Playing A Game Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands (PC, PS3, X360) X360

God damn it Ubisoft.

As Forgotten Sands soldiers on, the cracks in its paint start to show prominently. In 2003, getting stuck on walls and repeatedly missing how-did-I-not-make-that jumps was understandable, if frustrating; now, I would say it's inexcusable. TFS's later platforming segments are full of these moments, and it's shameful. Prince of Persia 2008 had no problem running and jumping through sheer canyons -- why is this game's platforming worse?

I would have gone without mentioning the mediocre graphics, too, but near the end of the game they become a liability. When sand is whirling around the room, and you have to see an object made of water, it's damn near indecipherable. The final tower was challenging enough without the herculean task of distinguishing walls from pillars.

As for the combat, yeah it's awful. All the game can do is throw hordes of tiny enemies at you, or a few larger enemies (who simply take more sword-slashing to fell). Not to mention how slow it can be -- in Sands of Time, the best way to fight multiple enemies was to move swiftly between them, so none would be able to charge up an attack; but in Forgotten Sands, you take just as long as your enemies do to pull back a sword and swing. If you see a sand-skeleton a full second away from hitting you, you have to roll away or eat the hit*. What a joke.

  • Or use your fully-upgraded Whirlwind spell to defeat basically every enemy on the screen at once. That was fun.

The water-freezing mechanic is a genuinely clever addition to the Prince of Persia formula, but the bad fighting and lame story weigh the game down. And it makes so many of the same mistakes that the Sands of Time trilogy did, that it's hard to call Forgotten Sands a step forward at all. Just play Sands of Time, or the 2008 PoP, instead.

Better than: Prince of Persia: Warrior Within (iOS, NGC, PC, PS2, XBOX)
Not as good as: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (NGC, PC, PS2, PS3, XBOX), Prince of Persia (2008)
Why the fuck: was this game made in 2010?

P.S. The final boss can eat half of your health bar in one attack, and this is the one place in the game where you can't rewind time. Great!

Progress: Finished on Normal

Rating: Meh