The Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Review

Prince of Persia is a side-scrolling puzzle-based platform game in which you play as the Prince himself and also as a princess named Farah. As the Prince you mistakenly use the Dagger of Time to let loose the Sands of Time which causes monsters and other calamities to be unleashed upon the kingdom of your Sultan. An evil vizier takes advantage of the situation to make a power play and as you feel personally responsible for the whole mess you take it upon yourself to thwart the vizier and restore the Sands of Time. To do so you’ll first need to make your way through the Sultan’s palace, which is no easy task. Apparently the Sultan does not really care for visitors and so his palace is a maze of traps, platforms, and locked gates that you’ll need to navigate in order to accomplish your goal.

Each room that you enter is basically a puzzle that challenges you to unlock the passage to the next room while trying to keep yourself alive. The rooms are invariably filled with platforms of the stationary, moving, and disappearing variety, as well as ropes to climb and swing on. Surrounding these is a myriad of traps that include spinning buzz saws and flame-spitting vents. There are also a few patrolling beasts and monsters, but overall your primary opponent will be the rooms themselves.

Early in the game you will be joined by Farah and will be able to switch between the two characters in designated areas. Teamwork between the two characters is required to solve puzzles because each has their own set of talents. The Prince can attack with his sword and perform acrobatic maneuvers such as slides under tight gaps. Farah is an archer and can use her bow to hit distant targets and special switches. Most of the rooms will require you to use their abilities to reach special switches that disable traps in another part of the room or open the gate into the next room. While each room is different, when you boil it down you’re basically looking for switches and trying to find which need to be pushed and in which order, or if any require one character to remain standing on it while the other performs some action. This can begin to feel repetitive during longer play sessions, but luckily save points between virtually every room will give you the opportunity to take a break and pick up where you left off. The decided lack of enemies is a bit odd if you’re used to playing side-scrollers on your GBA and more enemies to fight would certainly have helped break up the repetition of timing your jumps and looking for switches.

If you also own the GameCube version of Prince of Persia then you’ll want to keep your eye out for some special switches in that and the GBA versions of the game. There are three levels in the GBA version that can be unlocked by playing the GameCube version, and going the other way you can play the original Prince of Persia game on your GameCube.

Sands of Time adds another dimension to the game by giving you special powers as you make your way through it. Your Dagger of Time can be used to reverse time for a short period allowing you to effectively undo missteps and blunders. This power is limited of course, and must be revitalized by slaying enemies. The Dagger’s powers over time also are used in puzzle solving by allowing you to do things like restoring ancient chests and their contents.

There’s not much variety in the game’s locations so one room looks pretty much like the next. The details are sparse but you’ll be able to easily see everything and the animations used for your characters, enemies, and traps are smooth and fluid. Control is pretty good and responsive which is always a good thing in a game that relies so much on timing.

Prince of Persia is better than most side-scrollers available for the GBA, although it can be repetitive and even a little frustrating at times. If you enjoy puzzle-based 2D platform games, then odds are good that you’ll like Prince of Persia. If not, then it is not likely that the game will change your mind about the genre.

In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated: 78%. At times enjoyable, at times repetitive, Prince of Persia is a game primarily for those who like side-scrolling, 2D platformers.