Prince of Persia - Prince Of Persia SOT(ENG)

This article is about the third-person action adventure video game. For other uses, see Sands of time (disambiguation).

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is a third-person action adventure video game published by Ubisoft. It was released on November 6, 2003 and is a continuation of the landmark MS-DOS and Macintosh game series Prince of Persia, created by Jordan Mechner in 1989.

The Sands of Time, developed internally at Ubisoft Montreal, successfully captures the mechanics of the original platformer and extends it to the 3D generation. An earlier attempt by The Learning Company to transfer the game to 3D (Prince of Persia 3D) was released in 1999, but failed to meet the standards set by the franchise. The Sands of Time was praised for its visual design, finely tuned game mechanics, and intriguing storyline, winning the game several awards.

Developed for the PC, PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox, and later a 2D version for the Game Boy Advance and mobile phones, The Sands of Time was a major hit. The success of The Sands of Time led to two sequels, Prince of Persia: Warrior Within and Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones, in 2004 and 2005, respectively.

Contents
[hide]

1 Plot

2 Gameplay

3 Version differences

4 Mobile phone version

5 Soundtrack

6 Reception

7 Feature film

8 References

9 External links

[edit] Plot

The Dagger of Time, as used in Sands of Time and Warrior Within (left). Redesigned for The Two Thrones (right).

Passing through India en route to Azad, King Shahraman and his son, the Prince of Persia, defeated the powerful Maharajah of India with the promise of honor and glory. After looting the city and capturing a giant hourglass full of sand, a mysterious dagger, and the Maharajah's daughter Farah along with other treasures, they continue to Azad. A dying Vizier, who had betrayed the Maharajah and aided King Shahraman in return for a share of the spoils, demands to have the dagger, as he was promised his choice of the Maharajah's treasures. But Shahraman refuses to take the dagger from his son, who captured it first. Denied also the hourglass itself, of which was to go to the sultan of Azad as a gift, the Vizier who wishes to harness the power of the Sands in the hourglass for himself, making him an immortal god and giving him control over time itself, tricks the Prince into opening the hourglass in Azad. When the Prince uses the dagger to unleash the Sands of Time from the hourglass, the Sands destroy the kingdom and turn all living beings into hideous sand creatures. Only the Prince, the Vizier, and Princess Farah, the kidnapped daughter of the Maharajah, remain unchanged due to their possessions; the Prince's dagger, the Vizier's staff, and Farah's medallion (there are a handful of unimportant survivors, such as two people who escape with Farah and a guard who assists you during the Azad defence system puzzle, who is possessed after his part).

On a journey to repair the damage he has caused, the Prince teams with Farah to return the Sands of Time to the hourglass by using the Dagger of Time, which also gives the Prince limited control over the flow of time. Before they reach their destination, the Prince and Farah form a romantic relationship. However, the prince sees Farah steal the dagger of Time while viewing the future through a Sand Vortex.The Prince knows that Farah has every reason to hate him for conquering her people, and he suspects that Farah plans to steal the Dagger of Time from him. While the Prince sleeps, Farah does at a later time take the Dagger, as well as his sword, and attempts to return the Sands to the hourglass herself, leaving only her medallion behind with the Prince. When the Prince catches up with her, she is being attacked by sand creatures, and is knocked into the hourglass chamber through a hole in the floor. The prince tries to grab her hand, but only manages to grab the Dagger of Time by it's blade, causing him severe pain. Farah, seeing that he won't let go of the Dagger choses to do so herself and falls to her death.

Afterwards, the Prince uses the Dagger to return the Sands to the hourglass, and the timeline reverts to the point prior to the battle against the Maharajah. As a result, the relationship between Farah and himself is a memory that only he possesses. However, the Prince still has the Dagger in his possession, even in the past. He goes to find Farah, to warn her of the Vizier's treachery before the Sands are released, and to give her the Dagger of Time. At this point, it is revealed all of the Prince's narration in the menus and cut-scenes from the game were actually him recounting his adventures to Farah, in an attempt to warn her. But as the Prince shares his epic story with her, he is confronted by the evil Vizier, who still yearns for the Dagger, and eternal life. He plans to kills Farah and blame her murder on the prince.

