Prince of Persia: Warrior Within

Written by Ryan Genno  on January 25, 2005

Review: Someone wants to make you the artist formerly known as Prince

Tweet

Comments

When the legendary Prince of Persia series made its comeback to this gaming generation (Xbox, Playstation2, and GameCube), it was one of coolest, most action packed games to come along in a while. The Sands of Time won such critical acclaim that it also received several 2003 Game of the Year awards as well. It would seem only natural that there would be a big sequel, eh? Here is Prince of Persia 2: Warrior Within! Now the athletic Arabian Prince who can alter time is back and he is in even bigger trouble then ever before. To survive this new dangerous 3D adventure he needs to be more cunning and vicious then ever, so say good-bye to the prince's clean image. See if this newer Prince of Persia's darker look can surpass the original Sands of Time.

If you haven't played the Sands of Time yet this is what is going on in the story. The Prince of Shahraman had unwittingly opened the Sands of Time and it caused a ripple effect that nearly wiped out his entire kingdom. If all that wasn't bad enough, he is now being hunted down by The Dahaka, a powerful creature that kills anyone that dares to disturb the rifts of time. It is only a matter of time before the prince's fate is sealed and he is going to die. The prince's only hope is to go back in time to prevent the Sands of Time from even being created so the Dahaka won't have an issue with him, but that's easier said then done - especially when he has to travel to the birth place of the Sands.

Trying to outlast your supernatural enemies is going to be no easy task; fortunately our royal highness here is no pushover. The prince is trained in the field of battle and he has tons of cool moves at his disposal. For example; he can grab and flip over enemies, he can carry two weapons at once, he can run on walls to avoid pitfalls, and he can even use pillars to help him get enough speed to cut the heads off of unfortunate opponents. The prince loves a good fight and it shows. The game controls for the combat are flawless and easy to learn for anybody, but the odd placement of the camera sometimes can help get you killed - especially in deadly environments that require lots of jumping. It's not perfect, but it doesn't feel impossible either so frustration hardly sets in.

That moves me to what the game has for graphics. Although the prince can do all these crazy superhuman tricks that seem impossible in real life, the animation is so realistic that it makes you believe that it is possible. I nearly broke one of my knees trying to do one of his wall runs! Because this POP game is rated Mature, the action is much more violent. The game has loads of spraying blood and you can perform gruesome Mortal Kombat-like body decapitations too. Although the first POP game was pretty edgy as well, this title really aims for that more adult audience.

The game's sounds have more of an edge as well. Although some of the game has little to no music playing in the background, at times there is cool Heavy Metal/Rock (this game also has music from Godsmack if you are a fan) music kicks when the action starts to heats up. All the cinemas in the game here all have voice-overs giving POP: WW a real movie-like feel but unfortunately just like cheesy Hollywood flicks you have to question why they have a North American-like guy doing the voice for the main hero? He just doesn't sound like an Arabian Prince now.