Despite its length and camera issues, the first Prince of Persia delivers a fulfilling experience from start to finish.
The Bad: The story is short and simple; can be frustrating to deplete sand tanks and be forced to restart entire puzzles
The Ugly: Mouse-controlled camera is clunky and jittery
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is the original classic that began the series we know so well today. A terrible evil is unleashed through the Sands of Time, and you through the Dagger of Time are the only one who can stop it. The game was well received in its day, and many still cling to it as an all time favorite.
Since the game is fairly dated, the technical perspective of the graphics cannot be fully appreciated. However, the artistic design is certainly catchy and fitting to the setting. The level design is also varied enough that environments don't seem too familiar. Of course, all corridors feel the same, but major locations and puzzles all have a unique feel to them that makes them that much more memorable.
The gameplay is unique, and it has spawned many imitators that have attempted to recreate this action platformer's feel. It often alternates between quick combat depending heavily on defense and agility and level traversing and puzzle conquering. The former is fast-paced, constantly throwing enemies at you while never bogging you down thanks in part to a helpful partner. Of course, Ubisoft wouldn't want you to depend too heavily on someone other than yourself, and so you will often be separated. This refreshes the gameplay, and it also creates a somewhat rewarding feeling to be reunited with your partner in the aftermath. The latter, the puzzle solving and level delving, more noticeably changes the gameplay. The game's many puzzles and challenges are littered throughout the game, and as most of the combat is over somewhat quickly, you'll be spending most of your time finding the solution to the puzzle or your ending destination. The puzzles can be difficult to solve sometimes, although you almost always have your handy ability to rewind time and try again. In addition to these "retries," the camera (when it's not being jittery, getting in the way, or flailing to get objects out of the way) can sometimes point you in the right direction, and honestly, if it weren't for these helpful hints, puzzles would be much more difficult thanks to some slightly confusing textures. For example, some portions of walls seem to be grab-able, yet when you jump for them you fail and waste a sand tank returning to your original position.
The music's Arabian theme is solid and obviously appropriate for the occasion. Most of the time you'll only notice the driving mystic beats during battles, but the music isn't afraid to drive a plot twist home. The sound itself is what you'd expect it to be, filling your speakers with breaking pots, echoing footfalls, clanging swords, and buzzing razors obstructing your path. Also very noteworthy is the usefulness of the dialogue between you and your partner. There is more conversation in this game between the two of you than I've seen in many similar modern games. Ubisoft evidently put much effort into crafting lifelike characters that we gamers will join in their journey, and their primary means of accomplishing this is through conversational bits and pieces between the two, from bickering and bantering to assistance in puzzles to even a little romance.
The story may be the game's weakest link. If the game takes you more than ten (or even eight) hours to beat, you need to graduate from middle school. Besides the length, the content of the storyline is not very complex at all. I won't spoil it (even though there's not much to spoil), but basically after you discover the final boss's identity (which you do very early in the game), your sole, unvarying goal in Prince of Persia is to reach him and undo the evil that has been created. That's it: pretty basic. Casting aside the conflict between good and evil though, there's plenty of good character depiction in the two main protagonists of the game, and you'll get to know them very well by the time you reach the conclusion.
Graphics: 8.0/10
Gameplay: 8.5/10
Sound: 8.5/10
Story: 7.5/10
Presentation: 8.0/10
Value: 7.0/10
Tilt: 8.5/10