The latest Prince of Persia is all about the gameplay, and while it is technically a short game it is certainly worth a second round. Especially since abilities gained throughout the first play will carry over into the new game, which, like Samuel Adams, is always a good decision.

The two primary elements of the game are platforming and combat. Both offer the player chances to earn “experience points” which can be used to purchase ability upgrades that can further enhance both aspects of the game. Some points can be earned by finding hidden sarcophagi, which can be spotted and reached by leaping from ledge to ledge and spinning from pole to pole. The dead giveaways are some green lights floating about like radioactive dust mites to indicate a hidden sarcophagus containing health, magic and experience. This is the only collectible in the game and the reward is substantial enough that they are worth the effort to seek out.

If you’ve played Prince of Persia 2008 or Assassin’s Creed I or II then you already have a sense of how the platforming works. You press or hold a button while walking a certain direction and the Prince automatically knows what to do. He will wall-run or leap to the next target, from which you can leap, run or drop to the next target. It is as enjoyable and relaxing an experience as ever, though some of the additional abilities provide extra creativity in the building of puzzles.

Aside from being able to rewind time and save your ass (that is, as long as you have magic power) you will also get the ability to stop water, solidifying it so you can use it like poles to swing from, columns to scale or walls to run across. As the game continues you’ll slowly have to learn the best time to release this ability, jumping between sheets of water without touching the ground in order to progress forward. It can actually be difficult at first when initially presented with these tasks, but as the game continues on they become elementary. It’s actually very nostalgic as it retains what old NES and SNES games did. Present to you challenges that will cause you to pull on your hair at first, but once you’ve learned the trick it becomes easier…until it is combined with other more intricate puzzles.

This manages to up the challenge and ease the relaxation a bit off of what Prince of Persia 2008 accomplished. The previous entry in the series never really seemed to become all that difficult, with or without Elika there to save you, whereas this one can have you running out of time-rewind without realizing just how frequently you were using it.

Yet at the same time, despite the frustration, that time-rewind is forgiving enough that the game over screen is an uncommon occurrence. The game remains challenging without being a frustrating pain in the ass. In other words, it’s designed well!

It should be noted that the level design is handled rather cleverly in a few locations, such as flattening a massive staircase so that you are constantly sliding down it, having to manipulate the environment in order to safely descend. It’s nothing new, but having to also solidify water while wall-running gives an extra slice of depth to keep players on their toes.

Similarly the lead-up to the final boss has the Prince leaping between pieces of fortress flying in the air during a massive and supernatural sandstorm. While this is similar to a set-up in the start of Bayonetta, wherein the player is battling demons on a falling clock tower, it actually tries to have the outside events effect what is happening in terms of gameplay. The camera is always moving as the platform flies through the air and the vision is obscured by sand flying in all directions. While navigating between platforms is almost automatic, the fact that you can hardly see five feet in front of you makes it a slightly nerve-wracking experience.

In the end it isn’t really any different than any other platforming moment earlier in the game, but the hindrance on the player’s vision makes it a slightly more challenging and worrisome experience. It is theatric without having to pretend, but instead messing with the player’s psychology. Such a thing was more than I expected out of this title, particularly when the story itself suggests it was a hack’s attempt at forcing a new entry into a series just as Adobe will surely be releasing a new Creative Suite next year.

The combat works in a similar manner. Simple button presses can perform a multitude of theatrical results. Mash the attack button repeatedly to keep striking relentlessly at your foes, or strike a few times before holding down to unleash a mighty swing downing them. Most thankfully, if the need ever arises, the dodge ability will interrupt any current action allowing an immediate reaction. This may sound like it makes the game easy, but the sheer number of enemies prevents the player from being able to see all the blows coming. There are several indicators that a foe is preparing to strike, including a bright shine from the enemy’s weapon before bringing it down, but when you are rolling and striking between two-dozen aggressors there isn’t chance to react and see them all.

Yet these numbers are part of what make the game so entertaining. The A.I. is mostly stupid and the enemies allow ample opportunity to strike them down, but there are so many you are always at risk. This is why it is all the more satisfying when you can take them all down with only a scratch or two. The different enemies each have their own unique behaviors, ranging from the monster bull-chargers to the smaller shielded foes that will knock back all your strikes unless you stun them first, keeping the experience from being stale. Players will be forced to use as many abilities as they can in order to defeat enemies, and eventually they will learn how they all can flow together to make what can only be called a beautiful ballet of blood (except, well, all the enemies become dust and sand, so not really).

In addition to light and strong attacks and the ability to dodge, the prince can also leap from foe to foe to swiftly decrease distance to a further target (or perhaps egg on a sorcerer’s spell or bull’s charge into enemy ranks), strike at them from above or, if they are ever against the wall or a ledge, perform a quick finish no matter how much health is left.

The player also has magic at their disposal, though only two of the spells prove to have great use. Stone Armor allows the player to be immune to damage temporarily while the Whirlwind spell allows them to knock back foes and deal damage. This allows the player to knock back enemies that surround him while performing an instant kill on several as they lay prone on the ground. Towards the end it will also make quick and instant work of scarab beetles as they swarm about the Prince. While the ice and fire attacks have their own uses they aren’t nearly as tide-changing as the Stone Armor or Whirlwind, which become all the more potent as their powers are upgraded.

For the most part upgrading the Prince won’t have that much of an effect on the game, though it does allow some level of customization. The base idea is to make powers last longer or to make them more powerful. However, no matter if you defeat all the enemies in the game and find all the sarcophagi, you cannot purchase all upgrades on your first playthrough. This is what the new game plus is for, as well as the Enemy Tides challenge.

Once you have beaten the game you can do the Enemy Tides challenge, which allows the player to fight through eight waves of increasingly difficult enemies. While it’s a nice time filler and speeds up the grinding process to maxing out the Prince’s abilities, it is relatively easy and short. The biggest real reward is simply unlocking an achievement for defeating all eight waves, though it’s not a very challenging task. If you beat the game you can certainly fend off against all the foes.

It would have been nice if additional challenges were included such as in Shadow Complex, providing platforming puzzles well beyond the difficulty and scope of the single player campaign for more skilled players to wrap their brains around. Or if there could be additional combat modes requiring the player to only use certain abilities or providing other handicaps in combat, making the Enemy Tides challenge a bit more of a test of skill. As it is it feels more like the developers added in a test map where they worked on game balance easily without having to do it all within the game proper.

On the whole, however, Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands is a surprisingly well-knit package. The story is simple and feels pointless overall, but at least the voice acting is good and the writing isn’t stupid. As far as pointless sequels go it is several grades above, say, Jurassic Park III. What really makes the game is the design of both the levels and of the combat. If you are the sort of fan that must own every game in the franchise, this will be a nice little addition (especially if you hate Prince of Persia 2008). For anyone else, it’s a nice game to look out for when it is only $30 or so. I highly recommend you give it a play at some point, even if that isn’t until after a price drop (which, knowing this industry, should be right about when Fall hits).

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