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Just when you think you're at the pinnacle of the world, you've shown your father that you merit his love by extracting the priceless Dagger of Time, and now you're going to open the clock in front of the royal court. Too bad it's all set up, and you're going to have to battle a dizzying array of sand monsters, palace defenses, and puzzles to get the genius back in the bottle. But one thing you should count on. You're going to look great to do so. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time has burst out of Ubisoft's studios like so many other recent hits. They need to find a real stable of gaming gurus because the games just keep missing their mark. Think of the Splinter Cell combined with Aladdin, and you'll get an idea of what the Sands are all like.
Making PC games has certain benefits, such as being able to play high-resolution games, but this is mitigated by the fact that Prince of Persia is really a platformer game that needs to be played using a gamepad. Unfortunately, Ubisoft did not build a lot of support for the different gamepads available to PC users, so you would need to use the setup tool to construct a custom key-button mapping scheme. Control problems are the only fault in this update since the graphics displayed and animation are of Disney-level consistency. If you didn't know better, you might almost imagine that you were playing a movie. The camera is swinging around to demonstrate multiple viewpoints as you pass around the palace quarters, which usually help you play, but occasionally the camera changes may be made. It's disconcerting.
Fighting the sand monsters is swift and quick. You barely have the privilege of facing just one enemy at a time, but you'll soon learn to bust out of the Prince's dazzling ninja-like maneuvers to keep up. If you can stab two baddies in fast succession and then vault a third, slash it from above as you roll over it, and then perform a coup-de-grace with the Dagger to get his sand back, you'll feel a ferocious rush of pleasure. And you're going to have to "retrieve" sand from a couple of these guys because that's the best part of the entire game.
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You acquire the right to manipulate time by holding the Dagger of Time. Just like you progress through the level, you fill-up the sand containers, seen on the side of the game. The screen that will give you the fuel time to rewind, slow it down, or even eventually, give you the opportunity to travel faster than everyone else, give you chance to move faster than everyone else. I must say, just bust one loose. The rewind feature is the best one to encourage you to rewind. The game will go awry after a hop, or you will get a surprise sword thrust. Since you've got to have sand to do some time functions, that's it. It's a really balanced function, and it just adds to the enjoyment rather than the fun. It's all too easy.
The detail is great in this game. The gameplay flows from one scene to the next with barely a pause. Health power-ups are done more naturally than any other game in history. In order to recover, you need to find a source of water, some kind of water, and drink. It's easy and practical. More than that strategically dispersed "medkits" laying around, better than meds in a cabinet, absolutely amazing. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is one of those games that's going along and you just have to enjoy it. It can be considered one of the best games of the year and could potentially rate as one of the top classics.
@kentzz001