Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Review

"This is SPARTA!" wouldn’t work this time, the Prince of Persia is far more powerful than Xerxes himself, and that Sparta dude… well he would want to sharpen his skills more if he were to face the Prince.

Ubisoft’s newest title Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, is a unique game in the action/adventure genre, and without question, it sets the scale right this time, by bringing life to the genre, after it had withered.

Sands of Time offers a lot and is a very promising game, one of the most unique story lines that I ever played, the incidents and the adventure you go through make it an experience nonetheless. Remotely related to the DOS games series under the name Prince of Persia (there are 2 games on the PC) the game takes off with you playing the Prince himself. The Prince and his father (Persia's King) have come to conquer India (which is an Arabic country at the time). You wouldn’t have won the war without some inside information, and that is when the Vizier makes an appearance as he helps your father to overrun the city with your army. But as with all youth, the young prince is full of pride and wants to impress his father.
So in the middle of this havoc he sets on a quest of his own to get something of great value for his father from the vault of the Indian King; and that is where the Dagger of Time makes its first appearance, as you get to see it's magnificent and awesome powers.

Running back all the way to your father to impress him with what you find, you find the Vizier with your father gazing upon a massive hour glass. With the help of some evil scam by the Vizier, the evils of the hour glass are released. None survive the sands' release and everyone turns into undead like creatures, with you, the Vizier and a mysterious girl that accompanies you later in the game, surviving such an attack. The Vizier runs out of the palace after he tries to steal your dagger, and from here your nightmare starts. Everyone in the castle who turned into those creatures are now trying to kill you and your friends.

Visuals in the game are more than astounding; specially the caves level where you can see wells and waterfalls. More than once I was utterly amazed by the simply magnificent environment. Not only outside the castle but indoors; architectural design is fully detailed and well designed, you couldn’t imagine anything more Arabian or Indian. Clearly Ubisoft haven't left anything to chance.

Even the voice acting is put to a good use, the actors are passionate and you can feel it from the output. Sounds are as glamorous as the graphics itself, it adds to the feel of the Arabian atmosphere and completes the image. 

What would a game talking about time be without some Matrix effects, right ? That is where your dagger comes in handy throughout the levels you collect sand balls which will fill up your sand dagger's tank. Each tank will give you the ability to rewind time to a certain point, and the side tanks are for slowing down time, or generating some devastating defensive attacks where you get to freeze all your enemies.

And with the help of your sword which is changed 3 times in the game, you will be able to defeat enemies much faster. Wait till the end of the game where you get the last sword (a greenish one) then you will witness the true power of your sword and you are in for a little surprise when you use it.

The gameplay is more than satisfying, with only one down side, you will have to fight every battle there is. It is the only way for you to unlock the hints scenery that is offered after each battle. When you walk around a light beacon is generated and fueled by the souls collected in the dagger from your fallen foes. Also the limited moves offered in combat are sometimes boring, since there are 4-6 moves at the most, so all battles seems like a déjà vu.
Another draw back is the order of the gameplay: you go through some puzzles then fight some enemies then do that all over again. But nonetheless the story and the graphics alongside the new puzzles and enemies offered on each level keep you from boredom for some time.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time has proven its worth. You won't regret buying the game. Ubisoft have gone through a lot to please everyone’s taste. If you like long games then this won't be considered short, if you like state of the art graphics, you won't regret owning this, and if you like adventure/action games then you are in for a little surprise when you play this game. All in all the game is a must have and it should receive nothing less than an 8/10 as an overall rating.