Seven years after the events of Sands of Time The Prince finds himself being chased by a demonic entity known as The Dahaka, the guardian of the timeline, which is out to kill The Prince for unleashing the sands of time, even though he set it right. The Prince journeys to the island of time so he can travel back through time and convince the empress of time to not make the sands. On the way there his ship is attacked by a mysterious woman in black and an army of sand creatures. Shipwrecked and stranded on the island of time he follows the woman, Shahdee, through a portal in time; he finds her trying to kill another woman, Kaileena, so he decides that the enemy of his enemy is his friend, so he fights Shahdee to save her. Kaileena reveals that the empress is locked in her throne room and the only way to open the door is two incredibly difficult to get to and activate levers. The Prince achieves this task by going through both the present and the past to open the throne room door, at many points being chased by The Dahaka, which has followed The Prince to the island. Upon entering the throne room Kaileena reveals that she is, in fact, The Empress; The Prince fights and kills her, preventing her from creating the sands, which means The Dahaka should have no quarrel with him. Upon returning to the present The Prince discovers that The Dahaka is still chasing him, and realises that killing Kaileena is what created the sands, dejected he slumps down in a dungeon of the island, where he discovers an inscription telling about The Mask of the Wraith, which allows the wearer to go further back in time than before to have another chance. The Prince journeys to the mask, which turns him into a monster called the Sand Wraith so he can bring Kaileena to the present and kill her there so that he could never have released the sands. Then depending on whether or not you got all the life upgrades during the game you fight either Kaileena or The Dahaka. Then return home your task complete.
This game is often criticised for being too dark and angsty, trying to fit in with the emo generation. I personally love the darker elements and think the story is a wonderfully twisting and clever time travelling epic. The Prince has reason to be angst ridden what with the horrors he is facing and it seems to fit the story.
The platforming is as strong as ever, with several new elements added to make it more fun and flowing, leading to some truly spectacular sequences. Especially when The Dahaka gives chase and the tension is just dripping off the screen every time you slightly miscalculate a jump.
The combat went through a massive change here, becoming far more flowing and suited to the fast and furious parkour movements of the prince. A Big step up from the previous games clunky repetitive nature. Also added was the ability to pick up weapons from the enemies and use them in combat.
To sum up, this is my favourite game of the series, and absolute masterpiece that is a strong contender for my favourite game ever.
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