Prince of Persia 2

Rating:
Summary: Awesome Action!!!
Review: Although I've only tried the demo version of POP:Warrior Within,but it totallt rocked!!!The two hand weapon system let me use different attacks depending on what second weapon I picked up.For example,if I picked up another sword,I can go near a collum to circle around it like a smoothie machine balde!!!And the woman boss is really hot!!!The POP:Warrior Within is going to be mostly fighting instead of puzzle solving like Sand of Time,but there are still some tough puzzles in Warrior Within,like the one with a giant spinning wheel in the side of the wall,and you have to walk through it using the power of slowing time.And last but not least,you can turn the blood on or off!

Rating:
Summary: A middle finger to the Prince of Persia franchise.
Review: Having just completed this game the question on my mind is: What were they thinking? Since it's early incarnation as an '80s 2d platformer Prince of Persia has been all about fluid animation, traps, and acrobatics. Now we have "Warrior Within" a game that's not even supposed to be played by anyone under 17. I'm an adult who enjoys a lot of "M" rated games. Prince of Persia should not be one of them. "Sands of Time" had a unique, Disney-with-an-edge feel that "Warrior Within" completely sneers at. Did the Halo guys call the Ubi Soft guys "wusses" at some game convention? Who knows. Something's got to explain the abandonment of nearly everything that made SoT a great game.

And if you buy this game be prepared to spend a lot of time looking at loading screens. But what about that rewind button? There's been some industry talk of doing away with the YOU DIED/RELOAD screens and "Sands of Time" took a huge step in that direction with it's innovative rewind feature. "Warrior Within" still has rewind but it completely negates the system in parts of the game by giving you no sand and forcing you to navigate long series of traps under a strict time constraint. Pause for a second and you're instantly murdered in a cut scene (no fighting back) and booted out to the YOU DIED screen for a reload that puts you at the beginning of the traps (no quicksave). There are times I reloaded many times just to get a one-second, pre-murder look at where to move next. Guess how much fun that is! It goes far beyond just negating the rewind--there's more reloading here than in the last 3 games I played combined (at least the load time is quick). It's amazing that Ubi Soft reversed direction and turned this sequel into a die-a-thon right up there with the worst Tomb Raider titles.

By far the worst part is the level design. By that I do NOT mean the rooms full of obstacles the prince must navigate--those are clever as ever. I mean the overall pathways you must take to progress the game. Or, more specificaly, the CONSTANT BACKTRACKING required. You can tell the developers were trying to stretch the game by reusing maps. But the frustrating part was that they didn't close off any of the wrong paths so you can burn an hour pursuing a dead end (enemies respawn, so no clues there). If that's not bad enough, there are two time modes for all the areas, so you can backtrack in the past as well as the present (the time modes want to be as cool as the shifting phases in "Legacy of Kain" but just aren't). I was constantly unsure of the path I was on, even when on the correct one. With so little feedback from the game even the fun parts were very worrying because I seldom knew if I was actually progressing. The "map" they give you is a total joke. Imagine navigating a tangle of streets with one of those kids jigsaw puzzles of color-coded states.

The one silver lining is the combat system. It's just beautiful. Much better than SoT, which got old quickly. Fighting in "Warrior Within" is like controlling a 3D ninja straight out of a Pixar movie. Even at the end of the game I was still pulling moves that surprised me. There aren't too many games where I spend 15 minutes killing a room full of baddies and immediately reload for the pleasure of doing it all again. That and the obstacle rooms kept me slogging through the frustrating parts. "Warrior Within" has many faults, but the work of the animators is beyond criticsm. Just put them under new management--hopefully someone who "gets" what Prince of Persia should be about.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent game, but not for everyone
Review: I couldn't agree more with the last reviewer comparing Sands of Time(SoT) to a "Disney movie with an edge". Even if you hated SoT you HAD to respect it for it's integrity to be itself and do what it did so well, and for standing out in a sea of titles. However we now have a sequel... and no matter how well you do on a sequel there's going to be criticism comparing it to the original. So here's the ordeal, do you rehash the first one, and have critics complain about it being more of the same, and not trying anything new... or do you try new things, and have critics complain about you ruining what was good about the first?

Warrior Within (WW) seems to be catching a lot of criticism for stepping too far away from it's predecessor... and although I am a HUGE fan of SoT, AND WW, I have to agree. The fighting system has been revamped, and blows away everything else out there... the sheer numbers of combos you can perform is mind-boggling, and being able to use your environment (spinning around poles, and rebounding off walls, as well as other characters) is more than welcome... it's just plain cool. I've more than once replayed an area just because it was "just TOO cool!" I can't say I ever did that during SoT. Although the cutscenes are done pretty well (that's saying a lot) the voice sync does lack (but aside from the Soul Reaver series there's not a lot of good out there) and the camera angles annoy. However those are small prices to pay for such a great game. And you can actually HEAR the voice overs in this one... (and just in case you still can't, there's subtitles) On it's own, people would surely give it better reviews, but since it is a sequel to it's wonderful older brother, it has A LOT to live up to.

