refreshing..

User Rating: 8 | Prince of Persia Rival Swords PSP
Sure the prince of Persia trilogy ended a year before this game came out, but its still a very fine experience to behold a have fun with. Just like how POP revelations came out a year after warrior within ( POP 2 ) came out rival swords is this same thing. Its the same game as The two thrones ( POP 3 ) for the ps2, gc , xbox and it came out a year after the original on the psp and wii. The question is.. is it worth experiencing the game all over again with a little amount of new content? yes.. on the psp of course.. the wii.. not at all.

Story:
Rival swords is the same game as the two thrones.. which means same story. The prince is on his way back to Babylon with his new love kaileena, the empress of time, but when he gets back home, he gets ambushed, kaileena gets murdered by the resurrected Vesir. and well he gets infected by the sands himself. Ok yeah, anybody who hasn't played the first 2 games would be like WTF b'cuz this entire game depends on the trilogies story from start to end soo newcomers will likely get confused and quickly get turned off by the game. It is highly recommended to play the first 2 to get a better understanding of the story itself. The POP series main big deal were : environmental puzzles, ability to warp back in time and finally the main story itself, so people wont have that much fun with the game if they don't play through the first two.

Gameplay:

Pros: Speed kills.. kill half the fighting time, rewinding/slowing down time is back, Great camera controls, Environmental puzzles are still fun, Dark prince.

Cons: Fighting takes up too much time sometimes, Enemies block too much, Dark prince.

Score:

8/10

Pop games have always been about environmental puzzles. Great landscape views and jumping, running on walls and rewinding time soo you can correct your mistakes is what makes the prince seem very life like and also is the core gameplay element of rival swords. You will be running on walls grabbing ropes jumping from roof tops and solving puzzles all over again, so people who hated that in the last few games will not find anything to like this time around. Also people who loved the zelda series or even the god of war series will find something to like here as well. Speed kills are a great "new" addition in the series. You sneak up from the back a perform a quick jab at the right time and kill opponents faster. Fighting was overly simplified in the first, very deep in the second.. but now its a mix of both. The prince in his normal state battles rather poorly soo you will have to rely a lot on the speed kills to cut half the time. Camera controls are awesome in rival swords. The psp may not have a second analog stick to use the camera but holding down the L button and then using the analog stick makes life much easier. The in-game camera is very slick to.. unless your in combat but other than that, landscape view, first person view and recenter camera makes life easier if it bugs. The dark prince is like the sandwraith in warrior within/revelations. He is much stronger.. and actually makes combat fun.. but his life drops continuously which is a mar when you are trying to solve puzzles.. since you will be contantly looking for sands.. although its not that bad..

Graphics:

Pros: Great transition from ps2 to psp, Nice lighting effects.

Cons: Frame rate bugs at times, Textures are ugly at times.

Score: 8/10

Sure the cut scenes look gorgeous but the in-game graphics don't look that bad in rival swords. It shows that the psp can copy it's brother the ps2 at a smooth pace. Although the game has an annoying frame rate at times.. and the textures up close can really get annoying.. but the textures.. well if you played the ps2 version.. you won't complain much at all.

Sound: Great voice work, Great music and no more hardcore metal.

Cons: Sound bugs.. sometimes.

Revelations was a great way to show the prince on the psp.. but the sound was a mar. but rival swords fixes some wat that problem. Sure the sound still bugs at times, but it isn't nearly as bad as revelations. The voice actors did a great job once again.. but the lines are exactly the same as in the two thrones.. and once again.. the aladin/persian like music is back from sands of times.. which is simply great.

Value:
Sure people who have never played the last games will be utterly confused and will end up going through wikipedia to understand the story.. and there are a number of people who don't feel like going through the story again. But rival swords on the psp is still a great game. It is simply refreshing and feels new even though its a year old from the original. Anyone looking for a great action/adventure on the psp will find whatever they want in rival swords.. but the story will be confusing for newcomers.