After defeating the Vizier, and preventing the opening of the hourglass, the Prince offers the Dagger to Farah. She questions why he needed to invent such a fantastic story. After he responds with a coldly-received kiss, he rewinds time a moment and instead agrees with her, that it was just a story. As he leaves, she asks him his name, and is left dumbfounded when he tells her to call him "Kakolookiyam"^[3], the name of a fairy-tale hero that Farah's mother told her stories about as a child and that only she would know of. (In the previous timeline, Farah had explained the significance of this word to the Prince).

[edit] Gameplay

The Prince using his dagger in combat.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time combines exploration and combat to create a unique synthesis. Both elements make use of the Prince's acrobatic capability and agility. Throughout much of the game, the player must attempt to traverse the palace by running across walls, ascending or descending chasms by jumping back and forth between walls, avoiding traps, making other types of well-timed leaps, solving puzzles, and using discovered objects to progress. The cultural setting of the game provides many linguistically interesting inscriptions to be found on walls.

During combat, many of the same moves vital to the player in other situations can be put to use to overpower enemies. Such an example is the ability of the Prince to rebound off walls in order to strike enemies decisively. You can also vault over the enemies backs and then finish them off in two hits. The player generally attacks enemies and blocks using a sword, although other objects/factors, such as the Dagger of Time and its time-control abilities eventually prove to be critical to victory.

A pivotal gameplay element is the Prince's Dagger of Time. It contains "charges" of the Sands of Time from the hourglass that allow the Prince to control time. The Prince has the ability to "reverse" time and travel up to ten seconds into the past. While using this ability, all sounds and previous action play backwards, and the play environment accurately resets to its previous state. For example, if the Prince was struck by an enemy attack during the rewind period, the health he lost will be given back to him, or a bridge that was destroyed a few seconds ago will repair itself. The Dagger also allows the prince to slow down time, and freeze his enemies, using it as a main-gauche to attack them directly.

The Dagger does not come with an unlimited number of uses. However, defeated enemies leave behind piles of the Sands of Time, which can be absorbed by the Dagger to replenish its stock. The stock can also be replenished by absorbing Sand clouds. This encourages the player to confront and vanquish enemies (as opposed to avoiding them) in order to replenish the power to manipulate time during the more tricky acrobatic sections of the game. It must, however be noted that if the player does not absorb the Sand from a fallen enemy in about five seconds, said enemy will come back to life. Extra Sand glasses can be gained by collecting eight Sand clouds, and extra Sand tanks (which are used for different powers than the Sand glasses) are gained by vanquishing sixteen enemies after having collected a new glass.

[edit] Version differences

"GameCube" (and "GBA"): Features the original Prince of Persia, and some of the "Making of" featurettes. If the player connects a Game Boy Advance with its own copy of The Sands of Time, the Prince's health will regenerate.
"Xbox": The NTSC version features Prince of Persia, Prince of Persia 2, as well as all the "Making of" featurettes. The PAL version only features the original Prince of Persia.
"PS2": Features the original Prince of Persia.
"PC": Features neither of the original games.

[edit] Mobile phone version

This game is also available on cell phones. Gameloft has released this game and its two sequels as mobile games.^[4]^[5]^[6]

[edit] Soundtrack

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time The Original Soundtrack

Soundtrack by Stuart Chatwood

Released
November 3, 2003

Genre Video game music

Price of Persia: The Sands of Time The Original Soundtrack is the soundtrack to the Sands of Time. It was released November 3, 2003 and was composed by Stuart Chatwood of the now defunct Canadian rock band The Tea Party. ^[7]

The vocals of Maryem Tollar are featured throughout the game, and Cindy Gomez sings Sands of Time's ending credits song, "Time Only Knows".

[show]Track listing^[7]

# Title Length

1. "Welcome to Persia"

2. "Introducing The Prince"

3. "Call to Arms"

4. "Prelude Fight"

5. "A Dagger is Found"

6. "A Princess is Stolen"

7. "Behold the Sands of Time"

8. "Start Running"

9. "Discover the Royal Chambers"

10. "Dreamtime"

11. "A Question of Trust"

12. "Father Is That You?"

