Prince of Persia

Grade: 4 stars (out of 5)
Worth it for: often hilarious, melodramatic arguments between the prince and Dark Prince; speed kills
The main drawback: You get the idea of the whole game quickly.
Should be played by: “Prince of Persia” fans, time-control enthusiasts
Final word: A standard entry in the “PoP” series with enough innovation to be fun.

“Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones” continues the story of the impetuous, time-controlling prince. Previously, in “The Warrior Within,” he traveled the Island of Time, where he defeated the formidable Dahaka, an incarnation of Fate resulting from his temporal exploits in “The Sands of Time,” the first game of this series.

As the prince returns to his hometown of Babylon at the outset of “The Two Thrones,” he finds that his actions have brought devastation there that he must remedy. How surprising.

The noteworthy and eponymous aspect of the game is the two versions of the prince: normal and dark. The cocksure prince from “Sands of Time” is back with his pithy one-liners that made him the heartthrob of gamers back in 2003, and that personality is contrasted with the Dark Prince, a malevolent sand monster whose thirst for carnage is reminiscent of the merciless prince of “Warrior Within.” Combat with either prince is fluid and stylish, involving many dial-a-combos that will make short work of the various enemies. The chainlike daggertail weapon of the Dark Prince can be utilized for vicious attacks and even as a rappelling implement in the platform-jumper parts of the game. A novelty for this iteration of the “Prince of Persia” series is speed kills. If you manage to sneak up on an enemy undetected, an interactive cutscene will result, during which (if you time the hits correctly) the prince will quickly slay the enemy in sleek ninja fashion.

When he is not fighting myriad sand monsters, that wacky prince is always jumping around on the ruined fa‡ades of Persia. The platform-jumper aspects are all intact from the previous games, including sword/curtain slides, wall jump after wall jump and the prince’s signature wall run. The developers of “Two Thrones” did their job well when designing the unique and sometimes difficult settings for the prince to frolic through. Gamers will be frustrated, though, when at times an unexpected camera shift will send the prince leaping into a vast nothingness. Fortunately, the rewind-time power has returned to correct all of your errors of judgment.

Story? There’s a story? Strap on your jumpin’ boots and slashin’ gloves, because that is what “The Two Thrones” is all about. There isn’t much new stuff in the game, but if you are a fan of this series, you won’t mind this well-polished retread.

Popularity: unranked [?]

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