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

[Welrain]

As a follow up I'm tried out both Pop:Warrior Within (where you can slide down curtains!) and The Two Thrones...neither of which capture the magic of the first. Shame really.

[charlesr]

I'm going to go straight to 2 thrones (which I already own but haven't tried).

[Commander Marklar]

Peronsally, I think Warrior Within is the better of the two sequels High-five on the Shadowman thing.

[k0pp0]

Is the combat better in the 2 sequels? If so I might give them a try.

[Light]

The combat IS actually better in both of the sequels, but that's about the only improvement. Everything else has taken a step backwords. The story isn't as interesting. The soundtrack isn't as good. The environments are dull and uninspiring (for the most part). There are numerous glitches in each game. You generally tire of them quicker.

Having said that, I'd recommend you play them anyway, just to see how the story progresses from there on. And besides, you just might end up liking them. Worth a rental, anyway.

[Tetsuo]

OK I finally finished this today (GameCube version). Just under 9 hours was my total time which was an hour or two faster then my first play through nearly 2 years ago.

I did find the last 50% or so of the game slightly more tedious than the first, and most of that was due to the combat which becomes increasingly draw-out. I think that at first, the combat isn't too bad (see my earlier posts defending it) but towards the end the ever-respawning enimies and that bloody annoying spiralling/elevating room did begin to seriously grate, which is a shame.

However, it's still a fantastic game that I'm glad I played through again, even just for those standout platforming moments of which, to be fair, there are many. The voice acting is superb, very understated, as is the relationship between the Prince and Farah which found completely convincing.

The graphics are especially nice (even without a 60hz mode), it just has a beautiful ambience to it which I really enjoyed. The controls do seem a little twitchy in hindsight, but the sheer range of moves available to you always feels liberating.

As a 3D platformer, it just falls short of Nintendo's own Mario games (Sunshine and 64) as well as the likes of Banjo Kazooie, which is high praise I think. Having said that, I'm not really interested in getting any of the sequels, especially seeing as many have slated them in comparison to the original.

How do you lot feel it compares to Jak and Daxter on the PS2 - the other highly-rated platformer I've never played?

Oh, and just where do you unlock the original Prince of Persia in Sands of Time? - I missed it again

[Light]

How do you lot feel it compares to Jak and Daxter on the PS2 - the other highly-rated platformer I've never played?

I think its difficult to compare the two, given that one is slightly more action-oriented (Sands) and the other is all about collecting all sorts of items like precursor orbs.

I didn't really like Jak and Daxter as it felt quite tedious way too often. I actually like those collect-athon platformers like your aforementioned Banjo Kazooie, but J&D seemed way too much. Maybe its because I played it after Jak 3, which was in many regards a completely different (and better) game. Or maybe its because I've generally lost interest in platformers. At any rate, if running around looking for things to collect sounds like your kind of thing, then I suggest you play J&D. If you want a more action-oriented take, then go for the second one and then the third one; although, quite frankly, Jak II is flawed in many ways and you might be better of just going for the third one. The only problem might be following the story, as the third one takes place not long after the events of the second game.

[louiefalls]

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.

I cant actually do that you know. My thumb gets locked when i slightly have to push the stick and it feels like my hands just gonna fall off. Like in Okami when you have to walk slowly over abridge, ijust cant do it. I have to push it aginst my wrist!

POP SOT- Whenever I think of a perfect game that has everything a game should (post Ocarina) i think of this. Just brilliant.