Gaming Target - PlayStation 2: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

Written by Adam Woolcott on October 15, 2003

Hands On Preview: The Prince says we're gonna party like its 1399

The Prince of Persia franchise has long been a major PC hit, since it first saw the light of day in 1989. While only 3 POP games have been released in those 14 years, it hasn't hurt the popularity of the Prince and his adventures. However, the latest POP game, which released in 2000/2001 for the PC and Dreamcast was a crippled game, that could have completely killed the series. That is, until Ubi Soft and the development team behind the outstanding Splinter Cell got involved. Now in the present, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is near to release, with bucketloads of hype. Winning numerous E3 best of awards and a possible Game of the Year contender, The Sands of Time has all the intangibles necessary Ц great graphics and smart, challenging gameplay Ц to do just that. The final game shall tell all, but from the hands-on impressions we're bringing you, Prince of Persia just might manage to deliver on that surprising hype.

The Sands of Time revolves around the Prince, who's a Persian ninja in the middle ages. There's a special dagger called The Dagger of Time, which allows the user to go back in time, via collecting the Sands of Time from undead fiends. The demo covers very little of the backstory, though we do know it revolves around a time of war and an attempt to bring peace to the land. The Dagger of Time is the numero uno gameplay element as well as very important to the story, so thankfully the story isn't just tacked on for the sake of having a story.

The Prince has a wide variety of moves that will help him achieve his quest. Not only is he good with a longsword, he's also got quite a repertoire of acrobatic moves to sneak past nasty traps and reach the other side of a long jump. To do this, the Prince has the ability to walk on walls, reaching high pillars or hitting a switch that is normally out of range to reach Ц or even bypassing a trap that would otherwise get in his way. The demo showed how sometimes you will need to mix in different tricks Ц as in walking on a wall long enough to leap off it and land on a distant platform. I'm certain that late in the game these tactics will be very important.

There's also the matter of the Dagger of Time. When you get locked into combat, you fight enemies who have a unique glow to them. That glow is the Sands of Time, the vital resource the Dagger of Time requires. Disposing of an enemy, then using the Dagger afterwards (as the Prince has a much more powerful sword to use) lets you acquire the Sands, which in turn let you go back in time to stop something from happening or changing the past around. It's a limited resource, which means you can't just use it all the time, and it will certainly become important in the latter stages of the game as it gets more challenging.

In many ways, POP reminds of the underappreciated and underrated PS2 game ICO, as it blends action, platforming, and puzzle-based adventure games into one mega-game. The inspiration for ICO was obvious when playing, and after playing Sands of Time, one can see that the feeling is mutual. The game takes place in an entire lone castle with no УlevelsФ per se, just like ICO did. If this isn't a case to herald Prince of Persia given that everybody ignored ICO in favor of making State of Emergency a Greatest Hit, I don't know what is.

The Sands of Time also shines with beautiful graphics. Given how great a job Ubi Montreal did with Splinter Cell, it's no surprise that they managed a brilliant looking PS2 game again. The fluid animations, huge levels (you will be able to see the entire castle from a distance at one point in the game, in real-time), and loads of medieval Persian details, to go along with a butter-smooth framerate help the game stand out as one of the best looking PS2 games yet. It might not look as good as its Xbox and GCN brethren, but PlayStation 2 owners have little to complain about.