Last year Ubisoft delivered a masterpiece of a classic adventure game, and blew new life into the franchise that has pretty much been buried by Red Orb's developed 3D disaster. Rumour has it that Sands of Time didn't reach the sales figures that Ubisoft expected and in order to release a sequel, they had to make some changes. Hopefully the work of art in Sands of Time will continue with their latest release; Prince of Persia: The Warrior Within.

 

Hunted:

The story takes place a couple of years after Sands of Time. The prince is now hunted by a beast called Dahaka, a guardian of the timeline. Because the prince disturbed the timeline, Dahaka won't rest until the prince of Persia dies. The prince, weary and on the verge of a breakdown from all those years of hiding and running now wants to settle it once and for all as he heads to the Island of Time to travel back to the past in order to prevent the unleashing of the sands of time.

The intro on the ship immediately sets the tone of the game and it got quite a metamorphosis in terms of attitude and atmosphere. From polite and elegant in Sands of Time to gore, scarcely clothed women and the use of foul language. From mysterious Middle East tunes to repetitive metal that feels out of place. From an eloquent British accent to an aggressive Dirty Harry sneer. Phrases as 'You bitch' are all normal now; the Montreal team probably thought it was necessary for the new personality of the prince. Darker, cynical and hardened but without the charm and wit we were all so fond of in his previous adventure.

 

Combination moves:

Our prince now has a lot more moves up his sleeve and there is more interaction with the environments. The use of ropes is new; you can now slingshot your way to the other side, or grind down a big curtain, using your sword as a break, to get to the floor.

He can steal enemy weapons and create new combos with that extra weapon. The prince also learned some jiu-jitsu as he can grab enemies and make some throws or use them as a shield to protect himself from enemy attacks. This whole free form fight system should not be overestimated though; it is certainly more extensive then in Sands of Time but nothing like you hoped it would be as repetitiveness still sinks in after a while.

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You will also encounter more enemy bosses in Warrior Within and fighting against them seems like the perfect opportunity to test those new combination moves. In reality, you will end up using the standard combo's and block moves because the more spectacular moves will be blocked every time, guaranteed.

 

Another positive change is that there is more balance in the fighting elements, the dosage of the hack 'n slash gameplay has been tempered a little. In Sands of Time this was too overdone and seemed endless at times, now you even have a choice to fight enemies. Be discreet or decapitate a foe, for the most part it is up to you. Although I must say that trying to avoid battles is harder than you think, because the controls are so automated, sometimes you want to grab a ledge when an enemy is near; he will do a vault over that fiend or something else you don't want your character to do. The transition between platform moves and action moves can and will create some real awkward moments.

Prince of Platformers:

Besides mature rated elements, another thing to attract as much gamers as possible is to make it accessible, meaning that the game shouldn't be too difficult to get through. Strangely, it is the exact opposite with Warrior Within. They have gone a step further, with long rally's of insane platform action, suitable for the die-hard platformer lovers who without a doubt will go nuts over the level designs, while the average gamer probably gives up after a couple of levels.

You will spend a lot of time backtracking between areas as well as playing in the past and present. This makes it sometimes confusing where to go next. It does make the game less linear and there is a map that will pinpoint your next destination but its still requires a lot of navigation and puzzling. The pace of the game will be much slower this way and you could even end up circling around for hours, not knowing on how to get to your next destination.

 

There are numerous levels involving Dahaka, these levels are all about getting away as fast as possible from him, because if he catches you, it's game over. To make things even more complicated, everything turns grey and foggy when he is close, and he is always close. Yet the biggest enemy is the auto camera that does more harm then it helps you, especially with these 'hunting' levels. Prepare yourself for playing the same pieces of levels over and over again.

Final say:

Spending more attention on the hack 'n slash combat has improved the overall game slightly, but the strength of PoP lies in the platform action, and that is still superior and with all new variants. In general the game is harder then Sands of Time, and I wonder if they didn't spiced it up too much, making it inaccessible for a big mass audience. If you do like a challenging platformer then put this title on top of your Christmas wish list.