So, people didn't really like the Prince Of Persia reboot, so Ubisoft decided to go back to the Sands of Time Prince, and make a story bridging the gap between the first two games. I was excited for a return to one of my favourite characters. However the result kind of sucked.
The Prince has been sent to his brother Malik's kingdom to learn how best to rule... or something... he arrives to find the kingdom at war with an invading army. The Prince journeys through the kingdom and finds Malik, and the two head towards Solomon's treasure vault, where Malik uses a mystical artefact to unleash the army of Solomon, which promises a soldier for every grain of the desert sand. The army, of course, turns out to be evil and not put there to help the city under peril, but to stop them from destroying the world. The artefact gets split in two, The Prince getting one half and Malik the other. They are separated and The Prince finds his way to a portal, which takes him to a place reminiscent of the weird life upgrade areas from the first game; there he meets Razia, the last of the Djinn who tells him that unleashing solomon's army has released and unspeakable evil in the form of Ratash, a powerful Ifrit and that the only way to stop him is to reunite the two halves of the artefact. She also gives him the power to rewind time to assist him on his quest. He sets out to find Malik who is absorbing the power of the sand creatures of Solomon's army and as a result is becoming paranoid and doesn't believe The Prince, he runs away not giving The Prince his half. The Prince returns to Razia, who gives him the power to freeze water to help his journey, he once again tries to find Malik, who again won't help him and has absorbed even more power. This time Razia gives him a flight type power. The Prince finds his way to Ratash, who he fights and eventually Malik kills, however his energy goes into Malik, destroying the artefact and turning Malik into Ratash. The Prince returns to Razia who tells him he will have to kill Malik to save the world and tells him to journey to the city of the Djinn for a magical sword, he goes and finds the place in ruins so Razia gives him the power to rebuild areas that had previously fallen away from the result of time. The Prince finds the sword and sets out to find Malik, who he eventually fights and has to kill. This saves the world, but also makes him lose his connection to the Djinn and seemingly kills Razia.
There is a big reason this game was such a disappointment. The film. Ubisoft clearly rushed out the game to tie in with the film and as a result it is too short and just feels half arsed. The other big reason is the gameplay changes.
The fluid combat is gone replaced by a blocky uncomfortable style that just doesn't feel right, given the previous games in this series. They changed the way you recover health, now its pickups whereas before it was drinking from fountains. The rewind time and wall run buttons were different, which was just confusing. But worst of all was the addition of RPG elements. These added nothing, and felt unwelcome, Prince of Persia is not an RPG and as such adding in a level up system just feels completely wrong.
However, the graphics are absolutely gorgeous, especially with the huge amounts of enemies you get in areas, though they lack in variation, and the usual sweeping vistas that are such a staple of the series. And the new powers for platforming, except for the dumb flying one, are actually quite good, making for some fast paced exciting sections.
The story is... okay... its too short and isn't hugely involving, but the relationship between The Prince and Malik is actually quite good.
To sum up, this is a sad way to end my favourite series in all of gaming, The Prince of Persia deserved better.
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