Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands
Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
Available on: PS3, Xbox 360, PC, PSP Nintendo DS
ESRB rating: T for Teen
System reviewed on: PS3
By my count, the Prince of Persia has had three lives. First, the always-nameless hero debuted in 1992 in the ground-breaking adventures hand-crafted by Jordan Mechner on the Apple IIe. The skilled animation in the earliest PoP games broke new ground for how lifelike game characters could come across. The next life of the Prince came in the Ubisoft-produced trilogy that spanned from 2003 to 2006 with The Sands of Time,Warrior Within and The Two Thrones. The animation became even more incredible, giving life to great story-telling and ingenious gameplay. Finally, Ubisoft released another game in 2008 that occurred in its own separate continuity. Now, on the occasion of a certain summer movie coming out, Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands revisits one of those lives. Does the game sink to the depth of yet another bad movie tie-in or does it invoke past PoP glories? Well…
Like Sands in an Hourglass:
The story in Forgotten Sands takes place with the same Prince who starred in the Sands of Time game trilogy. In his enjoyable mutterings to himself, he references old love interest Farah, and Azad, the locale in previous games. He also says “Why must it always be sand?,” a line that made me laugh out loud. You don’t need to have played any of the previous games to enjoy this one. In Forgotten Sands, he journeys to the kingdom of his brother Malik, sent by his father to learn how to command wisely. But, he winds up aiding him in battle when it turns out that Malik’s kingdom is under siege. The palace is about to fall when he makes a fateful decision to unleash Solomon’s Army. His hope is that the mythical militia can save his kingdom quickly curdle when they turn out to be, yup, an evil demonic horde. The more sand these ooga-boogas touch, the more they multiply. The army’s being led by Ratash, who’s an ifrit–evil spirits in some Middle Eastern mythologies–and his military force will overrun the world if they’re not stopped. Our hero receives an otherworldly intervention from Razia, an emissary from the Djinn (where the word “genie” comes from). She explains that the two halves of the seal that once imprisoned the army need to be reunited to shut down the horde. Of course, with Malik being corrupted by the seal’s evil power, it’s not going to be as easy as that.
Sandblasted:
Forgotten Sands looks great, with sweeping level design and silky animations that live up to the standard that the franchise set decades ago. The character models are well-designed and eye-catching, too. Moreover, this Prince of Persia may be the most successful of the modern PoP games when it comes to actually feeling Persian. The characters look like they might actually be from the Fertile Crescent, and not like the tan white guy from the last PoP game. Having swarthy-skinned characters in the games actually makes the mythology of djinns and ifrits feel more real.
Prince and the New Power Generation:
From a gameplay perspective, the biggest problem with the last Prince of Persia game was that it wouldn’t let you fail. Your companion Elika always saved you if you effed up in a fight or misjudged a jump. In Forgotten Sands, there isn’t any such hand-holding. Deeper into the game, you’ll have to navigate some of the notoriously intricate machineworks puzzles that are a series hallmark. If you flub them, and don’t have any time rewind juice left, then it’s back to the previous checkpoint for you. The return to more standardized difficulty model doesn’t just stop there. A revamped fighting engine pits players against dozens of characters at a time, too. This should especially please old-school PoP fans who know that excellence in combat has been spotty in previous games.
The Sands of Time spun heads in 2003, by letting players rewind, pause or speed up time. Time manipulation powers return in this game, allowing you to rewind time and recover from missed jumps and other mishaps. But Forgotten Sands expands on the models of previous games by adding upgradeable abilities fueled by experience points. It’s pretty standard RPG fare–increased health, new attacks, better defense–but these changes adds depth to Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands. The new powers rotate around control of the elements, so the Prince can summon stone armor that makes him temporarily invulnerable, push back waves of enemies with gusts of wind and solidify water so he can grab hold of it. It’s this last ability that’s most impressive, as it combines a fair amount of technical flair and adds to the gameplay as well.
Be Kind, Rewind:
Forgotten Sands feels like a celebration of all things PoP. It’s strongly reminiscent of The Sands of Time, but has elements of each modern installment lurking in it. 1001 Arabian Nights still figures prominently in the PoP DNA, as does hack-n-slash action that features a touch of flair. Perhaps mindful of tying in with a PG-13 blockbuster waiting to happen, the combat’s a lot more bloodless than in previous Prince games. You’re still getting devious deathtraps and sweeping environmental acrobatics, too. But, even if it feels like a greatest hits compilation of Princes of the past, there’s enough new stuff here to make you appreciate how much effort Ubisoft put into a title that could’ve been a crass cash-in. Provided the movie’s any good, the epic swashbuckling that Forgotten Sands delivers will make a nice compliment to the Prince’s silver screen debut. Not a bad feat for a game tethered to a movie based on a game.
Official Techland Score: 8.0 out of 10