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Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands Review Microsoft Xbox360

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  • Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands Review Microsoft Xbox360

    Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands is something of a throwback to the style and gameplay of the series’ Sands of Time trilogy, released on the last generation of consoles, bearing little in common with the recent self-titled reboot Ubisoft published in 2008. Players are initially dropped into a war zone as neighbouring armies lay siege to their brother’s palace but before long you are pulled into an ages-old struggle between the Djinn powers as the two brothers battle to hold back an ancient evil unwittingly released during the initial enemy assault. Throughout the course of the game you get to explore all over the vast expanse of the palace from the highest towers down to its deepest catacombs through a mixture of combat set pieces and winding, platforming segments.
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    One of The Forgotten Sand’s greatest strengths is to be found in the consummate level of attention to detail and sheer effort that has been lavished on the levels’ design and construction. The architecture is sublime, mixing both Persian and Islamic styles together to create vast, sumptuous spaces. Floors are lined with intricate mozaics, windows are covered in bright geometric stained glass designs and the balcony ballistrades are delicately hollowed out with the shapes of stars and various geometric primitives interlocked. And the size of the spaces can, at times, dwarf the player with tall columns of cool stone reaching all the way up to the domes and ceilings. There’s an effective use of deep colours and subtle lighting that contrast well with the bare stonework which comprises much of the buildings’ structural design. It’s really the high quality texture work that sets the game apart from the competition and makes for such a richly immersive environment, above and beyond the very competent graphics engine, that is able to pump out huge vistas on the rare occasion you get to look out over the city.
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    There’s a great plot set against this backdrop with the Prince trying to reunite with his brother whilst aided by a Djinn named Razia. The voice acting is well handled, and while the accents may not be all that authentic, the actors have a gravitas and presence that sets the scene well. They are all professional enough to know when not to overplay a scene and the chemistry between the brothers is particularly excellent. The script itself is surprisingly well written for a series that hasn’t always performed the best in this area, with the Prince coming off as a thoroughly likeable character for once. He still has that cocksure attitude but it’s measured and not over the top, whilst the emotional conflict between the brothers and what has to be done is gradually developed and well realised.
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    In terms of how the game plays it’s unfortunately a case of Jack of all rades, master of none. There’s a roughly equal mix of jumping and fighting across the game’s 8 hour campaign, with a few cog puzzles thrown in for good measure. The puzzles themselves are pretty basic and nothing to write home about but they do break up the pacing every so often and provide a momentary diversion. The combat meanwhile is technically fine - the Prince has a range of moves and magical attacks at his disposal, with the player given free reign to choose which to unlock as they gain experience - but as a brawler it doesn’t stand out. Most of the time the player is simply attacked en-masse by a large group upon entering a room and the only main issue to worry about is to avoid being surrounded, a relatively simple task thanks to a move that allows the player to jump around on the enemies’ heads. A few less opponents combined with a greater array of enemy attacks and player counters would have made for a deeper experience here, but there’s nothing inherently bad on offer, just mediocre. It is telling, however, that the enemy waves based challenge mode unlocked at the end of the game features only eight waves and can be breezed through easily within six minutes.
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    As far as the platforming side of things goes the game is enjoyable but for much of its duration ultimately unambitious. PoP has a very rigid feel, with very few moments where you have to time your jump carefully, so for the most part you just aim at a target and he locks on without that much in the way of precise positioning. Therefore there isn’t a whole lot of risk involved with the majority of the layouts, and when combined with the Prince’s stilted, unlinked animations the game develops a piecemeal, staccato flow. It‘s particularly disappointing when things like beam balancing require no input on the part of the player, regardless of what direction you push it‘s utterly impossible to make the Prince lose his footing. This aspect does start to change towards the last tenth of the game when the designers begin throwing more complex combinations of sequences at the player, tasking them with utilising two or three of their powers (each mapped to a different button) in the middle of a series of jumps and these moments are certainly the standout experiences provided by the title. Unfortunately it feels like the developers of the last few levels were a completely different bunch to those who crafted the bulk of the game.
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    The paths through the environment are incredibly obvious, some rooms are very large but there’s no intricacy to their structure so you just position yourself at the start point and worry about one jump at a time. That’s not to say the game isn’t still enjoyable, it’s just that it isn’t as exciting or as engaging as it could be. There are also a few little niggles that can be quite frustrating, like how at many points the game reverts to fixed camera angles and stubbornly refuses to let the player override this positioning. For the most part this is acceptable, albeit frustrating when you want to admire the scenery, but there are numerous instances where these positions make it quite difficult to judge the depth and/or orientation of the Prince, resulting in several unnecessary swan dives into the abyss. The boss fights are fundamentally disappointing, with very few, basic attack patterns and typically just a single weak point. The run-up to the final boss is particularly epic with the player darting between city fragments being hurled around amidst a giant sandstorm but once you make it through this the player is treated to a massive anti-climax - deposited on a tiny rectangle of rock and fighting an enemy with only three scripted attacks that it runs through in turn. There are also no subtitles; how that one slipped by QA is pretty staggering.

    Prince of Persia is still a fun game despite its issues; it provides a satisfying romp through picturesque environments and has serviceable mechanics backed up by a great story. It’s just not a patch on the Tomb Raiders of this world. The limitations imposed by its rigid mechanics and simple layouts unfortunately hamper the excitement level and the combat is solid, yet also on the simplified side. Ultimately it makes for a decent, if unremarkable, journey that does nothing particularly wrong and is entertaining enough to keep the player interested for the duration but won’t be subsequently revisited.
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