13. "Attack of the Sand Griffins"

14. "Don't Enter The Light"

15. "Enter The Royal Palace"

16. "A Long Way Up"

17. "A Vision"

18. "Royal Baths"

19. "A Bad Dream"

20. "Chaos In The Zoo"

21. "Lost In The Zoo"

22. "Lost in the Crypts"

23. "Farah Enlightens the Prince."

24. "A Brief Oasis"

25. "Awake"

26. "Trouble in the Barracks"

27. "Library"

28. "Prince Hesistates..."

29. "Tower of Dawn"

30. "Farah Persikes"

31. "At What Cost"

32. "Reverse the Sands of Time"

33. "Battle Begins"

34. "Vizier Must Die"

35. "Finish the Vizier"

36. "Farewell Princess"

37. "Time Only Knows"

[edit] Reception

[show] Reviews

Publication Score

1UP.com A^[8] (Xbox)
A ^[9](GC)
A^[10] (PS2)
C+^[11] (GBA)

Edge 9 of 10^[12]

Electronic Gaming Monthly 9.33 of 10^[13]^[14]^[15] (Xbox, GC, PS2)

Eurogamer 9 of 10^[16]^[17]

Game Informer 9.5 of 10^[13]^[15]
8.25 of 10^[18] (GBA)

GamePro 5 of 5^[13]^[15] (Xbox, PS2)
4 of 5^[18] (GBA)

GameSpot 9.0 of 10^[19] (Xbox)
9.0 of 10^[20] (GC)
9.0 of 10^[21] (PS2)
8.9 of 10^[22] (PC)
7.1 of 10^[23] (GBA)

GameSpy 4.5 of 5^[24] (Xbox)
4 of 5^[25] (GC)
4 of 5^[26] (PS2)
4 of 5^[27] (PC)
3 of 5^[28] (GBA)

IGN 9.6 of 10^[29] (Xbox)
9.6 of 10^[30] (GC)
9.6 of 10 ^[31] (PS2)
8.8 of 10 ^[32] (PC)
7 of 10 ^[33] (GBA)

Play Magazine A^[15] (PS2)

X-Play 5 of 5^[34] (PS2)

Compilations of multiple reviews

Compiler Score

Metacritic 92 of 100^[35] (Xbox)
92 of 100^[36] (GC)
92 of 100^[37] (PS2)
89 of 100^[38] (PC)
75 of 100^[39] (GBA)

Game Rankings 93%^[13] (Xbox)
92%^[14] (GC)
92%^[15] (PS2)
88%^[40] (PC)
73%^[18] (GBA)

MobyRank 94 of 100^[41] (Xbox)
93 of 100^[42] (GC)
93 of 100^[43] (PS2)
89 of 100^[44] (PC)
75 of 100^[45] (GBA)

Awards

IGN Editors' Choice Award^[31]^[29]^[30]

Gamespot Editors' Choice Award^[21]^[20]^[19]

E3 2003 Game Critics Awards: Best Action/Adventure Game^[46]

2004 Game Developers Choice Awards: Excellence in Game Design, Excellence in Programming^[47]

Penny Arcade: Best Absolutely Everything (Game of the Year 2003)^[48]

Electronic Gaming Monthly: 2003 Game of the Year

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time was received with widespread critical acclaim. IGN gave the game a 9.6/10 rating, praising the game for its "intuitive control, stunning atmosphere and satisfyingly clever environmental puzzles," and stating it was one of "[their] favorite adventure offerings of all time."^[31] GameSpot gave The Sands of Time a score of 9.0/10 "recommend[ing it] wholeheartedly."^[21] In general, the game was most often praised for its lush, dreamy environment and graphics, the acrobatic combat and platforming, the forgiving and responsive controls, the excellent animation of the Prince, the story, and the time-manipulation abilities of the Dagger. The Sands of Time is also often noted for its flowing gameplay - particularly in relation to puzzle-solving, which has a tendency to hinder the action of other true 3D platform games considerably.

