review
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POSTED 2/6/10


PRINCE OF PERSIA: THE FORGOTTEN SANDS

Ubisoft
PS3 (also on Xbox 360, Wii, PC, PSP, DS)

Confession time. We’ve dreamt of Jake Gyllenhaal being our personal meat puppet (insert mad cackle here), so with its timing we thought this game might finally give us our chance. But, to Ubisoft’s eternal credit, rather than squeezing out a direct tie-in with the new Prince of Persia flick, they’ve instead given us an original game that belongs to the PoP timeline the movie’s based on, The Sands of Time.

If you’ve somehow managed to eschew the series’ charms since the late ’80s, despite a step into the world of 3D third-person perspective a while back, PoP is still very much a platform game. Running, jumping, swinging – the usual platformy stuff. The Forgotten Sands is no exception, taking the rather natty graphics engine used in Assassin’s Creed II and – quite literally – running with it.

The best thing is a significant improvement over the often ARGH-inducing controls from the series’ last episode. Wall running in that one was an absolute pain in the backside, as more often than not Prince went anywhere but where you actually wanted him to, getting saved by that convenient supernatural chick countless times over.

There’s no sappy saved-by-the-hand-of-glowy-goddess crap this time, although there are special abilities such as winding back time if you cock up, and telling nature what to do. The combat’s alright, and those who like breaking stuff will have a cack going ‘Hulk smash!’ on the innumerable barrels and sarcophagi dotted around the often repetitive-looking joint.

Putting it into Princely context, The Forgotten Sands ain’t no Purple Rain, but it’s no The Gold Experience either.

take me back to the start...

 



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ALL WRITTEN CONTENT COPYRIGHT © AMY FLOWER 2008-2018. GAME IMAGES COURTESY OF RESPECTIVE GAMES COMPANIES.