Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Just makes you want to say WOW and really outlines the class gaming can achieve.
The Sands of Time was released in 2003, the story begins with the prince journeying to Azad of India (returning from the Island of time, where him and his father's army had just fought in a war). While the prince was fighting alongside his father he had picked up a mysterious Dagger which his father allowed him to keep as a souvenir, while his father took the hourglass of the sands of time, little did they both know they would be punished for what they had done.
Once they arrived at the Maharajah's Palace in India the prince's father offered the hourglass of the sands as a gift but this is where the Vizier came in. The Vizier was a man the prince's family thought they could trust but it was him who wold betray them, the Vizier had tricked the young prince into applying the Dagger into the Heart of the hourglass to release the sands within, it was after the Prince had realized what he had been tricked into doing when he decided to go after the Vizier to undo what has happened.
The Combat system used by the Prince in this game was excellent especially during the time of 2003 it had a combination of stealth and brutishness, which became quite a trademark to follow in the series of The Prince of Persia and similar Ubisoft games, such as Assassins Creed.
As the Prince's search for the Vizier went on, he met a woman called Farah. The two did not get off to the best of starts but the journey the two went on together showed a calm romantic side to the prince which, i guess helped the prince overcome his worries at the time of killing his father in battle and loosing the ones he loved.
Once the Prince had reached the Vizier and the hourglass the prince made a grave mistake of hesitating before making everything like it used to be and before he knew it the Vizier and him were locked in battle it was after the prince had defeated the Vizier once and re winded time where, he woke up from what seemed like a dream and returned the Dagger to where he found it. The story ends with a final confrontation of the prince and the Vizier and the final moments between him and Farah.
The story was the most gripping story i have ever encountered in a game and it is going to take one hell of a game to top it.
My overall rating given was 9.5 mainly due to the fact of the sleekness of the game the little criticism i have though is the graphics of the game and the AI reactor as the two normally got in the way of this fantastic game, the graphics were very square and the reactor seemed very slow at points but overall one of the best PS2 games ever made and a spot in my top 10.