While
the last attempt at bringing the Prince of Persia series to next
generation consoles offered a different take on things, with its cel-shaded
visuals and weird non-linear play, the newest installment, The Forgotten
Sands brings the series back to its roots. Set between the events seen in
the Sands of Time and Warrior Within titles, this installment finds our
hero battling against a sand-demon army while trying to escape a series of
elaborate traps and puzzles. The game begins with an epic cinematic that
shows his brother's kingdom under assault by enemies. They decide to use
the ultimate weapon, which unleashes supernatural forces, which creates an
army of sand monsters who quickly over-run the kingdom and wreak havoc
wherever they go. Not wanting to make too many waves, Forgotten Sands
stays true to the Prince of Persia formula and the first few levels are
very much in the classic mold. The Prince begins by learning the basics
such as running on walls, performing massive jumps over gaps, climbing
bricks and most of the usual tricks that players have come to expect from
the series.
Most of the games feature some familiar
traps and obstacles that you'll need to avoid, such as spinning blades,
massive logs that spin and turn at you and more. There also a few sections
where the ground will collapse under your feet, which means you'll have to
stay on your toes throughout. Veteran gamers will be happy to see some of
the old familiar obstacles and puzzle elements return, such as leaping
from giant columns in the air and swinging on a sequence of bars. While
not particularly innovative, its nice to see Ubisoft bring a few of these
elements back into play. As usual, when the prince defeats enemies or
smashes vases, they'll release energy that he can use to increase his
health or add to the number of rewinds he has stored in his inventory.
It's important to collect as many of these as you can since it makes
progression easier, particularly in the latter areas that become
especially tricky.
While some of the more recent Prince of
Persia games didn't have a good mix of action and puzzles, Forgotten Sands
has good pacing and strikes an excellent balance between these elements.
Each stage progresses at a fairly consistent rate as the prince moves from
room to room in the vast palaces of his brother, jumping in one room and
battling sand demons in another. The only fault we had were the somewhat
pedantic mini-boss battles, which seemed a little out of place and felt
like cheap attempts to copy God of War. Fortunately, bosses are very
scattered and most can be dispatched quickly. Most of the game's normal
areas offer a good mix of elaborate puzzles and fighting sequences which
keeps your interest level high consistently. The puzzles sequences can be
a little long, requiring multiple jumps and tasks to complete through a
complex layout of poles, walls and jumps to that need to be traversed.
There are also switches to pull, and ubiquitous buttons bearing the
prince's family logo that usually cause a reaction in the other side of
the room.
Most of the puzzle sequences feature
very large drops that will instantly kill the prince, which leaves you
little room for error. Fortunately, as in some of the older games, you can
use your time pieces to turn back time and return to the point before you
failed and try again. You only have a few of these to use at any given
time, so it pays to think before you leap, and learn from your mistakes.
Most of the puzzles are fairly straightforward, but others can be a little
bit oblique, and require you to think and find solutions that aren't
always obvious. This leads to a few areas where you might find yourself
stuck in, which can be a little frustration. One area that was
particularly annoying was the massive clock works which required nearly
flawless timing and long jumps, which made for a frustrating section of
the game that never seemed to end.
Prince of Persia's structure is a little
bit different this time around in that you have a major new ability that
allows you to freeze water at certain points. This helps you get to some
areas where you wouldn't otherwise be able to reach and gives the game a
slightly different feel than other games. Aside from this, it stays very
true to its conventions, and the gameplay offers some interesting and
challenging areas and puzzles. One area where Forgotten Sands innovates is
in the use of water. After a few levels, the prince earns the ability to
freeze water that he finds. This is quite useful in a number of sections,
since he can pour it to create new sections to traverse. For example, he
can use it to create bars to swing from or make pathways over large gaps.
It's a fairly cool feature that's easy to use and makes the gameplay more
interesting. The game itself isn't too difficult and most sections
shouldn't pose too much of a problem for gamers who've played previous
games.
If things get too treacherous for you,
the game allows you to reduce the level of difficulty until things become
very easy, but it resembles a casual game when you do this, taking all the
fun and challenge away. Fortunately, most players should be up to the
challenge and the satisfaction of beating the game is worth it. Another
innovative feature that Forgotten Sands brings to the table is the ability
to upgrade the Prince's abilities as you go through the adventure. Players
collect orbs in the gameplay and these are used in a variety of ways. When
you collect an orb, you can go immediately to a separate menu which allows
you to select which upgrades to use on a branching menu. You begin with a
few basic ones that increase your attack strength, and can use others to
increase your health bar and number of rewinds you can use. This is an
effective system that opens up more areas of the game as you progress.
Players will also find several cool surprises and secrets along the way,
but we don't want to ruin these cool features, suffice it to say exploring
Prince of Persia's menus is definitely worth the effort.
The
last installment of Prince of Persia tried some laudable experiments in
terms of style and aesthetics. Prince of Persia's first HD installment
re-imagined the series' aesthetic by implementing a cel-shaded look and
anime-style prince, and more importantly non-linear gameplay highlighted
by missions where you're objective was to collect scattered orbs in each
level. This approach was controversial, and the changes drew mixed
reaction. The Forgotten Sands takes the opposite approach and brings the
series back to its origins with a more dramatic and straightforward
cinematic style that returns to the more linear approach of the original
game. This makes the game a little less interesting, but more predictable.
The more realistic approach mirrors the recent movie and its more
realistic approach makes the game feel more realistic.
This approach to the franchise is
definitely a lot closer to the Sands of Time aesthetic than any game since
that title. It's not as dark as Warrior Within, nor is it a brightly
colored surreal anime title. The settings are fairly lush and evoke a
different time and era, with a mixture of realism and fantasy that draws
you into the adventure. The breathtaking views inside the palace and in
other locations bring the ancient world of Persia to life in vivid
fashion, and its excellent camera system doesn't intrude on the action. An
effective soundtrack scores the action and brings dramatic flourishes to
the gameplay without feeling intrusive or overbearing. The game's overall
feel is fairly good by HD standards, but there are a few sections that
don't have quite the polish that's seen in some of the more elaborate
set-pieces. Despite this, the overall quality in terms of production
values is consistent throughout. One of the things you'll probably notice
while you're playing through Forgotten Sands is the strong sense of
familiarity that you'll have. Many of the same features, obstacles and
puzzles you've seen in earlier games return, though with a few twists.
This makes the game feel more like a remake than a true sequel.
Reinforcing this feeling of déjà vu is
the fact thar it's narrative takes place between the events of the Sands
of Time and Warrior Within, which makes it's place in the overall plot
feel less like moving forward and more like standing in place. While this
is a satisfying approach that brings a decent game, it does have the
effect of feeling a bit too constrained, almost afraid to break much new
ground in the franchise. It seems like Ubisoft has gone too far in the
other direction with Forgotten Sands and is over-compensating after the
last Prince's negative reception. In the end, this makes for an
entertaining, challenging and fun title, but one that seems stuck
rewinding and reliving its past glories instead of moving forward.
- Michael Palisano
