Turin's Full Review: Prince of Persia: Sands of Time for PlayStation 2
I have been playing video games for a long long time, and while I still play games these days, I hardly seem to enjoy them or really get into them like I used to. There are many games that I just stop playing half way through and so forth. There are always a few exceptions, of course, but in general video games are just ok to me lately. Until I played Prince of Persia, which my friends were raving about. For the first time in years, I have found a game that I just though was cool, just so cool. I can't recommend it enough.
Graphics
The graphics and environments are all outstanding in Prince of Persia. The landscapes and environments are immersive and inspiring. There were many instances, as you are acrobatically moving through the air that you can really appreciate the environments around you and how they fittingly create this fantastic world.
Audio
The audio is my only complaint with the game. The music and sound effects are all excellent. The voice acting was decent as well. However, the volume of the voices varies with your distance and environment, sometimes at random it seems. This makes it hard to hear what the characters are saying, including your character at times. You can adjust the audio levels in the options menu, and I suggest you turn the volume up on your speakers or tv, and turn the audio down on effects and music and leave voices high. Sometimes the voices will be very loud, but most of the time they will be fine. The voices sound washed out sometimes as well.
Gameplay
This is where Prince of Persia shines. In a world of box puzzles, frustrating controls, and terrible camera angles, Prince of Persia offers you a game where the controls are simple and intuitive and flow freely. This makes the game play so much more fluid than a lot of other games as you fly across walls, somersault through the air and so forth. Where so many other games seem to punish you at times by having to slowly move blocks, the few block puzzles in Prince of Persia hardly slow your character down as you move them. While I understand other games are going for realism, if I wanted to realistically move huge boxes I would get a job at a freight or moving company. Besides, where in real life do you have to push a bock over a switch anyway? These little details make Prince of Persia a true gem.
The ability to rewind time also makes the game flow so much smoother. Not sure where to go? Thought that texture below you was a ledge? Start all over because you plummeted to your doom? Just rewind. The ability to rewind the game up to 10 seconds let you explore and figure things out without punishing you for making a wrong decision. It is this ability along with the solid controls that make Prince of Persia such a fantastic gaming experience.
Story
The story is presented as a tale being recounted. It is a pretty simple story with common themes and trends, but it is presented exceptionally well. The focus of the game is mostly on the gameplay, and there are only a few characters in the game. The characters are well developed enough for the plot and as I said, the presentation of the game is excellent.
Summary
It may be a simple tale of romance, intrigue, and adventure, but that is the heart of many of the ancient legends of the Middle East. Prince of Persia did an excellent job of bringing those fantasies and legends to life.
Notes
I got Splinter Cell for free with my purchase of Prince of Persia. This deal was valid for all systems: xbox, gamecube, playstation2, and pc. This deal is still going on and is offered at EBX and Gamestop. You can also order online at http://www.ebgames.com and http://www.gamestop.com .
This may be a promotion by Ubisoft, and thus available everywhere, I am not sure.
I played the Gamecube version of Prince of Persia. All versions of the game are identical, the only difference being the controllers. I can not comment on the PS2 controls, but the controls were excellent on the gamecube. The reason that I wrote this review here is because there are no other versions of Sands of Time listed on Epinions, and they don't have the auto add feature anymore. I apologize if this offends anyone, but I assumed it would be there when I wrote the review in word.
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