The Prince goes bad.
- Challenging puzzles
- Unique gameplay
- Longer game than the original
- Satisfying combat
- Many moves available
- Heavy-metal music during fights
- Alternate endings
- Boss Fights
- Good story
- Good movie CGs
- Good epilogue
- Great graphics (environment)
- Great animations
What you may not like:
- Tough game (tough bosses + lack of save points)
- Charm of the original (Sands of Time) is gone
- Transition from SOT is incomplete
- Other than the Prince, there is little character depth
- Map recycling
- Some minor gore
- A few repetitive fights
- No music when not in combat
- Audio is usually out of sync (lip or else)
- Can't move or act for the first whole second after a movie / reload (frustrating)
- Terrible camera
Note: I strongly advise you to read Gamespot's review if you haven't already.
Story - Warrior Within a.k.a. the seriously ticked off Prince.
If you have played the first of this trilogy, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, the introduction will make you wonder what went wrong between the fairy ending of the first one and this one's introduction.
The Prince has gone through some rough changes: an unexplained (and cliché) tattoo, a scrappy look, and an attitude.
The story on its own is interesting and will keep you hooked till the end.
Game - Bigger puzzles, bigger fights
Like its predecessor, you will have to make your way through the architectural puzzles and the occasional pockets of enemies.
The level design is just clever and the world is beautiful. The acrobatic moves are not repetitive and you will enjoy finding the proper pathing each time.
The music was a big debate in the reviews and I can confirm both sides to be right: the music is not as good as in the original Sands of Time in terms of "fitting" but on the other hand, it is very invigorating in combat.
Something new also is the addition of the Dahaka. This (evil?) being will trigger some very cool chases where you will need to find a way ahead before he catches you.
Combat - Find a style that suits you
The combat techniques found in the original are still here and more moves have been added.
Those moves are mostly dependent on if you are dual wielding or not. Dual wielding opens up stronger moves while holding just a sword will grant you the throwing moves.
One great thing about the combat in WW is that you can find a style that suits you -- you don't need to know all the styles to be successful.
The Boss fights are a neat addition but unfortunately, you will quickly learn to keep it simple.
It's all because a Boss can actually take you down in 4-5 hits. In comparison, you probably need to hit him like 30-50 times. So defense / evasion is usually more important than aggression.
The same goes for the pockets of enemies you will encounter: go with the safe moves where the enemies don't have a chance to hit you, or you will die quickly.
As you can read from this, this game is a lot tougher than its predecessor. Not really because the enemies are tougher, but mostly because Save points are so spread afar from one to another. You can kill a boss and not find a save point until 2-3 more hurdles.
This is true until the last few hours of the game where retries and save spots are easy to get.
So, until that moment, expect to see the Game over screen quite often.
There are 2 endings. The "good one" is near-impossible to get without a walkthrough. It requires you to find all the life upgrades (9). I would have preferred a player choice instead, but I guess that was a cheap way for them to add replay value.
Conclusion - Mixed feelings
If you have played its predecessor, Sands of time, and liked it, you will not find this sequel as fulfilling as the first one. It does, on the other hand, address the (minor) issues like its level of difficulty and its length.
If you didn't like the first one or didn't play it, you will like this game for certain. The intense fights and overall good story will keep you hooked until the end.
In comparison, I would say Sands of time was like an exquisite 5 service meal that lasted for an hour while Warrior Within is like pizza and beer with a good football game.
Both are really good, but totally different in their nature.
It's a great game, 8.3/10