Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones
Developer: Ubisoft
Publisher: Ubisoft
Genre: Action Adventure/Platformer
Players: 1
Rating: MA (Australia)
Introduction:
The Sequel to Prince of Persia: Warrior Within, one of the best platform/action games to date, does this final episode of the Sands of Time trilogy have what it takes to beat it? Find out here.
Graphics:
One of the best parts of the Prince of Persia games are their fluid animations,and in The Two Thrones, they return swiftly. The Graphics are also pretty good, with realistic looking dust effects, and detailed player models. They aren't 3 billion poly's, but they fit in perfectly. The Dark Prince also looks great thanks to it's neat effects (Such as the Sand glowing from within). Unfortunatley the CG cutscenes still don't look very nice, and the environment on a whole is very bland, usually consisting of the same colours (With some green filling the screen every now and then)
9.5
Sound:
The Heavy Metal soundtrack from Warrior Within has been abolished in this sequel, replaced with a more suitable soundtrack, which suits what you are currently doing, and aids you (When enemies are around, the music cuts in, even if you can't see them). The Prince does a very good job, and as you remember in the last games, he talked to himself about what he had to do. With this game, The spirit within him talks back to him, providing valuable information. The sounds of attacking enemies vary to, swords clanging, ripping through sand creatures and them screaming as you pummel them to dust (Quite literally) all sound great.
9.0
Gameplay:
Gameplay has been improved since the last game, but not to the extent that Warrior Within was compared to Sands of Time. The newest feature is the Dark Prince. The Dark prince can use his "Daggertail" (A Long chain with Bat shaped blades along it) to swing across large gaps, whether it be through the air or whilst running along a wall, and as an incredibly long weapon, which you can swing around your head as a lasso to protect you aswell. The Dark Prince isn't dissimilar to the Sand Wraith from Warrior Within. You lose health while you are the Dark Prince, and to regain it you must find sands (Unlike Warrior Within, where you had to find fountains) You can also do Speed kills with the Daggertail.
Which brings me to the next major feature in The Two Thrones. Speed Kills. Sneak up behind an enemy and you have an oppurtunity to kill them quickly, with minimal of fuss. For the Prince, all you have to do is press the Attack button when your blade flares and a sound is played. Depending on what enemy it is the difficulty varies, sometimes only getting a split second to attack your enemy before they counter it and throw you onto your back. The Dark Prince is completley different, but is far easier to accomplish. Just sneak up to your enemy and tap the Secondary attack button as fast as you can. Simple. Speed kills can be done by simply sneaking up behind them, to bouncing off walls and dropping on them.
The last major addition to The Two Thrones are Chariot Races. The Prince finds himself in an empty street and hops onto a Chariot to get to his next location. Enemies attack you on the way, Onfoot and by Chariot, you can knock onfoot enemies off your chariot by pressing attack, whereas Enemy Chariots need to be crashed into walls.
The other additions include Dagger holes (Holes in the wall where you can hang from with your dagger and the Prince being able to slide down between narrow walls
The Puzzles return (Yet again) and some are tricky to accomplish, whereas others can be done in mere seconds. To reduce confusion, this game returns to a linear form (Unlike Warrior Within)
The stupidest thing about this game is that near the end, you unlock the Prince's father's sword, which for some odd reason, can kill any enemy with one hit.
8.5
Lasting Appeal:
The game is fun first time, but after you have completed it, there is no incentive to play it again (Unless you are really bored). Throughout the game you unlock Sand Credits, which can be used to purchase Artwork, but the whole Sand Credits idea is completley underused (They could of had extra levels, extra weapons, extra moves...).
7.5
Closing Comments:
Price of Persia has massive potential, The Storyline is intriguing, the graphics are nice, the sound is great, but the gameplay just falls alittle short. That's not to say it isn't fun to play though, just not as good as it could have been. The PC also isn't the best console to play on aswell, as you can only move in 8 directions (WASD) as opposed to an Analog stick, which can move in far more.
Overall: 8.5
