Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
The best PS2 game shown off at E3? Quite possibly.
Published: May 21, 2003
It seems like everyone played the original Prince of Persia games. It helped that the games were ported to seemingly incompatible systems like the NES, but it's still rather impressive that no matter how many people I talk to, everyone's at least heard the game, if not instantly launched into a play-by-play reenactment of the first time they encountered a spike trap or steel masher trap. It's a classic, and it deserves a proper remake, judging by the games industry's recent trend at remaking or updating classic franchises.
Ah, but there's problem: Prince of Persia 3D, a game that not only failed to capture any of the freshness and fun of the original game, but turned it into an unplayable abomination. Luckily, is seems Ubi Soft Montreal, the same dev house that birthed the stunningly good Splinter Cell, is just as fond of the old-school Prince as we are, and they're committed to not only avoiding the pitfalls (no pun intended) of the previous 3D remake, but they're actually improving on the admittedly solid-but-basic gameplay of the original in ways you have to see to believe.
To call Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time an impressive game is like calling by friend Ben Brawner's love for baseball a fad; the game is a jaw-dropping stunner, managing to cull the soul of the original game but utterly remake it with new moves, a sense of immersion that borders on the insane, and a few key gameplay tweaks the keep things accessible to nearly everyone. Hell, they even made combat fun. Scratch that, REALLY fun.
The Sands of Time part of the game's title refers to a mysterious ethereal substance that our hero, the updated, goateed Prince accidentally unleashes upon the world. The sand corrupts all it touches and if it weren't for the magical dagger that the Prince used to expose the world to the sand, he too would have been transformed. Luckily, he wasn't and with his mortal form spared, the task of returning the sand to its rightful place and freeing the people transformed by it falls to him, since he's the only one immune to its effects.
This is where the combat figures in, and while the Prince is immune to the sand, he can channel it to slow the flow of time to his liking (though, of course, there is a meter that limits how long he can play at being the One), so doing things as complex as slowing down time, slashing at an enemy in front of him, then the one behind him, then flipping up and over the enemy to his right only to come down, knife-first, to retrieve the sand from the felled enemy is as easy as literally about four or five button presses. What's more, the fluidity of the movies is a sight to behold, and while the Prince's moveset will slowly grow over time, there's nothing quite like watching him go from being surrounded by four guys to standing alone, sand meter filled and not a scratch on him – all in a matter of seconds. Should he happen to get killed or have a close brush with death, the sand can be used to completely reverse time about 10 seconds, something that should keep newcomers from kicking the bucket too often.
The other big change to the game is the Prince's ability to run along walls, Shinobi-style. Rather than being a flashy move, however, the wall run serves as a way to get past the game's otherwise impossible puzzles, so sprinting around a cylindrical room, tagging switches on the wall and sliding down massive curtains (that deform wonderfully realistically, we might add) is cake. It's also ridiculously fun, and much like the combat, can't really be described; you'll just have to take our word for it until a publicly playable version is available.
The game's visuals also bear mentioning, mainly because they're so amazingly good. The game simply doesn't look like it's running on the PS2 thanks mainly to a couple post effects the Montreal team have applied to the screen to keep things soft, but still crisp enough to force random oohs and ahhs. One such moment came as we took control at the beginning of the game and looked around. A volley of fire arrows streaked across the sky as blasts from a cannon slowly whittled away at the fortress we were apparently storming.
Getting lost is also something that will likely be kept at a minimum. By hitting a button, the camera pulls out to a set place, allowing you a clear view of where you need to go at all times. It's handy, but the real treat lies in the creamy smooth camera blur that honestly looks pre-rendered every single time it happens.
There's a ton more we just can't cover for space's sake, but short of the project melting down, there's no reason why Prince of Persia won't end up being an easy contender for Game of the Year in our book. We're not entire sure what the guys up in Montreal are eating, but so long as they keep churning out games like this, we'll happily sing their praises. Keep an eye out for this game, folks, it's already one of the most promising of the year.
Ah, but there's problem: Prince of Persia 3D, a game that not only failed to capture any of the freshness and fun of the original game, but turned it into an unplayable abomination. Luckily, is seems Ubi Soft Montreal, the same dev house that birthed the stunningly good Splinter Cell, is just as fond of the old-school Prince as we are, and they're committed to not only avoiding the pitfalls (no pun intended) of the previous 3D remake, but they're actually improving on the admittedly solid-but-basic gameplay of the original in ways you have to see to believe.
To call Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time an impressive game is like calling by friend Ben Brawner's love for baseball a fad; the game is a jaw-dropping stunner, managing to cull the soul of the original game but utterly remake it with new moves, a sense of immersion that borders on the insane, and a few key gameplay tweaks the keep things accessible to nearly everyone. Hell, they even made combat fun. Scratch that, REALLY fun.
The Sands of Time part of the game's title refers to a mysterious ethereal substance that our hero, the updated, goateed Prince accidentally unleashes upon the world. The sand corrupts all it touches and if it weren't for the magical dagger that the Prince used to expose the world to the sand, he too would have been transformed. Luckily, he wasn't and with his mortal form spared, the task of returning the sand to its rightful place and freeing the people transformed by it falls to him, since he's the only one immune to its effects.
This is where the combat figures in, and while the Prince is immune to the sand, he can channel it to slow the flow of time to his liking (though, of course, there is a meter that limits how long he can play at being the One), so doing things as complex as slowing down time, slashing at an enemy in front of him, then the one behind him, then flipping up and over the enemy to his right only to come down, knife-first, to retrieve the sand from the felled enemy is as easy as literally about four or five button presses. What's more, the fluidity of the movies is a sight to behold, and while the Prince's moveset will slowly grow over time, there's nothing quite like watching him go from being surrounded by four guys to standing alone, sand meter filled and not a scratch on him – all in a matter of seconds. Should he happen to get killed or have a close brush with death, the sand can be used to completely reverse time about 10 seconds, something that should keep newcomers from kicking the bucket too often.
The other big change to the game is the Prince's ability to run along walls, Shinobi-style. Rather than being a flashy move, however, the wall run serves as a way to get past the game's otherwise impossible puzzles, so sprinting around a cylindrical room, tagging switches on the wall and sliding down massive curtains (that deform wonderfully realistically, we might add) is cake. It's also ridiculously fun, and much like the combat, can't really be described; you'll just have to take our word for it until a publicly playable version is available.
The game's visuals also bear mentioning, mainly because they're so amazingly good. The game simply doesn't look like it's running on the PS2 thanks mainly to a couple post effects the Montreal team have applied to the screen to keep things soft, but still crisp enough to force random oohs and ahhs. One such moment came as we took control at the beginning of the game and looked around. A volley of fire arrows streaked across the sky as blasts from a cannon slowly whittled away at the fortress we were apparently storming.
Getting lost is also something that will likely be kept at a minimum. By hitting a button, the camera pulls out to a set place, allowing you a clear view of where you need to go at all times. It's handy, but the real treat lies in the creamy smooth camera blur that honestly looks pre-rendered every single time it happens.
There's a ton more we just can't cover for space's sake, but short of the project melting down, there's no reason why Prince of Persia won't end up being an easy contender for Game of the Year in our book. We're not entire sure what the guys up in Montreal are eating, but so long as they keep churning out games like this, we'll happily sing their praises. Keep an eye out for this game, folks, it's already one of the most promising of the year.
