Sands of Time was great! How can this get any better?
I remember the first time I played Prince of Persia the Sands of Time... I liked the game so much, that I beat it in 2 days, and after I beat it, I beat it AGAIN! So as you can imagine, I really like the first game, so you might be asking yourself, how can the game get any better?
Let's start with the story. The story pretty much continues a few months after the first part. A prophet informs Prince that because he did all those cool things with The Sands of Time he has to die. Since the Prince refuses to die he sets on a journey to destroy the sands of time from the very island they were created. As the story progresses it only gets better to the point where you have to say : Holy c***!
Seriously the story is fantastic, filled with plot – twists, surprises and even an alternative (true) ending if you collect all the health power ups. Unfortunately I cannot spoil the story for you because I personally despise spoilers :).
The gameplay works pretty much just like in the first game. You control prince movement and sword fighting. The controls are just as spot on as they were in the first game. There are a few new sword moves and all the sand powers make a come-back. The battles are a bit harder then in part one, but if you spend some time learning them, you will master it in no time.
This time, however, instead of just fighting and running on walls, the prince also has chase sequences. You see, because the prince opened the sands of time in the first part, he is now being chased by a huge monster called Dahakah who's mission is to destroy all those who have meddled with the sands.
Dahakah could easily make a spot at my best villains list (if I ever make one). He is made entirely out of some dark materia which spawns out tentacles (don't get any ideas now :) ). Every time he gets close to the prince the screen turns black and white, which is more then enough to creep you out. Every time that happens, you better will have one thing on your mind: to get the heck out of there. The only thing that can stop Dahakah is water. If Dahakah does manage to catch you, you will witness a terrible scene which I will not spoil for you and yet I will not recommend checking it out. These chase screens are as much fun as they are scary.
The Dagger of time doesn't make a return but you can still turn back time and use time magic with an emblem of time which the prince ''conveniently'' found somewhere between the end of part one and before the beginning of this game.
The characters in the game have been improved as well. The prince has completely changed his personality. He used to be smarta** prince with impressive sword skills who needs to clean up his mess with the sands while now he is a dark warrior with two weapons seeking to change his own destiny.
The girl in this game is the Empress of Time, hopefully Farah won't find out.
The graphics are pretty much the same as in the first part, though they tend to get a bit gloomy, but then again you ARE in the ruins of an old kingdom and not in a modern palace.
To sum up this is a fantastic game. Fans will love it, newcomers will enjoy it as well. It's easy to learn the ropes, it looks and feels nice! So get it and play it already!