WW does everything that SoT did wonderfully, only the feeling has really changed. I feel like I'm playing a totally different series. I have to agree that it strays too far from the great formula that MADE SoT. Overall, to play this game, I don't feel like I'm playing a Prince of Persia game. Do you want to feel like you're playing SoT again? No. You DO want to feel like you're playing a PoP game though. WW is a lot faster paced than SoT, and the fighting doesn't slow the game down like it did in SoT. I used to want to get through the fighting to get to more wall climbing and rope swinging. Now, I want to get through the wall climbing and rope swinging to get to more fighting.

All of the climbing and light puzzle solving is back, and welcomed, but running into a huge group of opponents doesn't have you saying "Come on, hurry up and die".

I don't like WW because it's the sequel to SoT, I like it because it's a great game... and I'm picky when it comes to games. I can't say "If you liked SoT then you'll LOVE WW." I can't say you'll hate it either.

I guess I'm just not too helpful.

Sands of Time is Coca-Cola. Warrior Within is New Coke. It's just up to your taste.

Rating:
Summary: Great game in need of minor improvement
Review: I have not played the first Prince of Persia so I do not have anything to compare it to. This game, however, is a wonderful game on its own and I fully recommend it to anyone looking for a top notch action adventure. I think a good description for this game would be a cross between King's Quest and Tomb Raider. The intense swordplay combined with the acrobatics and mindboggling puzzles make this an intriguing and unique game. The graphics are great and the landscape camera option makes for some really beautiful scenery. You also get a first person view option for taking a gander at your surroundings although you can't play in first person.

I do have a couple of complaints about the game:

First, most of the music is horrible. I usually give the music track a gander and then turn it off because how realistic is it to be on an adventure with music playing in the background anyway? Warrior Within often features a heavy metal track playing in the background. Come on people, this is ancient Persia. Something suspenseful and ambient would have been much better. I suppose it is targeted to a certain audience. The cutscenes are on the music track though so if you do turn the music off, keep the subtitles on.

Second, the forced camera views can be rather annoying at times, especially if you are a keyboard player like me instead of a gamepad player. Also, the movement keys correspond with the camera view and not the character. This can be a real pain when the camera changes into one of the forced views and players may find themselves leaping into oblivion or jumping in the wrong direction right into a trap (which there are plenty of in this game.)

These are minor issues however and should not deter one from buying the game. Another reviewer talked about replaying a certain area because it was a lot of fun and I have found myself doing that as well. Lots of secrets and hidden areas are to be found here and that gives the game some good replay value. I may end up investing in some cheap gamepad just to ease my woes with the camera issue.

Rating:
Summary: Prince of Persia 2
Review: If you played the first game,you probubly want the sequal. In the first game the unnamed prince seemed a little bratty, but in Prince of Persia 2 he has a whole new attitude. He's now alot more serious than before. The graphics in this game are very detailed. His new fighting moves are as amazing as the rest of the game. The story is my favorite part of the game. Since the prince has been rewinding time and coming back to life so many times in the first game, his main enemy is a representation of destiny itself. Because he has cheated death so many times before, he must go through the disastrous underworld. I cant wait to own this game and I hope this review makes you want it too.

Rating:
Summary: Prince of Persia 2
Review: If you played the first game,you probubly want the sequal. In the first game the unnamed prince seemed a little bratty, but in Prince of Persia 2 he has a whole new attitude. He's now alot more serious than before. The graphics in this game are very detailed. His new fighting moves are as amazing as the rest of the game. The story is my favorite part of the game. Since the prince has been rewinding time and coming back to life so many times in the first game, his main enemy is a representation of destiny itself. Because he has cheated death so many times before, he must go through the disastrous underworld. I cant wait to own this game and I hope this review makes you want it too.

Rating:
Summary: The prince returns
Review: The prince once again makes his return in the fifth installment of the Prince Of Persia. This time the game features a much more complex storyline, leaving it quite thought provoking. The prince must journey & defeat fate to defy his preordained death. The game features alot more darker aspects in it than in the past POP games. The graphics are so mindblowing & crisp. The motion animation is absolutely unbelievable. This has been a game that I have been yearning for for quite some time now & i must say that it delivers on every level of excellance. Again the developers did not leave any detail left untouched, they submit so much attention to every detail, making the game more life like & appealing. The prince can do some gravity defying combat moves such as; run along the wall, jump up the ledges, sliding down banners & many more moves. Warrior Within includes a dual-wielding feature, which will allow the prince to execute special attack sequences. This game does feature an mature rating. If you loved Sands Of Time, then i highly recommend that you check out Warrior Within. PSM gave Warrior Within a 10 out of 10. I give it 2 thumbs up.

Rating:
Summary: One of the Better Ones
Review: This is the sequel to The Sands of Time, was it worth the wait? It certainly was.

Playing the Prince, you begin your journey of discovery to prove that the prophecy is wrong. Along the way you must battle through a cursed underworld, a breeding ground for the most brutal and unrelenting monsters to torment Persia.

You need to develop your own unique fighting style to do what must be done to win the battles ahead.