An engaging, defining, action-adventure. The Prince of Persia is reborn.
The story goes thus. You assume the role of an unnamed Prince, the son of a Maharaja who is about to conquer a kingdom (which he does). The Prince stumbles upon a mysterious dagger, which he uses to unleash the Sands of Time, having tricked into doing so by The Vizier. Now, the whole place is a mess, filled with different types of Sand Creatures. You must fight your way through these with the help of the king's daughter Farah. And that's it. The entire story is unfolded only in around the first 5-10 % of the game and apart from the Prince and Farah's romance, there's absolutely no development whatsoever in the story after that until the time you complete about 90 % of the game. It's only towards the final 10 % that we resume track of the story. In the middle, it's just plain action.
And the action it is in that the game scores heavily. The game design is comprised of puzzle solving and sword fights, both of which require you to use the Prince's wide arsenal of acrobatics. Initially, you're explained how to perform the various moves, step-by-step, as and when you are needed to perform them for the first time. The mechanism to execute the moves is really simple and is what makes the game so endearing; even with so many moves, you won't see yourself getting lost as all the moves are easily executed at the click of a button or two. Most of these moves are needed in the puzzle solving sections of the game which I consider to be the finest examples of engrossing game design. Although the puzzles constantly challenge your intellects, they barely get frustrating (except of course occasionally during a puzzle or two). Right at the start, you know that you're going to make it through this. You just know it, sort of intuitively.
The action and fights are mostly on the repetitive side. All you do is keep fighting improved versions of enemies and some of these fights can get really annoying. The biggest factor contributing to this is the fact that you have to absorb the enemies you killed (and which have thereby turned into sand) in your dagger. Fail to do so and the enemy resurrects itself. And while you're busy doing so, you're also vulnerable to attacks from enemies. Also, you can't defend yourself in such cases since the portion in which the Prince absorbs the enemy into his dagger plays out as a pre-rendered animation rendering you helpless. You just pray that no one attacks you during that moment (and especially so when your health is low). Also, the time rewind mechanism is sheer brilliance. The way it unfolds cannot be described here and is best experienced playing this game. It proves to be a vital gameplay mechanic, especially during battles where you can use it to undo your mistakes and foresee your enemies moves.
The game, it seems, has a different way of doing everything, even the most common tasks associated with gaming. Consider for example, the simple task of saving a game. The Prince walks into a beam of light (which looks as if its a teleporting mechanism) and starts floating. Then, we see glimpses of what is about to happen in the next few moments of the game (possibly until the next checkpoint). It is then that the game is saved. After saving, the Prince promises to resume the story from "here" next time. Further, the Prince also acknowledges seeing his future while entering the save game checkpoint. Innovative stuff. A similar level of innovation is seen when the Prince dies, gets a weapon upgrade or gets a health upgrade. The different manner in which such things are done as opposed to normal games is refreshing.
The sound, for the most part, is great. The music might sound boring at first but it really grows on you and by the time you reach the end, you really start liking the tunes. The voice acting could have been a bit better but nevertheless, it ain't shabby by any means. Again, you start getting accustomed to the voices by the time you reach the end and you believe that the voice actors are perfect for their part. The graphics are simly astounding for the time. The faces are really expressive especially in the cut scenes. The visual splendour of the game is however revealed towards the end when the sights you witness while standing atop of a tower simply steal your breath away.
The best part of the game though, has to be the wonderful animations. Whether the Prince walks on a wall, hangs on a ledge, or swings across ropes, the animations are so well done that you're convinced that the Prince could be acrobatic enough to perform these moves of his. And there are a whole lot of such animations, for the Prince drawing his sword and dagger, putting them back, drinking water, repelling after hitting an unbreakable wall with his sword - the list goes on. The game ran flawlessly on my current system, which is expected for a 2003 release but it could give owners of older systems a hard time (and I'm guessing it must have in its days). Too bad though that the game doesn't support widescreen.
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is a technically sound game with a story and characters to drive it to its conclusion. The campaign might be short but even this works in the game's favour since it allows us to stay connected with the game. Some fights and puzzles can be frustrating enough and the story could have been developed a bit more. But these small complaints do not, in any way, take away the tag of a masterpiece that is virtually stamped on the game. A must play. I can't wait to start the next one.