This Princely adventure for our Hero of the Prince of Persia series is set Between the Sands of Time and The Warrior Within. The Forgotten Sands is the new Saga, and it gives players a wider understanding of the events that take place in this gaming world.

The game is filled with acrobatic puzzles, gears, switches, and sequences to nail in order to advance forward, Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands is a ripping tale of sword and sorcery. While it feels more like an episode in a larger story, it is still a classic tale of good vs. evil.

Of course thrusting the player into this adventure with at times what seems to be overwhelming odds. The creatures involved here are horrific, some shambling beasts, some huge and incredibly fast. Lucky for the player our hero not only learns new moves but gains special magical abilities as the game advances. All the better to use several of the magical, acrobatic and sword swinging moves on.

The Prince arrives to visit his brother Malik, just in time to find the kingdom under siege. Malik in perhaps desperation unleashes a legendary destructive force. The magical army Instead of being the kingdoms salvation turns against all living things. The Prince and his brother becoming separated in the chaos, this is when the Prince finds some supernatural assistance in the form of Queen Razia. Queen of the magical beings known as Djinn. With new magical abilities as gifts from the Djinn, the Prince may just stand a chance against the forces of evil.

There had to be some insidious minds that had to have role played some time in their lives created these levels. Viewing the areas, obstacles and nefarious defensive traps of the massive palace brings a “Holy crap, you have to be kidding me!” to our writing staffs lips more than once. However, in a good way, from arrows shooting from the walls, to old-fashioned giant axe heads swinging back and forth down a corridor. The traps and obstacles and various ways to get from point A to point B are well done and tests a players timing more than once. Some areas are massive affairs where a player is sure to feel a gratifying sense of accomplishment when they master the jumps and climbs to get past an obstacle or move to the next area in the game. Earlier in the game, there can be some frustrations until learning the controls and gaining the actual skill to use the character effectively.

Wall runs, jumps, flips and jumping from wall to wall to get to a higher location are all here. The game camera tends to lock onto one small area of perspective when it is the only important part of the sequence. So there are times when looking around is impossible. This take place in the fighting, if too close to a pillar or wall the camera chooses a perspective where the action is obscured from view. Not a game breaker by any means mind you, just something, a player has to be aware of and remember to compensate for.

Fighting seems simplified, down to a few button presses. With a combo of sword swing, kick roll and jump there are some cool moves the Prince can pull off. Combine the fighting with some magical defensive powers like stone armor and or fire, ice, and you have some cool fighting going on. Oh what fighting indeed, there are times where there are just wave upon wave of shambling enemies. A boss enemy not only has the ability to zap a magical hurting onto the Prince. These bosses continue to create more enemy as long as the player leaves them undefeated. So if you want to rack up the points to advance in skill level and abilities, let them bring on the hordes and cut a swath through them all. In small numbers there never seems to be any real danger ever from an enemy, it’s when there are fifty or more that things get interesting. The danger in many of the common enemy creatures is not the creatures themselves…but the numbers. They are slow moving and that give the player an edge as long as they keep moving. It is later in the game that the enemies start to become more of a challenge, though not by much.

Rewinding time is back also, more than once this was a welcome thing. Change falling to a final death into a split second chance of making that jump. Thankfully the designers did not make that reverse time a giveaway, there are limits and use it too much and it’s not there for when you really may need it.

Voice acting is superb here. Characters have that believable tone that makes it seem like they are actually having a conversation with each other. Music sound track for the game is spectacular lending itself well to the adventures that are playing out for the player.

The game graphics while in 720 progressive do seem at times to be muted some how. Other times the visuals bring a sense of awe and beauty. The freezing water effect alone is worth the price of admission. From palace background and majestic columns and pillars, the over all look is very good visually. Characters move life like with no stutters.

There is only one save slot that is used and no way to retry any favorite levels. Replay values in this regard are not as high as they could be. The game is a good jaunt into an incredible realm of sword and sorcery, any fan of the genre would be happy to have this one in their gaming collection.


Edwin Millheim
United States Editor
Impulse Gamer
Have fun, play games.