedly taking place between Sands of Time and Warrior Within, there is nothing to tie the game to the original series aside from a couple of passing references early on to Azad and Farah. Ubisoft made a point of telling us it was a part of the series, so to make it a completely unnecessary addition feels like a bit of a slap in the face.
Despite the flaws, it is still a strong game, and I don?t regret buying it rather than renting it. You might, but I didn?t. The series has always been of consistently high quality, and the only thing that can be really said against Forgotten Sands is that it?s not quite as good as the ones that came before.
Final Verdicts:
Sands of Time: 4/5
Warrior Within: 5/5
Two Thrones: 4.5/5
Prince of Persia: 2/5
Forgotten Sands: 4/5
Odds are good you?ve already made up your mind, but if you?re a fan of the series and looking for a recommendation, definitely rent Forgotten Sands. You can probably beat it and the challenges before you have to take it back. If you have the money to spare and you own the rest, pick it up.
