Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
Publisher: Ubisoft
Rrp: £12.99
Released: 10th June 2010
Available on Steam and Uplay
Played using: An Xbox 360 controller
Here’s a question. Is this game a movie tie in or a part of a series of games that happens to have a movie? A better question of course is, is it actually any good?
So anyway, the Prince is visiting his brother after being sent by his father to learn how to be a great leader. Turns out there’s a war going on and the Princes brother is losing, of course the Princes brother isn’t without a backup plan… A very, very stupid backup plan.
Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands is a 3D platforming game in the Sands of Time series… Sort of. There is a reason I say ‘sort of’ and that’s because of story…. I’ll be honest I have no idea what’s going on. I understand the story of the game itself, that’s not the issue. I just can’t work out where this story sits in the Sands of Time timeline. Events, places and characters from the previous games are mentioned a couple of times but it all seems out of order. The only thing I can think of is that this game is ‘of’ the Sands of Time series but isn’t actually part of it, which is an explanation that doesn’t sit well with me.
Several things have been changed in this title, for example, water can no longer be used to regain health, unlike the other games in the series. Instead health is regained through destroying pots (sometimes they contain health) or through killing enemies.
There is also now a skill tree allowing you unlock several different passive and active abilities as you see fit using experience points (XP) gained from killing enemies.
Without going into spoilers I just want to say that the skills the Prince acquires as a matter of course through the game (rather than unlocked via the skills menu) are both visually impressive and fairly pretty unique.
I’m pretty sure I mention this in every Ubisoft game i review but the fact I have to have Uplay running a well as Steam (assuming I bought it through Steam) to run this game is very annoying and puts an unnecessary strain on a system, even if that strain is minute.
Yuri Lowenthal (S’Lethkk from Titansgrave: The Ashes of Valkana) returns to reprise his role as the voice of the Prince, which is welcome after having played Warrior Within this is a welcome change. To go with the suburb voice acting the musical score for Forgotten Sands also stands far and above the rest, completely suiting the situation your character is in and making those tough acrobatic moments feel very epic.
Forgotten Sands, while definitely more graphically advanced, feels much less fluid than its older counterparts, with there being visible breaks between the acrobatics moves as the game switches from one animation to another. This lack of fluidity isn’t just limited to the wall running etc (so the majority of the game) but also affects the combat as well.
The story mode of this game is a pretty short affair, taking me approximately just a little under 9 hours to complete. Of course, I wasn’t trying to get all of the sarcophagi that are scattered around the game which if you destroy them give quite a lot of XP, these are usually hard to find but are certainly worth the trouble of getting.
There are also two challenge modes which can accessed, one is called Enemy Tides and the other Time Trail. Both of these are locked off to the player until the meet certain requirements, Enemy Tides is unlocked by completing the game whereas Time Trail has to be bought via the Uplay store using Upoints.
For me this game was a little on the short side, sure it was pretty and the story was well paced but for £12.99 I expect a little more than what’s on offer.
If you liked that then perhaps try;
Enslaved: Odyssey to the West
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Tomb Raider