The game's average score on Metacritic and GameRankings is a 92%, making it one of the best reviewed games for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube.^[15]^[37]

[edit] Feature film

Promotional logo

Main article: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2009 film)

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is currently being adapted for a 2009 film, being produced by Jerry Bruckheimer for Buena Vista Pictures and being directed by Mike Newell. The initial script was written by Jordan Mechner with subsequent drafts by Jeffrey Nachmanoff. Jake Gyllenhaal and Gemma Arterton will star in the film.^[49]

In the fantasy adventure, Gyllenhaal will play Dastan, a young prince in sixth century Persia who must join forces with Tamina (Arterton), a feisty and exotic princess, to prevent a villainous nobleman from possessing the Sands of Time, a gift from the gods that can reverse time and allow its possessor to rule the world. When discussing the adaptation, Mechner said:

Rather than do a straight beat-for-beat adaptation of the new videogame, we're taking some cool elements from the game and using them to craft a new story - much as 'Pirates' [of the Caribbean] did with the theme park ride.^[50]

—Mechner, Shacknews: Prince of Persia Movie Plans

[edit] References

^ Tyrone Miller Interview
^ Patrice Desilets, Claude Langlais, Jordan Mechner interview (Dutch)
^ The Sands of Time screenplay
^ Prince of Persia The Sands of Time. Gameloft. Retrieved on 2008-05-09.
^ Prince of Persia: Warrior Within - full Game Downloads for your Cell Phone. Gameloft. Retrieved on 2008-05-09.
^ Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones - Mobile Game. Gameloft. Retrieved on 2008-05-09.
^ ^a ^b Amazon.com: Price of Persia: The Sands of Time: Yuri Lowenthal, Joanna Wasick, Barry Dennen, Warren Burton, William Knight (III): Music. Amazon.com. Retrieved on 2008-05-09.
^ 1UP Staff (2003-12-23). Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Xbox Review Index, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Reviews. 1UP.com. Retrieved on 2008-05-12.
^ Bettenhausen, Shane (2003-12-23). Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time GameCube Review Index, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Reviews. 1UP.com. Retrieved on 2008-05-12.
^ Bettenhausen, Shane (2003-12-23). Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time PS2 Review Index, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Playstation 2 Reviews. 1UP.com. Retrieved on 2008-05-12.
^ Gifford, Kevin (2000-01-01). Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Game Boy Advance Review Index, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Reviews. 1UP.com. Retrieved on 2008-05-12.
^ Edge Online: Search Results. Edge. Retrieved on 2008-05-12.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Reviews. Game Rankings. Retrieved on 2008-05-12.
^ ^a ^b Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Reviews. Game Rankings. Retrieved on 2008-05-12.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Reviews. Game Rankings. Retrieved on 2008-05-09.
^ Bramwell, Tom (2003-11-17). Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Review // PS2 /// Eurogamer. Eurogamer. Retrieved on 2008-05-12.
^ Bramwell, Tom (2003-12-15). Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Review // PC /// Eurogamer. Eurogamer. Retrieved on 2008-05-12.
^ ^a ^b ^c Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Reviews. Game Rankings. Retrieved on 2008-05-12.
^ ^a ^b Kasavin, Greg (2003-11-10). Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time for Xbox Review - Xbox Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Review pp. 1-3. Gamespot. Retrieved on 2008-05-12.
