GamesRelay

Name: Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands

The Prince of Persia saga is practically as old as the modern gaming age, first seen way back in 1989 the game was originally published by Broderbund for the Apple II; its now become a regular franchise from Ubisoft with almost yearly updates, the most successful of these seen on the last generation machines with The Sands of Time trilogy. Following an unsuccessful reboot of the Prince of Persia series in 2008, Ubisoft have returned to the more successful Sands of Time trilogy to include another chapter in that saga which now makes it the Sands of Time tetralogy. The cell shading from that adventure has gone and a more realistic and gritty art style has returned; likewise has the fanciful companion who'll rescue you should you fall and back in favour are the time bending mechanics, so, out with the new and in with the old it seems.

The new tale is set between The Sands of Time and Warrior Within, with the introduction given by a stunning piece of CGI; The Prince is back and taking a trip to see his brother in Azad at the request of his father. As the Prince arrives he finds his brothers Kingdom under attack and faces a battle to catch up with him. As the pair are reunited his brother reveals his plan to use the army of Solomon to defend his territory, however this quickly goes wrong as it's revealed that the army serves its own purpose and not that of the person who summoned it. From there the two Princes must try and save the world from their actions and return the army back to where it came from.

After the rather beautiful CGI introduction it's a little disappointing at first to get to grips with the Prince, his basic animations seem a little stilted, his running in particular isn't what you'd expect from a brand new title, it's even more disappointing if you remember the original incarnation of the game because at the time it was notable for the amount of realism gone into making the Prince move, surely after all this time it wouldn't have taken much to throw in a couple of extra pennies into the pot for the motion capture. The first level introduces you to the mechanics, it's still a platform game and the Prince is still an acrobat when it comes to getting around the place. The usual staples are all here, the ability to run up and along walls, grabbing hold of ledges, and climbing up stones that stick out of the wall.

Controlling the Prince is a pretty simple affair, with one button taking care of the wall running and another taking care of the jumping, it's actually quite a lengthy introduction and can seem a bit long winded if your familiar with the system, but it's fair to say that newcomers are going to like it. The Prince commentates quite regularly throughout this initial run, it even gets a bit tongue in cheek when he starts to complain about having to take the long way round every time, there's quite a few of his little one liners that will make you smile throughout the course of the first level if you're paying enough attention. It's only once you've completed the first course when you'll meet up with a Dijin who will give you the power to manipulate time, the first being that you can rewind time to a certain extent, so if you fluff one of your jumps then you can pull yourself back through the time vortex and try again.

While this time travelling extravaganza can certainly be a handy manoeuvre to have at your disposal, again, if you're at all familiar with the concept then the first couple of times you have to use it are going to vex you somewhat; the same can be said for sections further in where if you don't spot the tell tale signs of when a platform is going to collapse, usually a piece of wall worn away, then you're going to end up using the power more than you would like. It's not an unlimited power to behold however, and should you use up all your chances of getting something right then you're going to have to be returned to the last check point, something which isn't annoying in itself but it does get a little repetitive in some sections and also hinders your chances of defeating some of the bosses by removing the amount of times you can rewind time.

As you progress throughout the game you'll find yourself up against all manner of traps, the Princes brother activates the castle defences which sets up some nasty traps for you to negotiate, again provoking a couple of tongue in cheek quips along the way. There are also rooms where you'll have to use the old grey noggin to get through them; levers must be turned and switches must be pressed in order for you to make your way through from start to finish. At times some of the puzzles seem really clever and inventive, but at others they can feel a bit like you're repeating old ground. It's an enjoyable enough time working out how to get from point A to B though and while it's doubtful many old time gamers will be getting stuck in any major way, there are still certain parts that will prove a challenge to anyone. It's working these puzzle rooms out that highlights the Prince of Persia experience, carefully gauging your movement through the room and working out what needs to happen in order to advance gets you truly involved with the experience, it's always been a highlight of the series, and it's nice to see it return after the reboots open world type environment if truth be told.