Post with 17 notes
Prince of Persia - The Sands of Time : PS2
After completing The Forgotten Sands, I ended up in a conversation about the game it takes so much from; 2003’s The Sands of Time. This was one of the Playstation 2 games which I felt was really top class so I was more than happy to go through and replay it, as I couldn’t remember the storyline and had never played the sequels (it’s part one of three) and wasn’t about to play those without doing this first. It was exciting to load it up again after seven years, exciting too to see my original save file with it’s 98% complete notice (you can’t get a 100% one as this is the last save point in the game). It also gave me a time of 9:08, so I was determined to complete it faster than that!
The first thing you notice in 2010, is that Sands of Time is slooooow. The combat sometimes feels frustratingly draggy as you float over the heads of the enemies and come down with the killing slash. Seven years ago, I’d not have noticed, but I played this right off the back of Forgotten Sands and it was glaring. An hour or so in, and you become used to the pace of this earlier game, but it is actually nice to see that they have improved on the formula; my first run through had me praising the combat and enjoying it immensely, but this time I was frustrated by its slow nature and repetition. Still, combat isn’t really what Prince of Persia is about.
This isn’t the first game to show the real fluidity of movement that the game series is best at, but it doesn’t disappoint. Once you are used to the slightly slower controls than its PS3 cousin, you fall into the running, jumping, swinging nature of the series and smile; it’s like putting on a comfortable old shoe, as people like to say. The beautifully worked out levels and delicate hints as to where you are meant to go are at their apex here and you are never left frustrated by the levels, but feel in control and confident throughout without being led by the hand. As the game progresses, the puzzles get a little harder and the clues become a little lighter on the ground, but by that time you are so used to being in the prince’s shoes that you are happy to attempt the craziest of jumps and tiptoe across the highest walls. The atmosphere of the climbing is beautiful, especially towards the end where you really climb a massive tower and can really feel the danger of a single slip. This game is where the Prince of Persia series sets the template for everything that comes after, and it is a pretty impressive template.
In playing this game, you will die and you will have to try sections a few times before you nail them perfectly, especially in some of the harder combat sections, but you don’t really mind as the prince’s narration is especially fun there with his insistence that ‘no, that didn’t happen’ making you willing to try again (and again, as necessary). The clever save point system which gives you a flash-forward as to the next section, and informs you of how far through the game you are is well designed and the checkpoints are positioned at just the right places to stave off annoyance but hold the level of challenge. The difficulty curve of Sands of Time is, in fact, very well set.
It is impossible to write a review of this seminal Prince of Persia title without mentioning Farah though. For the first time, the prince gets a companion, and his relationship with Farah and how it grows through the story is wonderfully scripted. The prince holds up his male arrogance throughout (which gives him a delightfully sarcastic character) and Farah, no matter whether or not you like her, charms him perfectly. Her use in some of the puzzles adds depth, and without her the storyline would be bland. Instead, it’s a nice storyline with a level of believability other games often miss.
Summing up, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is an excellent game. It’s showing its age a little, with the graphics and the speed, but the levels are superbly constructed and could show a lot of more modern games where they are going wrong. The sound design is minimal but perfectly placed and there’s even a lovely moment where it takes centre stage in a wonderful dreamy sequence which proves again the skill in the level construction. In many ways, it is superior to the two current PS3 games, but they do very well in its stead and improve in technical ways that are much needed. I’m looking forward now to the next two games in this trilogy, and of course another game on the PS3. Oh, and I managed to get my 98% save file in at just under nine hours, beating my previous run by about 15 minutes!
-
tekkani posted this
