Customer Reviews

Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Few games evoke the passion and yearning to play than the Prince of Persia series has for me. The amazing balance between combat, adventure, and puzzles was all I could have ever wanted in a franchise. Heck, even the 2008 reboot was immense fun even without the hordes of enemies. I was willing to sacrifice that aspect in order to have a hugely engrossing and epic story. It should come as no surprise that after the cliffhanger that was the end of the '08 PoP (and the subsequent DLC) that I wanted that storyline to progress into another full length game. I didn't get that. Instead we're sent back to the Sands of Time universe for another go-round with that Prince for a game that supposedly is set after The Sands of Time and before Warrior Within.

THE STORY:
The Prince ventures to meet with his Brother, Malik. When he arrives he sees his brother's castle is under attack. Skip ahead a bit and--against the Prince's wishes--Malik summons the Sand Army, thinking if he can get them to obey him he would have as many soldiers as there is sand in the desert. This backfires, and therein lies the rest of the game.

I'm sorry Ubisoft but you dropped the ball with The Forgotten Sands. The only thing you succeeded in doing was giving us the acrobatics, puzzles, and fighting, that we loved so much with the original PS2 series. That's all. Even then, the fighting gets unbelievably repetative, becoming nothing more than a button masher. The magic powers you receive are just plain awesome though that helps add much needed depth to the combat system. But the real treat begins and ends with the puzzles and acrobatics. Freezing water to get across gaps, recalling parts of long since crumbled buldings, and of course, wall-running, is where this game truly rises to the challenge.

Now, though it breaks my heart to do so, I will state my grievances.
1. The story. It's terrible. After Malik called upon the Sand Army I lost all interest, I didn't care if Malik lived or died. I just wanted to play the game. Not once does he reference The Sands of Time (even though it supposedly just happened). Nowhere is there any looming dangers that face the Prince in Warrior Within (namely, the Dahaka), even though they said at the beginning of WW that after he unleashed the Sands in the first game the Dahaka started chasing him.
2. The graphics. After the awe-inspiring display that we got with the 2008 Prince, this is a huge letdown. It doesn't help that the character models are awful, I'd even venture to say they look like PS2 models, but when you have the Whirlwind power and the water freezing ability looking so good, it's obvious they rushed.
3. The bonus game modes, Challenge Mode, and Time Trial. Taking a cue from Dante's Inferno, you battle hordes of progressively difficult enemies to see how fast you can beat it. But Dante's Inferno had 50 waves, Prince of Persia has 8. You read that right, 8. You get nothing for beating it either. And then there's Time Trial. You have to beat 250 enemies in five minutes. Not hard. I beat it my first time without using special powers and had over 90 seconds to spare. Lame.

All in all, if you could find this game for 20-25 bucks and are a fan of the Prince, definitely pick it up. But there is no way I can justify recommending someone spend 60 dollars on a game I beat in 7 hours with 2 different game modes that I beat in a combined time of 10 minutes. This game was rushed, plain and simple, and a definite black mark on the franchise's good name.

Game's too flawed for a 4 but it's not mediocre enough to warrant a 3 so consider this a 3.5 star review.

As a massive fan of the 2008 refresh of the Prince of Persia series, I often felt like as much of an apologist as an enthusiast, trying to convince people that the one from 2008 was an incredibly solid title with absolutely gorgeous graphics, a nice attempt at a different combat mechanic and a promising start to hopefully another successful trilogy. However the title was released in an incredibly busy fall/winter period and despite some positive press, the game didn't exactly sell well, not to mention the criticisms that it was too easy. I will admit the platforming was very rudimentary and basic in that game but it was also slightly zen-like, almost effortless and you never felt frustrated by the puzzle-y platforming aspects and it was a game where you can just..."go" and not worry about repeating long sections or have your fifth attempt at another hard section. Which makes the appearance of "Forgotten Sands" a very curious one, not only because it makes you wonder if they're even planning to continue the Elika story or if they stopped because of the low sales or if this is just a bonus release until a "Prince of Persia 2" or whatever it's called. And then of course there's the film version of "The Sands of Time" coming so close to the game's release and it makes you wonder about what this game is trying to do: rejuvenate the old Prince after the low sales of the last one? Just a simple cash grab for the movie-going masses? Either way, it's a game that as a longtime Prince of Persia fan, I don't regret I played it but I do regret that it's not a great game.

