Despite improved combat and a complex plot, Warrior Within's dark tone departs from the storybook Prince we're used to.
The Bad: Darker tone that is not entirely welcome; some difficulty irregularities; soundtrack is gritty and hard on the ears; gameplay is almost entirely action now, almost completely lacking any puzzles
The Ugly: The Prince has lost his usual charm to become a lifeless, hollow shell of a character
Prince of Persia: Sands of Time introduced our hero, the Prince of Persia, as a young member of royalty out to bring his father and kingdom glory through the acquisition of whatever treasure he could get his hands on. When this took a turn for the worse, he sought to undo the wrong that had been unleashed for the good of humanity. However, Warrior Within has transformed the Prince into a nearly entirely different character. What once was a young man seeking glory who became humanity's only hope thanks to what he possessed has now become a completely self centered and cocky man bent on his own survival. Thus, Prince of Persia: Warrior Within, while it is in some ways superior to its predecessor, ultimately takes the series in an unwelcome direction.
The graphics, technically, look great. Everything looks all around better. Edges are smoothed, animations flow together even better, and effects intensify the experience. Artistically, the graphics are consistent with the rest of the game, but that is not necessarily a good thing. The fantasy setting of SoT has been trashed and replaced with a darker, more Gothic artistic structure that makes everything... well, gloomy. Sure the level design is still solid, but like so much of the rest of this game, Warrior Within's artistic direction simply has lost its charm.
Similarly, gameplay is definitely an area where improvements have been made, although even it has suffered slightly from the alteration in style. Let's get this out the way: combat is awesome. Enemies, which are much more varied this time around, are more fun to kill in more ways. Thanks to the freedom an M rating allows, we can now do everything from decapitate our foes to slice them straight down the middle. But where combat is improved, the puzzles that were so prevalent in SoT are nearly nonexistent in Warrior Within. It's all straight combat or level traversing, with some mixtures of the two scattered along the way. In an effort to explain what I mean by the mixtures, I simply mean the act of running along a wall and chopping at an enemy who is waiting for you, or jumping to dodge an enemy while on a beam in one on one combat with it; both additions and others like them are extremely simplistic, boring, and often times unfair.
The story in the way of complexity is much improved, and actually challenges the brain a little along the way. You'll being traveling through time in this episode of the Prince's adventures, as he alters the past, events in the present are similarly altered. Yet throughout the unfolding of the story, the Prince's rare comments don't serve to intrigue us with little tidbits of character development like in the first game; on the contrary, his dialogue is much more boring, callous, and thankfully much less frequent. Instead of a naive prince setting out to save the world with a weapon and captivated in love by his unlikely partner, we have a boring, hollow shell of a man setting out with the same goal at the commencing of the story as at the end: to save his own life. Lame. Sure, the story is certainly more complex, but the plot twists have taken the place of any life and character that SoT possessed.
The sound is also about average for a game. Sure, the effects are slightly improved; footfalls, swords, and traps all sound appropriate, but aren't we a little old to be impressed by the appropriate? The music falls vastly short of anything impressive. Even though it is consistent with this darker setting and mood, the grungy, hard rock that plays while I'm desperately scrounging around the game for enjoyable aspects certainly does not encourage me to like this game any more than I already am.
All in all, the best way to sum up Warrior Within is that obviously has been aesthetically improved, but where Ubisoft has given, they have also taken away, leaving an empty shell of a game that lacks any kind of value underneath its shiny surface.
Graphics: 6.5/10
Gameplay: 7.5/10
Story: 6.5/10
Sound: 5.5/10
Presentation: 6.0/10
Value: 6.5/10
Tilt: 7.0/10