Not perfect, but pretty close
To begin, the graphics are excellent and the engine they use is great. I am able to play this game on an old pentium 4 3.2 with a nvidia 9500 GT with 2 gb of ram @ 1680 x 1050 with great performance and detail.
The prince and his surroundings are very detailed and everywhere you look there has been a great attention to creating a beautiful world to enjoy. From the wisps of sand moving below a swinging trap, The well designed enemy models, to the great use of light peering through cracks or the fine details on clothing and armor. Everything looks great. Including the newly designed prince. PoP games have always had great graphics and this game continues that tradition.
As for the game play, I think it is genius how the designers have added the control of water into the great gameplay that we saw in the previous games. It really adds a welcome new twist to the action/puzzle solving style this game series has always done so well. Edit: ( additional elements like wind or fire are used in combat and not in the environment )
I see a lot of people knocking the combat, well for me I love it. I like that I can charge my attacks, I like that I can kick enemies down and I really like the addition of finishing moves that are stylish and enjoyable to pull off. Quite simply this is the best combat engine ever use in a PoP game. As for it being easy, well I think it just makes you feel more powerful and I for one enjoy the fact that its not frustrating. It keeps the game moving along and that is something I prefer over games that have overly difficult combat (ex : Ninja Gaiden) I think it was done purposely because the game was meant to be enjoyed by more than just hardcore gamers. Especially with new fans coming to it after seeing the movie.
One thing that makes the combat seem easy is the addition of powers that you unlock with experience points. Like an RPG you can spend these points anyway you see fit to give you special abilities like stoneskin or allow you to knockdown all surrounding enemies with a wind based attack. Again I find these abilities a welcome addition to the game and I like the carrot being dangled knowing that I have more and more powerful ones to unlock as I progress through the game.
As for the sound I think this was well done, just like everything else in the game. From the voice acting to that music to the background sounds everything works well and never distracts for the experience. Which for me is what good sound design is.
I can't help but wonder what it is that gamers and reviewers who knock this game want from their games. This game is polished and fine tuned. It looks great and plays great. It has everything we loved about the past games while injecting some fresh new ideas into the mix. It gives you more of everything. More enemies, more abilities, more combat choice with finishers, new puzzles that use traps and timing as well as the new addition of elements like when turning water solid. I think some people look for the smallest imperfections when they should be enjoying what is so good in the game.
Sure the camera can occasionally be out of place, but what game like this has a perfect camera ? Actually I haven't experienced any real problem with it so far anyway. It has a snap behind button and rotation control.
With that said, I can understand why some ppl may complain about the camera because when you are in a boss fight the camera auto locks onto the enemy but it never bothered me too much, also sometimes in certain sections of the game there will be a fixed view for some platforming sections which I believe the dev's did on purpose to actually improve the angles and cause the player to keep moving in the proper direction
Prince of Persia Forgotten Sands is an excellent game and in my opinion the best in the series and actually one of the best games I've played lately. It's was a great balance of action, combat and puzzle solving all set in a beautiful world and for me thats all I wanted and the team at ubisoft delivered in this latest PoP adventure.
The game was solid all the way through and I was never bored or frustrated, it's a great game and highly recommended it. My only complaint after finishing the game is that it was a bit short and the way Ubisoft forces the player to sign up for Uplay and how the game is linked to their server. It wasn't something that bothered me a lot and I understand why they did it ( stop stealing games ppl ) but it did seem a bit intrusive.
There is also some replay value too. You can play the game with all your unlocked powers the second time through and there is alternate skins and a "horde" type mode.
Although it wasn't perfect, overall this game is almost worthy of a 10.