Preview: Prince Of Persia: The Forgotten Sands

The Sands of Time Trilogy remains my favourite trilogy of all time with Prince of Persia: Warrior Within being one of my favourite individual games of all time. The platforming and puzzle-solving was intelligent, the combat fluid and the storytelling excellent. Now, there is an edition to the trilogy, Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands which takes place right between Sands of Time and Warrior Within.

Title: Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands

Developer: Ubisoft Montreal

Publisher: Ubisoft

Genre: Adventure / Platformer

Platform: PS3, XBox, PC, Wii, DS, PSP

Expected Price: R700 (consoles), R400 (pc, ds, psp), R480 (wii)

Release Date: 18th May 2010 / 1 June 2010 (pc)

For those of you unfamiliar with Prince of Persia, I strongly recommend that you get your hands on a copy of any game from the Sands of Time trilogy. If you have not played one of those games, you are missing out on something truly great. The games are roughly set in what is now known as Iraq/Iran and take place somewhere within the first few centuries AD.

The premise of this game is that the prince has gone to visit his previously unheard of brother, Malik, only to discover that his brother’s kingdom is under attack; much like the opening to Sands of Time. His brother then unleashes the ancient Sand Army to defeat the intruders. Things quickly go from bad to worse when the Sand Army that just saved Malik’s kingdom starts to destroy it. The Prince then needs to clean up his brother’s mess. This is apparently one of the many little adventures that the prince had between Sands of Time and Warrior Within. Admittedly, the story doesn’t seem to have the depth or mystic appeal that other plots in the series had but then again, not much has been revealed about the story other than the basic premise for the game.

This game is designed to have the same feeling that other games in the Sands of Time trilogy had rather than the kind of gameplay that we saw in the poor attempt that was Prince of Persia (4). This means that all the acrobatics, traps, obstacles, puzzle-solving and time-altering abilities are back. There are however, a few additions to the prince’s arsenal. He now has control over the elements as well, namely Earth, Air, Fire and Water. The Earth power allows players to protect the Prince in a sphere of sand, create ridges on walls and lift him up on a ball of sand. Air allows the prince to use blasts of, well, air to knock enemies down or create a whirlwind that uproots any nearby enemies. Water allows players to solidify and liquefy bodies of water at will and is used mainly in the puzzle-solving and platforming parts of the game. Each power can be upgraded and changed on the fly with the D-pad.

The combat is very much the same as that in Warrior Within with the same kind of acrobatic sword-play and finesse. The major improvement is that you can take on up to 50 enemies at once. A let down though is that you can no longer wield 2 weapons at once and it also seems as if the prince can no longer steal weapons off his enemies. Once again, the prince is able to manipulate time, but it seems as if he can only rewind time this time around as there as been no footage of the prince slowing down time.

The environments are also much bigger and, like God of War III, what was implied or simply background in the previous games is now actually fully rendered thanks to Ubisoft’s own Anvil Engine. The puzzle-solving and platforming is very much the same as in previous games as well, requiring a mixture of timing, skill and speed to execute. Certain puzzles will also require the use of the prince’s new powers and will give the game far more depth then we saw in previously. The gameplay remains very linear but this has apparently allowed Ubisoft to create spectacular set-pieces for us to play through.

Unlike most multi-platform games, The Forgotten Sands is being developed by two different teams. One for XBox, PS3 and PC and another for Wii, DS and PSP. This means that for once the Wii version of a game will not simply be a bad port. The developer has made sure that the Wii version will maximise its unique functionality.

Like God of War III, a lot of effort was put in to make this game feel ‘right’ for fans of the series and even the control scheme has been kept very much the same so that players can almost literally pick up the controller and feel right at home. One big and glaringly strange change is that the prince seems to have gotten plastic surgery and come out looking more American /mixed-breed Latino than anything else. It’s not that bad but there was nothing wrong with the way the prince looked in the first place. He had that rugged Arabian look to him which is what people from that region look like.

All in all, Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands is Ubisoft’s re-entry into the Sands of Time series and looks to be trying very hard to keep a lot of the series’ magic and splendour. At present, it is certainly looking to be worth the money and even if it’s not what it promised to be, will still be worth a single playthrough just for that nostalgic feeling. For those wishing to make things a little more special there is also a Collector’s Edition which will be coming to SA.

[Credit: IGN for screenshots]