Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

"Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time" is a pleasant gaming-experience with a unique atmosphere and truly stunning visuals (see the animations for yourself, and you'll know what I'm talkin about!).

To be honest: PoP - Sands of Time lacks innovation, as most elements of gameplay have already been seen before. Many camera-techniques, most riddles and a fair share of the controls have obviously been inspired by "The Legend Of Zelda - Ocarina of Time", some visuals (especially the outdoor locations) resemble "Ico", and if you ever played "Soul Reaver 2", you won't lose the feeling that you somehow know what's gonna happen next.

Nevertheless, PoP was one of the most capturing and entertaining pieces of software to hit my system in a "long" time, because all the (wisely chosen) elements were put together so artfully, that the final product is at least as "fresh" as most of its mental predecessors were at their time. One thing that impressed me was the nearly endless repertoire of moves the Prince can perform and combine without ever leaving the player's control. You never really *notice* the engine enabling you to perform the moves at ´the specified spots... everything just WORKS, and it works well. The Prince is without a doubt one of the most agile heroes ever to appear in a game: He runs up or along walls, climbs most any surface, walljumps like mario and does somersaults, cartwheels, backflips and helldoIknowwhatelse when and wherever you want him to. As for the fighting system, PoP has taken a great leap forward in comparison to everything available up to now, as it combines the arcade-like fighting with a blocking-system quick as lightning and some matrix-moves that are marvelously cool to look at. The graphics are well done (best hair animation ever!), although some people might not like the blurry filter that lies on the entire scenery, but in my opinion it just helps creating a wonderful "Arabian tales" atmosphere. Music's alright when it's playing (mostly in fight scenes... silence is your friendly companion for the largest part of the journey). Just imagine oriental tunes with a slight touch of industrial. If you like atmospheric adventures with a lot of artistic jumping, climbing and swordfighting, this one's for you.

8.5/10

Yes, this is the first game in a three game set with the Warrior Within and the Two Thrones to follow. This one was really good, though for my money Thrones was the best. The weakest was Warrior Within. This one has the prince raiding a country for their treasure. One of these treasures is the dagger of time which is the main source of power for the prince during the game. The prince's father is killed and the sands of time unleashed as people in the kingdom are turned into sand monsters and such. The prince must navigate this world fighting the sand monsters and navigating steep cliffs and traps and such as he tries to put everything right. The dagger of time gives the prince powers too, as he can kill the sand monsters and do various things with time including rewinding it to avoid death. Speeding up time to kill enemies more quickly. See into the future to find out clues to navigate through certain ares and so forth. The best parts of the game to me were the levels where you had to do acrobatic wall runs and such to get through areas. Then other areas you had to fight...these areas were a bit more of a pain and less fun. Though the fighting became more fun once you got a certain sword as it was easier to kill the monsters. There is a lack of boss fights in this one that drag it down as I only recall the one at the end with the main villain. So incorporate the fighting and the acrobat levels a bit better and make the fights more fun and you have an even better game and for my money you have The Two Thrones.

Prince of Persia: Sands of time is one of my favourite games which played in Demo and Full Game. I liked the Concept and Techniques of the game. This Game has Good Story and Unique Gameplay. The Game has techniques like Wall to Wall Jump, Run on the wall, Run on the wall and Jumping from the opposite Sides. The Fighting Combats are more interesting, like Sucking the Sand form Sand enemies with Dragger of times. The Relationship between Farah and Prince was good. The reversal of time concept was in the Climax was an outstanding experience. The Background Music was Great. Prince of persia: Sands of time is one of my favourite games which played in Demo and Full Game. Liked the Concept and Techniques of the game. This Game has Good Story and Unique Gameplay. The Game has techniques like Wall to Wall Jump, Run on the wall, Run on the wall and Jumping from the opposite Sides. The Fighting Combats are more interesting like Sucking the Sand form Sand enemies with Dragger of times. The Relationship between Farah and Prince was good. The reversal of time concept was in the Climax was an outstanding experiance.

If I made one bad choice in my life it's that I didn't buy this game sooner. Indeed, in the end I didn't buy it at all, instead I just borrowed it off my sis about a year ago. She never got it back.

The game is absolutely flawless in it's design. The story follows the Prince of err... you know, who has invaded the grand palace of his rival in search of the ultimate treasure: the Dagger of Time, locked away inside the treasure vault of the city. The Prince retrieves it for his father, and the story leads on from there.

This opening scene serves as the 'turorial' level, and teaches you all the basics you'll need to advance. And it also succeeds in drawing you completely into the Prince's tale. Controlling him as he dangles from precarious ledges manoeuvring his way around the massive architecture is a sight in itself away from the amazing graphics. HDR lighting is used to great effect, shining through the windows of dusty corridors or illuminating the sky in a burning sunrise. Animation is amazing throughout, the Prince diving off ledges and running along walls with grace.

Yes, I said running along walls. While the idea of using the environment to your advantage has been around for a while, POP does it completely differently. The game is split into two different gameplay elements, as the areas you face become more like logic puzzles as you try to figure out'How would I reach that distant ledge?' or 'How do I get to that switch while avoiding the traps?' Seeing your plan fall into action is immensely satisfying. And an early mishap by the Prince sees the Maharajah's defence system come alive, adding a new twist to puzzles.

Combat is the other main gameplay element, and while it can be quite repetitive, it is just as acrobatic as the environment puzzles. Fights in this aren't just a case of tearing your way through enemy after enemy. Battles also have to have some thought put into them, as some enemies use different weapons and can move faster, and can block different attacks and that. The dagger can be used in fights to give you the advantage, like freezing the enemy to the spot or to slow time down giving aiding you to see oncoming attacks. You can also reverse time, so if you suffered an incapacitating attack or fell into the pit of spikes accidentally you can simply reverse time and try again. It is a fantastic gameplay mechanic as it cannot be used that often so you'll find yourself conserving your Sand Tanks for tougher puzzles. This game really does play like a breath of fresh air.

Overall it suffers in the same area that so many games fall down upon today, and that is that it just doesn't last long enough, although that is acceptable considering the emotional depth of the story, and that fights can be quite irritating when you are ganged up upon by several enemies. There's also not much potential for replay value, apart from to live the experience over again. But the main thing is that this still stands today as an amazing experience against it's two sequels. And you can have forgotten everything about it when you go to play it again(and trust me, you will). Overall this game should be played by everyone, no matter whether they play games or not.

Looks: 9 Sounds: 9 Plays: 10 Lasts:8 Overall 10/10

In this game you play as the Prince.... The Prince Of Persia ( his name is never revealed ) an athletic fighter new to the battlefield and must undo a mistake that would cost everyone their lives. He accidentally let the sands of time out of a giant mysterious hourglass after being tricked by the evil Viser to do so. Now he only has the help from a mystical dagger called the dagger of time and one of his palaces captured servants , Farah . He must learn to work together with her and use the dagger to his advantage but can he trust Farah who's home land was sacked by his only a few days earlier.....this game brings action/adventure/puzzle solving to a new level , not to mention a fantastic storyline , this game wasn't game of the year for nothing !