Story: Set in-between the time between Sands of Time and Warrior Within, we find the Prince (now voiced by Yuri Lowenthal who did Sands of Time and Two Thrones) visiting his brother's kingdom only to have it under siege. The brother, at a loss and outnumbered, unleashes a powerful demon known as Ratash and the 2 brothers carry a medallion that can end the whole affair but the brother, caring for his kingdom but also for the newfound power, doesn't make it easy and it's up to you to once again save another kingdom and bring down Ratash.

Warrior Within got heavy flak for being a really dark game in which the Prince said lines like "you bitch!" and apparently became a Godsmack fan, as evidenced by the metal riffs as well as the darker tone of the game in general, let alone the storyline but personally, aside from the metal, it kind of made sense. Having messed with time so much in the first game, the Dahaka was sent after the Prince almost like a time officer, trying to make the Prince atone for all the time interference he did and tried to kill him, causing the Prince to be constantly hunted and barely getting any sleep by the time Warrior Within rolled around. There's none of that in Forgotten Sands; there's no change in personality, no mention of the Dahaka's upcoming appearance and aside from one mention of Farah, this might as well have been a stand alone. The main plot itself in the game isn't that exciting either as there's no Kaileena to play off of or a Farah for some love triangle or even any kind of bond and the character you mainly associate with in the game seems more like an ally than anything more. Ultimately, Forgotten Sands as a story feels kind of unnecessary and it could've taken place before Sands of Time or after Two Thrones and you wouldn't have been able to tell the difference.

Graphics: Like I mentioned above, the 2008 version of Prince of Persia is still one of the most stunning games available on consoles and not only the artistic design but the vistas, animation and impeccable detail makes it a sumptuous treat for the eyes. Forgotten Sands on the other hand looks bland and even when the game opens up with adding some new color, the game still doesn't look terribly gorgeous. Ubisoft basically said the combat was like the previous trilogy only there would be at least 50 enemies on screen but apparently somebody didn't tell them to have the game optimized for that kind of enemy count as the game can slow to a crawl and there's even gameplay hiccups during platforming itself at times which boggles the mind since Assassin's Creed II was twice as populated in parts and that thing barely coughed. Then again, the set piece at the end of the game is stunning and one bizarre location looks nice but the chief offender is the Prince's face, almost neanderthal-ish, like his face has no bone structure. This I don't get either since the Wii version and even the cover and disc art has a much better looking Prince so why his face looks so messed up is just weird.

Sound/Music: Like mentioned above, Yuri Lowenthal provides the voice again and I got to say I missed him. Nolan North did a fan job with 2008 one but he felt almost stoic, kind of bland as a main character. Yuri's Prince on the other hand is fallible and still has that tendency to talk to himself and make little quips about things and while he's not as buff and manly, he feels way more relatable as a main character. The music is pretty good but it's not really a memorable soundtrack and one you can hum but I guess it does the job well. The sound effects are decent and pretty basic so there's nothing much to talk about there.

Gameplay: One complaint that was lobbied against the '08 one was that it was too easy, but mainly people were complaining about Elika and her tendency to save you from mistimed jumps and mistakes even though all she was a fancier (and cuter) time rewind from Sands of Time or even a "now loading" screen substitute. Forgotten Sands tries to bring back the trickier parts of Sands of Time with timing and mastery of your abilities getting you through. Prince gets 3 main abilities: the time rewind which is back like you remember, make a mistake, press RB and rewind to give you another chance. There's also the...I don't know what to call it but it's like the power from Epilogue DLC from the last game where you can bring back platforms, beams or water fountains/jets and reinstate them to be used but only one can be turned on at the same time. But your main ability is the water freeze where holding LT will freeze water which either acts like a water column you can climb up or jump off of or make it like a beam you can jump and swing off of. These abilities will start to mesh a bunch in the game and pretty soon you got to freeze a waterfall, run up it, jump off, freeze the jet to jump off, turn on a platform, wall-run across a frozen waterfall, jump off and...yeah, it gets complicated, almost turning the game into a rhythm game. My biggest issue though is that the controls don't feel..."nailed" and you'll absolutely swear you pressed the button to make the Prince jump off a wall or have him not run up a wall even though you're holding the button for it. The platforming's as tricky as ever but it's just the controls that are not quite as refined as I would've liked. If you're a longtime Prince fan, you'll know the difference between a legitimate mistake on your part and a control issue where the Prince did something you had no intent in doing and sadly, the game has a few.