^ ^a ^b Kasavin, Greg (2003-11-10). Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time for GameCube Review - GameCube Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Review pp. 1-3. Gamespot. Retrieved on 2008-05-12.
^ ^a ^b ^c Kasavin, Greg (2003-11-10). Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time for PlayStation 2 Review - PlayStation 2 Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Review pp. 1-3. Gamespot. Retrieved on 2008-05-12.
^ Kasavin, Greg (2003-12-09). Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time for PC Review - PC Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Review pp. 1-3. Gamespot. Retrieved on 2008-05-12.
^ Shoemaker, Brad (2003-12-15). Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time for Game Boy Advance Review - Game Boy Advance Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Review. Gamespot. Retrieved on 2008-05-12.
^ Turner, Benjamin (2003-11-07). GameSpy: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Review pp. 1-2. Gamespy. Retrieved on 2008-05-12.
^ Turner, Benjamin (2003-12-21). GameSpy: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Review pp. 1-2. Gamespy. Retrieved on 2008-05-12.
^ Turner, Benjamin (2003-11-06). GameSpy.com - Review pp. 1-2. Gamespy. Retrieved on 2008-05-12.
^ Rausch, Allen (2004-01-04). GameSpy: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Review. Gamespy. Retrieved on 2008-05-12.
^ Barnholt, Ray (2003-11-22). GameSpy.com - Review. Gamespy. Retrieved on 2008-05-12.
^ ^a ^b Casamassina, Matt (2003-11-10). IGN: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Review pp. 1-5. IGN.com. Retrieved on 2008-05-12.
^ ^a ^b Casamassina, Matt (2003-11-10). IGN: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Review pp. 1-4. IGN.com. Retrieved on 2008-05-12.
^ ^a ^b ^c Casamassina, Matt (2003-11-07). IGN: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Review pp. 1-5. IGN.com. Retrieved on 2008-05-12.
^ Buffs, Steve (2003-12-09). IGN: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Review pp. 1-3. IGN.com. Retrieved on 2008-05-12.
^ Harris, Craig (2003-11-12). IGN: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Review. IGN.com. Retrieved on 2008-05-12.
^ G4 - X-Play - Reviews. X-Play (2005-10-01). Retrieved on 2008-05-09.
^ Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (xbx: 2003): Reviews. Metacritic. Retrieved on 2008-05-12.
^ Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (cube: 2003): Reviews: Reviews. Metacritic. Retrieved on 2008-05-12.
^ ^a ^b Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (ps2: 2003): Reviews. Metacritic. Retrieved on 2008-05-09.
^ Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (pc: 2003): Reviews. Metacritic. Retrieved on 2008-05-12.
^ Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (gba: 2003): Reviews. Metacritic. Retrieved on 2008-05-12.
^ Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Reviews. Game Rankings. Retrieved on 2008-05-12.
^ PPrince of Persia: The Sands of Time for Xbox - MobyGames. MobyGames. Retrieved on 2008-05-12.
^ Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time for GameCube - MobyGames. MobyGames. Retrieved on 2008-05-12.
^ Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time for PlayStation 2 - MobyGames. MobyGames. Retrieved on 2008-05-12.
^ Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time for Windows - MobyGames. MobyGames. Retrieved on 2008-05-12.
^ Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time for Game Boy Advance - MobyGames. MobyGames. Retrieved on 2008-05-12.
^ Game Critics Awards. Game Critics Awards. Retrieved on 2008-05-09.
^ Game Developer Choice Awards. Game Developers Choice Awards. Retrieved on 2008-05-09.
^ Penny Arcade! - We're Right 2003, Final. Penny Arcade. Retrieved on 2008-05-09.
^ GameDaily: Jake Gyllenhaal Crowned 'Prince of Persia'
^ Shacknews: Prince of Persia Movie Plans

