Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (GameCube) Reader Review

Developers constantly try to bring intuitive new ideas into their games by looking at what has not been done yet. Sword fighting? That’s been done too extensively, sword fighting with incredible acrobatics? OK, were definitely getting somewhere . Sword fighting , incredible acrobatics, puzzles, traps and time travel. Bingo, Yahtzee. Jackpot. This is the birth of Prince of Persia the Sands of Time.
Its new, it’s fresh and it delivers what it says on the box. Ever died trying to do an impossible jump in a tomb raider game only to fall to your death and start at the last checkpoint? Ever made the wrong move against an enemy only to find yourself impaled? What if you could try it again?

The game starts off nice and methodical introducing you to the Prince’s acrobatics and fighting style, Vaulting enemies and wall running is the name of the game. The game picks up however after you discover the Dagger of Time which controls the very fabric of existence by allowing you to rewind, pause and slowdown time. You are then tricked by the vizier and open the Hourglass of the Sands turning all of humanity into Sand creatures. The only way to reverse this is to locate the hourglass and stab the dagger back into the hourglass. Guess what? It’s the irresponsible prince’s duty to return life back to the world.

This is where the game steps up a notch. The enemies you can’t run from as they warp right next to you and can only be bought down by lowering their health and stabbing them with the dagger which converts them into extra sand power time (it’s not unlimited unfortunately) and flipping your way over to the next bad guy to take them down as well. When all enemies are cleared, you are treated to a column of sands which allows you to save and also allows you to see clips of what to expect in the future.

The game play is near perfect. The prince has to figure out many puzzles to move through his journey and navigate his way through a series of challenging traps that include pressure spikes and spinning blades. If you fail, rewind and try again, it’s a simple mechanic that works brilliant for this genre of game. You are also accompanied with a sidekick who often does more damage to you than the enemies, but that’s ok as the player is treated to a line of the Prince’s choicest humor. There are also numerous sword and sand power upgrades such as the ability to ‘Mega Freeze’ which stops all enemies in the area and you are able to literally warp to them and finish them off in two swings of your blade, this however does deplete all of your ‘moons’ on your sand gauge.
The graphics in this game are really slick. Everything stands out well and the player is shown some stunning panoramic views which does not make the frame rate drop, the camera is quite cinematic, zooming in for epic kills and then retracting back so you can start again.

The camera is rarely in the way and you can always see where you need to go next. The ambient audio also suits the game well and is all quite Persian. Think Rock ‘n’ Roll mixed with a sitar and that’s pretty much it. It changes depending on the situation that you are currently facing.
The only slightly bad points is that the combat can become a bit plain, and you soon learn how to deal with enemies in the swiftest manner possible.
Overall, this game has flow that not many other games have been able to achieve and everything you do just feels ‘cool’. From wall running and jumping onto a column or running up a wall and flipping over unsuspecting sand creatures to deal the final blow, it constantly delivers. Even though the game is looking dated now, it has never lost the originality of its game play which has been used in its sequels to similar effects. This game will not disappoint, its freshness on a piece of plastic.