Prince of Persia: Sands of Time 16th Nov - 16th Dec [Main Discussion]

[Fuddle]

phew, after about half an hour of constant wall jumping i finally did it.
cant believe how much trouble that caused me.
thank god there was a save at the top.


edit: actually, this section highlighted something quite clever which i didnt notice before. the little bits of chatter between the characters isnt just some random crap. there are little clues in there.
i didnt realise that

->Open Spoiler<-

the switch needed something put on it, i assumed the door was just going to stay open. so when i first got up on the other side i wasnt expecting it to be closed. the girl pipped up "shall i stand on the button?"...i'm thinking yes obviously, but the prince replied no, that he would come back. obviously meaning that i had missed something.

though that was pretty good.

[charlesr]

Had a go on the first (training?) level before work today.

Love the scenery and the climbing around and column jumps. It all seems very fluid/believable, just like the original 2D versions' animation. Yes combat is a pain in the arse though.

At the end of the 1st level you go through some drapes. At the time, people must have been like "omg real flappy drapes!"

As you step through the drapes, there's a water pit which it tells you to wallrun past. I decided to see what's down there though. Pleasantly, all the walls were carved with inscriptions and there was a lovely water reflection effect, none of which I would have seen unless I'd stopped to look around. What I'm saying is, normally I'd race through a game like this, but because I've got all month, it's a mucy more relaxed affair, so I can afford to see everything that's on offer.

[k0pp0]

Well really you've got to remember that this is somewhat of a precursor to God of War etc, they took and and built on a lot of PoP ideas so to compare the titles is a little unjust imho.

I suppose you are right. Even as I type this I'm thinking I'm going to try and finish it.

*edit* Just played it for an hour, got to the first boss battle

->Open Spoiler<-

With daddy

It's a bit poo. The combat controls are so unresponsive, and there's massive slowdown. it feels like you're trudging through treacle . Well on the PS2 anyway.

But the platformy bits are really nice.. Love/Hate...

[Tetsuo]

At the end of the 1st level you go through some drapes. At the time, people must have been like "omg real flappy drapes!"

Sands of Time is KING of drapes and curtains! It's the Ubisoft influence, isn't it? They first did it with Splinter Cell and again here.

I keep finding myself running through every curtain I see and trying to push it up as I high as I can, or balancing the edges on the Prince's head. Try it for yourself: it's fun and still looks great

[cutmymilk]

When I played it through I hated not being able to swing on teh curtains. I could have sworn that would be the room's solution more than once but no. Can't do it!

[charlesr]

Gah. Wish you hadn't mentioned that! Now I want to swing on the drapes...

[Welrain]

Motoring on with this now. At the 90% mark where the combat gets easier and the puzzles get harder.

Finding the combat much easier now as I've learned to block and roll, and choose my moments to strike. Had a couple of difficult battles trying to protect the girl, thank the lord for the time rewind as in a particulary epic battle she was killed 2 times, but I managed to back track just in time and prevent the killing blow each time...heart in the mouth stuff.

Going to get through the last 10% tonight hopefully. Good stuff.

[Welrain]

Now finished. All in all an excellent title. A worthy successor to the original prince of persia. The platforming aspect of the game was perfect. The dagger being a brilliant idea which prevents frustration. can't fault. The combat was bad but became less annoying as time went on.

The plot was very interesting too and I particulary think the relationship between the hero and the girl was well played out . Loved the twist in the tale. A worth while experience all in all.

How good / bad are the sequels?

[charlesr]

Read our reviews (use the search on the homepage). I've not played either 2 or 3 (but have the 3rd; well my sister has it actually and is playing it right now).

[charlesr]

I'm 5% in! Wooo. Fast. erm yeah. I'm finding it very easy to jump from pillar to wall and swing bar and stuff. The control works exceedingly well in the platforming. Lovely scenery and big open spaces, mixed with tight corridoor action.

[charlesr]

How I laughed at the guard's british accent in the "palace defense system" bit.

[stainboy]

Yes I had to call my flatmate out to hear that on the first time through

I found the fighting in the 2nd game MUCH worse, infact it didn't annoy me at all in SoT but Warrior Within it was a lot harder, especially as you're thrown into a battle section at the start of the game and have all moves available to you instead of learning them one by one. I spent a lot of time on that game getting killed in battles, getting lost a lot (as you seemed to need to backtrack to get to a new section) but the puzzles were a good challenge. The rewind function was nowhere near as useful either, it ran out more so I barely used it but felt like I'd have wanted it even more.

[charlesr]

2 words. Goddamn spikes!

I hate areas in games where you have to walk around really slowly. Don't much like stealth games either. And the PS2 analogue sticks are so useless, combined with my impatience, means I inevitably get spiked. All the time.

[Welrain]

I only ecall having to walk slowly through spikes once during this game and the only 1 square...where are you?

[gunrock]

How I laughed at the guard's british accent in the "palace defense system" bit.

Yeah, me too! It's on a par with Brion James' London/Cockney accent in Tango & Cash.

Truly terrible.