Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones
Warrior Redeemed
Published: January 30, 2006
I sometimes forget how good The Sands of Time was, and that's a shame. It's one of those games that every single person on the planet should own, a game that should be studied by game development students as one of the finest ways to blend animation, level design and control into a seamless experience so riveting, you can lose an entire weekend to its inescapable intoxication.
If we are to hold the first game on such a pedestal, though, it seems only fair that the second, Warrior Within, be cast down into the dregs of the worst attempts at one-upmanship video games have ever seen. I've never bore witness to such a massive gulf in competence and focus in all my years in the industry, and it's a wonder that The Two Thrones even got made.
But it did get made, thankfully, and as a result the series comes to a close about as nicely as one could hope, straddling the line between the games with a storyline that bests them both and ties things together to complete the trilogy as something that should definitely be partaken as a three-course meal; even if the middle is disgusting for the most part, it leaves hints of flavor that the dessert picks up on and melds with the start of the feast to leave you with a nice bit of afterglow.
One could certainly see that the theme of two sides fighting for control of a single entity runs deep through the game, though -- perhaps too deeply. Every time the narrative, acrobatics and level design gelled long enough to really hit a kind of near-euphoric marriage of programming and concept, it was torn asunder by forced combat or piss-poor placement of check and save points.
Like the Prince, infected by the Sands of Time and slowly cursed with a darker, more insidious side that sought to corrupt all that was good about him, the game tarries long on the brink of slipping into that precipice that WW dove headlong into. But it didn't happen, and as a result, you're left to enjoy how things play out, watching the Prince wrestle with his choices. That Ubisoft managed to wrap everything up so neatly is incredibly cool, and the ending dovetails so perfectly into the start of the first game that you'd swear they meant to take us on this roller coaster ride all the time.
It is a roller coaster, though, make no mistake. From the high of the last game's denial of fate, where the Prince rescued the Empress of Time instead of killing her as was originally foretold to returning to Babylon only to find it in flames at the hands of the Vizier from the first game that was allowed to live when the Prince turned back time for the second game. From epic chariot races to boss fights against two huge enemies, from boss fights with a massive arena-filling jawless hulk to a menagerie of death traps and chasms.
The game does blend the best parts of the first two games in gameplay, too, building on the freeform fighting system with two weapons from the second and the exploration from the first. It doesn't always work; some boss fights can be incredibly hard, and about the midway point of the game you can be expected to run absolute marathons of combat and athletic prowess between even checkpoints, much less save points.
Most of the Prince's moves are emparted from the past games, but there is a fun new dagger stab move that allows him to turn some gears and hang from holes in walls before making another wall run or jump. Sideways planks on walls launch him diagonally forward, and can make for some genuinely cool zig-zag jumps through hallways.
The biggest change comes from the Sands' infection in our hero, bringing about an evil side to the Prince that takes over whenever it feels like it (conveniently, it's also when gaps would otherwise be impossible to cross as Vanilla Prince). This Dark Prince wields a whip instead of a second weapon, and can use it to swing from posts if need be. He's far more powerful, and a blast to use against enemies, since he can usually cleave or rend enemies with a couple simple swipes of the chain.
If we are to hold the first game on such a pedestal, though, it seems only fair that the second, Warrior Within, be cast down into the dregs of the worst attempts at one-upmanship video games have ever seen. I've never bore witness to such a massive gulf in competence and focus in all my years in the industry, and it's a wonder that The Two Thrones even got made.
But it did get made, thankfully, and as a result the series comes to a close about as nicely as one could hope, straddling the line between the games with a storyline that bests them both and ties things together to complete the trilogy as something that should definitely be partaken as a three-course meal; even if the middle is disgusting for the most part, it leaves hints of flavor that the dessert picks up on and melds with the start of the feast to leave you with a nice bit of afterglow.
One could certainly see that the theme of two sides fighting for control of a single entity runs deep through the game, though -- perhaps too deeply. Every time the narrative, acrobatics and level design gelled long enough to really hit a kind of near-euphoric marriage of programming and concept, it was torn asunder by forced combat or piss-poor placement of check and save points.
Like the Prince, infected by the Sands of Time and slowly cursed with a darker, more insidious side that sought to corrupt all that was good about him, the game tarries long on the brink of slipping into that precipice that WW dove headlong into. But it didn't happen, and as a result, you're left to enjoy how things play out, watching the Prince wrestle with his choices. That Ubisoft managed to wrap everything up so neatly is incredibly cool, and the ending dovetails so perfectly into the start of the first game that you'd swear they meant to take us on this roller coaster ride all the time.
It is a roller coaster, though, make no mistake. From the high of the last game's denial of fate, where the Prince rescued the Empress of Time instead of killing her as was originally foretold to returning to Babylon only to find it in flames at the hands of the Vizier from the first game that was allowed to live when the Prince turned back time for the second game. From epic chariot races to boss fights against two huge enemies, from boss fights with a massive arena-filling jawless hulk to a menagerie of death traps and chasms.
The game does blend the best parts of the first two games in gameplay, too, building on the freeform fighting system with two weapons from the second and the exploration from the first. It doesn't always work; some boss fights can be incredibly hard, and about the midway point of the game you can be expected to run absolute marathons of combat and athletic prowess between even checkpoints, much less save points.
Most of the Prince's moves are emparted from the past games, but there is a fun new dagger stab move that allows him to turn some gears and hang from holes in walls before making another wall run or jump. Sideways planks on walls launch him diagonally forward, and can make for some genuinely cool zig-zag jumps through hallways.
The biggest change comes from the Sands' infection in our hero, bringing about an evil side to the Prince that takes over whenever it feels like it (conveniently, it's also when gaps would otherwise be impossible to cross as Vanilla Prince). This Dark Prince wields a whip instead of a second weapon, and can use it to swing from posts if need be. He's far more powerful, and a blast to use against enemies, since he can usually cleave or rend enemies with a couple simple swipes of the chain.
