Is PoP: The Forgotten Sands a hit or a dissappointment?
Story: First, this game has nothing to do with the Prince's struggle with the Dahaka (I think that's how you spell it.) It is about the Prince buying a female genie (that's not a typo. someone actually sold him a genie.) However, you must read the instruction booklet to know that. Anyway, he basically wishes for a kingdom of his own and mistakenly brings disaster onto himself and the kingdom. Needless to say, the story is dissappointing. But, it works (somewhat) as a standalone title. 6/ 10
Graphics: The environments are all good looking and the enmies are well designed and fit in well with the whole "plant" theme. The Prince is wearing his WW outfit, but his eye color makes him look blind. All in all, though, a good looking game. 8/ 10
Sound: The music in this game is by far the weakest in the series. With that said, though, the voice acting is very good. (The original voice actor for the Prince is back, thankfully.) What few actors there are all deliver their lines with enthusiasm and the talk between the Prince and the Djann (female genie) is amusing, to say the least. 8/ 10
Gameplay: Here we are. The most important part of any game. I've decided to break this up into 2 parts, the good and the bad.
The Bad: The camera in this game, in a word, is just awful. It sets at all sorts of weird angles that make it frusrtating to navigate the environments at times. It can also cause many a death. Second, the combat. I don't know why the developers chose to get rid of the combat from the 2 Thrones and Warrior Within. In those games, I actually looked forward to the combat. In this, though, the combat is boring and unispired, even more so than in the first one. Lastly, the controls for having the Prince run on walls is only half working. Given that there is no rewind in this game and the run button frequently makes you fall to your doom, there are many frustrating deaths in this game. (I can't imagine getting the acheivment for no deaths.)
The Good: I know, this is starting to sound like the ending of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. (Great movie, by the way.) But this is where I finish ranting and focus on the things the game does right. So, you have no time manipulation powers, but instead you get neat creation powers. You can create a hook to catch yourself on a wall, an airlift to allow you reach new heights and a bubble that you can create in mid air. (which does kind of make up for the no rewind powers.) The first half of the game is fairly linear, and while the second half of the game is technically still linear, it's much more freeform and is very fun to mess aroun with. When you get all these powers, scaling a sheer vertical surface is now sweat. Where in previous games, you had to have something to grab onto, in this one you make something you grab on to. I really liked the fact that the developers allowed so much freedom, because the powers are a joy to mess around with. Second, in the latter half of the game, you have to go into the realm of 4 different gods. (I won't say why.) And in this part lies my favorite stage from any of the Prince of Persia games. You are in space and there are floating chunks of debris. You need to get to the center of this stage. Have fun. This is easily the best stage ever designed by Ubisoft for this series. Now, third is the unlockables. In addition to the standard concept art and developer commentary, you can unlock the original SNES Prince of Persia. You can also unlock the Prince's (exact) look from the original Sands of Time game and his Dark Prince form from the Two Thrones. And you can unlock weapons from previous games like the Dagger of Time and the Wallbreaker sword. And on top of all that, there are 5 or 6 challenging bonus maps for you to play. I really like that the developers did this for the fans like me, cause I'm a sucker when it comes to unlockables like this.
Final gameplay score: 6.5/ 10
Final thoughts: When this game isn't being a throw your controller through the wall frustration, it is extremely fun. However, it does frustrate alot. Also, it's a dissappointment that the story is so dissconnected from the Sands of Time trilogy. So, if you're a fan, this game is worth playing. However, if you've never played a Prince of Persia game before, I reccommend playing the Sands of Time trilogy first. There's a reason it's highly praised.
So, if you've come this far, thanks for reading.