The games industry was fast becoming a rather broken record for me, particularly with how the ports of big budget high definition titles always turned out on either the Nintendo DS or the Nintendo Wii. With the fast announcement of Prince of Persia...
The games industry was fast becoming a rather broken record for me, particularly with how the ports of big budget high definition titles always turned out on either the Nintendo DS or the Nintendo Wii. With the fast announcement of Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands so soon after the previous instalment in the series, and the fact that a film is hitting cinemas soon, I couldnt help but think that the game was being rushed out to HD consoles to coincide with the film, with an even slacker port be given to the Wii. Thankfully, Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands isnt all that bad on the Nintendo Wii and isnt a rushed port job – its almost an entirely different experience.
The Forgotten Sands takes place after the original game released in 2003, The Sands of Time, and follows the Prince in a traditional Arabian tale. Searching for his fortune and kingdom to go with his inappropriate title, the prince finds solace in an untrustworthy genie that promises him the world, as well as gives the Prince the ability to revive himself. Of course, the city that the Prince eventually sets his sights on is ruled by an evil, dark and macabre witch, who the Prince must work with his genie accomplice to defeat.
The story itself doesnt really sound all that amazing, but the way that its told and the way that certain twists bring themselves to light really makes the story much more interesting than what would be initially expected. Theres a healthy balance of quiet gameplay with some greatly elaborated cinematics to create an exceptionally well put together narrative.
Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands is one of the best games to use the well-developed Jade graphical engine. The engine works well in creating large, expansive environments with some really well detailed textures. The minor weather effects in place also add to the ambience that the developers want you to feel, and enemies animate with quite a degree of realism. One particular setpiece, funnily enough from the beginning of the game, sees the Prince escaping from crumbling structures, creating a rather intense obstacle course. This is one of the many intense setpieces that youll experience in The Forgotten Sands and the games graphical capability really adds to the experience. Finally, all of this graphical detail and intensity runs beautifully and smoothly at, for the most part, 60 fps.
For those whove played previous games in the series, The Forgotten Sands doesnt really bring much new to the table. There are still lots of vertical environments to traverse, still enemies to slash down and lots of puzzles to use the Princes powers with. The game essentially takes the shape of a semi-linear adventure game. Players will find themselves running up walls, jumping from cliff to cliff, and climbing large, beautifully designed towers. For the most part, the games controls are well put together and once players get into the swing of things (literally), there is some great accomplishment in stringing together some flashy manoeuvres to traverse a seemingly impossible-to-cross gap in the game. Unfortunately, like any platformer and previous titles in the series, there is a bit of a problem with the games camera and controls at times which creates a lot of “bullshit” moments throughout the game. Still, all in all, it functions quite well.
Battle is fairly generic and uninspired – waving the Wii Remote allows the Prince to use his sword, while stringing it together with shakes of the Nunchuk allows the Prince to punch as well. Several of the Princes new powers are also usable in battle too, but its the powers themselves that are impressive and totally took me by surprise. Each of the powers allow the Prince to traverse environments more efficiently, such as a Sand Ring that creates pillars of Sand, or create hooks and ledges on surfaces which dont really have them, or a protection sphere that can restore the Prince to a location to avoid frustrating replays of certain environmental puzzles. These powers are utilised during certain moments in the game and later on, players have to utilise all of the powers to get through puzzles. What is most impressive, however, is that later on in the game, players have pretty much freedom on how to use these powers, which utilise the Wiis pointing mechanism very well. The very simple and very intuitive point-and-click mechanic totally complements the Wiis design philosophy very well, and as such is one of the advantages that this version has over its HD counterparts.
The games soundtrack is a fairly laid-back affair, offering only ambient pieces that further hammer home the fact that players are in a kind of Arabian paradise. Thankfully, due to this, the soundtrack never really gets in the way of the gameplay and never really becomes annoying. The game is largely voice acted with some pretty high quality talent being on show here too, something that also surprised me at first.
In terms of pure gameplay, players will mostly be looking at between 10-15 hours for their first journey through The Forgotten Sands, and thats a pretty hefty number considering it may fluctuate depending on how well versed players are in these kinds of games. Additionally, there is a co-op mode akin to Super Mario Galaxy in which a second player takes on the role of an unseen “force” and can delay or slow down traps that may crush the Prince. Finally, theres a stack of unlockable weapons, skins and an achievement system that adds a lot of secondary tasks to the game, lengthening the already quite beefed out experience even further. Additional challenges that encourage speed runs and survival modes harken back to the days when the original Prince of Persia hit computers and video game consoles everywhere. Speaking of which, Ubisoft Quebec has also included the original game in a fully Wii Remote-compatible form on the disc too. Theres a lot of stuff packed onto this disc and its rather refreshing to see this done so.
Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands is an extremely competent platformer that does everything to shatter the misconceptions about side projects that come out with high definition counterparts. Its pretty rare that I play a side story on the Nintendo Wii that performs competently besides its main series cousins, and its even rarer that I play one that I mightve even enjoyed more so than the others. Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands is the latter.
Amazing presentation.
Some decent platforming and well put together puzzles, but some camera and control issues really let it down in places. New powers bring amazing capabilities to the game.
A rather well put together ambient soundtrack that never really stands out, and voice acting is well executed.
A lengthy main adventure at about 10-15 hours, but unlockable content and modes make this a rather jam-packed affair.
A rather unexpected surprise and enjoyable romp throughout the Prince of Persia universe.
Gotta go fast.
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