SOT the orders

One title almost guaranteed to bring a tear to the eye of any older gamer when mentioned is Prince of Persia. Originally released in the 16-bit machine era, it was a tight combination of puzzles, traps, frequent death and fighting, all against a time limit. It is also remembered for the fact that the two subsequent sequels were never quite in the same league. Now Jordan Mechner, along with the talents Ubisoft have at their disposal, has brought the franchise back to the life on the latest console platforms.

Not much has changed in the intervening years. There is still a prince, a princess and an evil vizier, but this time around there is a new twist in proceedings. The Prince's father, King Sharaman, has attacked and captured a Maharajah's palace in his quest for continuing glory. Within the palace are the legendary Sands of Time and the Dagger required to operate them. These two items, along with several Palace slaves and the Maharajah's daughter Farah, are taken to a local Sultan as gifts. However the Vizier tricks the Prince into releasing the Sands of Time from their hourglass, causing almost everyone in the palace to be consumed and turned into evil warriors. The Prince is protected by having the Dagger, Farah by her pendant, and the Vizier by his staff. It is these three characters that play the central role in the game as the Prince looks to undo what chaos he has unleashed.

The Dagger itself is the main focal point of the game. Firstly it is of vital importance during combat as your normal sword (up to a point) can only stun the sand warriors - they can only be killed by stabbing them with the Dagger. Getting them to that point can be tricky as each type has its own strengths and weaknesses in combat, and together with the variety of attacks at your disposal, means that combat does not get that repetitive. Disposing of them using the Dagger fills up the sand meters, which can then be used for time bending trickery.

This is where the other hook of the game comes in: the ability to warp time itself. The first ability learned is the one to reverse time back to a point and try again. It is a double edged sword, for it makes the game less frustrating than it used to be (frequent deaths have been a ubiquitous part of the PoP series), but on the other hand sometimes makes it a bit too easy to progress. Still, to counterbalance this, the Dagger's abilities can only be used as long as there is sand left in it.

The first couple of times something is mucked up there is panicked mental sense of, "Oh shi... woah press rewind, quick! Here he comes back out of the hole, using only the magic of the slooooow moooootion cameraaaaaa", but quite soon it becomes second nature to slam the L button to avert disaster. Other abilities of the Dagger include freezing an enemy temporarily and speeding up time to take out a group of enemies in the blink of an eye, much like a ninja Billy Whizz. All of these consume ever more sand from the Dagger, meaning they can't be over relied upon when fighting.

Combat may tire occasionally as sometimes the game throws twenty-plus enemies at the Prince in one melee, and it takes time to dispose of each one individually. On the other hand, there is plenty of opportunity to mix things up and develop skills and attack style. There is nothing like showing off as the Prince has been given an incredible number of animation frames and the movements seamlessly blend into one another from one attack to the next. Flash? Why yes, as you can go vault over a first enemy and slash them from behind; roll up to a second enemy; slice them across the middle and then high kick them onto the ground; turn to a third and freeze them with the Dagger; before turning to the first two and stabbing them to kill them; and finally returning to the third to slice through him. And all done with the minimum of fuss. The programming team obviously thought long and hard about how to make the combat as easy to use as possible and with that they have succeeded.

All of this sounds impressive so far, and it is very much so, but the real genius of the game lies in the plot and level design. The game is portrayed as if the Prince is telling someone a story of what happened, which means you get to hear aloud his thoughts and feelings whilst playing. This drags the player in and makes them immediately part of the action going on by making the game almost personable. Upon meeting Farah the Prince isn't sure whether to trust her, but he gradually warms up during the quest and by the end even contemplates marrying her to "cure her impetuitiveness". There is a great deal of humorous banter between the two individuals and a love/hate relationship is very much what develops.

The Prince needs Farah, and she needs him, because many of the puzzles and designs require co-operation to be negotiated. The level design is incredible and really evokes a sense of wonder, cunning and sheer deviousness on the designers' part to baffle and confuse the player. Everything has been linked in a specific, negotiable way, but the fun comes from figuring out just how to get about.

The Prince has always been a sprightly fellow and this game does not buck the trend. Besides the usual jumping about, there are context-sensitive areas where pressing the R trigger causes a special ability of the Prince to be used. Whether it be to wall run across a large gap, or to swing around on poles, a wide variety of different moves are available to traverse the very deadly environments. It is all handled smoothly and there is never a time when you curse the controls for letting you down, it is your fault for screwing up a section. Each room will require utilisation of some of the Prince's skills, and whilst the direction of the adventure is firmly scripted (ie. room A to room B to room C), there is usually more than one way to complete each task.

All this greatness and addictive gameplay has to come to an end at some point, and unfortunately in Prince of Persia's case, a little too quickly. First time through may well take less than ten hours to complete, with possible repeat playing naturally taking much less. But for that time, there are some of the most enjoyable gaming experiences ever to savour and the sheer scope of the game makes it seem like you've spent far more time on it than you actually have. It feels and plays very much like the original game did, and it evokes the same abiding memories of that classic throughout. But why should you be reading this, when the game is out there, just begging you to buy it and play through at a bargain price? For all Ubisoft's complaints about sales figures, this is a game that justifiably deserves a follow-up more than most in the current over-abundance of sequels, and rightly so that Ubisoft have decided to honour it with that.