GameCube Review: Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time
Published April 12, 2006
The animation of the game is rather buggy as well. As you jump from wall to wall for example, you have to hit the A button at the exact point you smack on the wall. If you hit it twice or not soon enough, the animation will assume you didn't press the button and make you slip. This frustrated me so bad that a couple of times since playing this game, I actually took it back and received credit to get another game.
Some of the fighting in this game is also hard; the sand zombies have the ability to jump in and out of existence before your eyes. This means that you always have to keep the camera at a distance to watch your back for surprise attacks. During major attacks from enemies, you also have little chance to repair yourself as water fountains can also be good places to be attacked. Because you have the ability to flip and jump, it's very easy to get lazy forget that enemies can block your attacks and wound you.
It seems that games always have to add the tension by adding a 20% helpful, 80% hindrance to the game in the name of a woman. As you begin to take Farah on your journeys, you will have to remember to protect her as you are fighting. Not to worry though, large parts of the game have nothing to do with her - expect you having to play "meet me on the other side."
Some of the voice acting audio is suspect; in certain places you can hear the microphone give a hissing sound during the script recording. It's also clear that volume adjustment is needed as it gets too quiet to hear whatever relevant information is needed. That being said, the actors and actresses who record the dialogue do a commendable job trying to bring seriousness to the fable.
Once you've gotten passed the buggy animation aspect, you'll actually get through this game in a breeze. That might piss off the actual hardcore gamer, but it's great for those creaking back into the game. For those 20-somethings who were discouraged long ago from gaming, this is the one that should bring them back.
Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time is a rated T (Teen) by the ESRB for Content Descriptors. This game can also be found on: GameCube, PC, PS2, and XBOX.
- GameCube Review: Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time
- Published: April 12, 2006
- Type: Review
- Section: Gaming
- Filed Under: Gaming: GameCube
- Writer: Matthew Milam
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I forgot to put that in the review, thanks for catching that in time as I just put it in.
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Matt,
Great review, but a couple of points of interest:
you missed one of the salient features of the game - the special ability to "wind back" the clock, reversing the time stream. This ability enables the prince to correct fatal errors (i.e. bad jumps, stupidity, errant traps etc.) - helpful when trial and error seem to be the only way past specific locations.
Of note also is the fluid physics in the game. The Prince swings like a gibbon - the leaps, twists, grabs and rolls are very fluid and smooth, giving the game a nice look and feel. I particularly like his abrupt double-stop at edges and drop-offs.
Lastly I liked how, after the Prince has been killed in one of the myrid ways possible died, the Prince (who is also narrating the story) abruptly says, 'No, that isn't right. It didn't happen like that", then dropping you back at your last save. It's a deft touch on the part of the designers.