In 2008, the Prince had more of a cinematic one-on-one (well, two, counting Elika) and I kind of liked it, especially since the Sands trilogy had a more button-mashy vibe and that returns in Forgotten Sands though there is some differences. One is that the game has 4 powers you can use, ice power that shoots out waves of ice when you attack, a flame attack that sets enemies a-light, a shockwave that knocks enemies to the ground and a stone armor that gives you better defense. The lack of a block button I feel is disappointing because the enemies are quite plentiful and it's very easy to get hit by people you didn't even know were about to hit since there's at best 40 or even 50 onscreen at once. But the combat feels adequate but definitely not ideal since lack of lock-on makes you swiping at the air but the kick button gives you a way to knock enemies away and give you some breathing room (plus it allows you to get your "300 `This is Sparta!''" kicks out, complete with achievement). My one issue here is the camera because there's these typical rhino bosses where you have to dodge before they ram into you, causing them to crash into the wall, but when you're juggling fighting 30 guys in addition to 2 rhinos, getting nailed out of nowhere than nailed by the second one while you're down is beyond frustrating. As much as the platform is the highlight in Prince games, the combat always seems to be a problem.

The puzzles aren't exactly that tricky and it's more platforming puzzles now though there's some occasional "puzzle" puzzles in there. They seriously overdid the swinging spiky logs, the spike-y floors and the spike-y columns that move back and forth and after awhile you feel like "is this all the platforming you're going to make me do?" Also the game is remarkably short and aside from a slow beginning it starts to pick up but the game has barely any replay value and there's not much reason to replay the game aside from achievements/trophies.

So should you buy Prince of Persia: Forgotten Sands? If you own the previous 4 or you're a diehard Prince fan anyway, then go ahead but personally I wouldn't. It's too brief given its full retail price and from a story standpoint, it's nice nostalgia but unneeded so this game is what I call the "Gift game": you'd gladly accept if somebody bought it for you but paying full price yourself just doesn't sound right. Solid rental.

After close to 11 hours of playing this game and being very close to the final battle, I ran into a bug that makes it impossible to continue the game. The game saves automatically and there seems to be no way to restart a specific chapter. The automatic checkpoint is not your last checkpoint, but puts you in a room with no exits. This is a room you passed by before, only both doors are now locked. I restarted, rebooted, but nothing changes this. The only option left is to restart the game and replay the 11 hours.

This is too bad, because the game itself is probably one of the better POP to come up lately. I don't mind replaying it sometime, but I do mind replaying it on these terms.

Even with this bug, I would have rated this higher than 1 star, but with Warrior Within having a similar issue, this is really sloppy work from the developer, especially for a $60 game.

How to avoid the bug: in the last chapter, there is a long section where you have to jump from one vulture to another, same as you did in the other chapters. At the end of this section, you have to make solid the block you need to land on. Try avoid falling and restarting in this area and will probably be ok once the game saves again.

I have been a gamer since the Atari, and I don't know about you, but I wouldn't ever purchase a Prince of Persia game expecting the next incredibly-amazing game. But I would expect it to be fun, challenging and include a lot of puzzles that require some crazy acrobatics to solve.
This game gives us a great mix of just that.

It was everything that I expected and more. I loved the addition of the magic and the extra abilities, such as controlling water. It was a delightful surprise as I worked through the game.

All in all, the games was a blast. Way more fun that I expected out of such a cheap game. I could hardly put it down, which is more than I can say for most games nowadays.

I guess half of these reviewers just have outrageous expectations.

The game cost LESS than $15! As far as I am concerned it is worth double that. Great game. AMAZING price. If you have ever enjoyed playing any of the PoP games then you will most definitely enjoy this one.

Oh, and the graphics aren't horrible. They just aren't amazing. But comparing them to PS2?!? That is STUPID!

I've been a fan of the series since I picked up the Sands of Time on a whim in a bargain bin. I have every game since. There are some very detailed reviews about this game already so I'll keep this short.

If you like the series, you will like this game. I didn't come across any glitches in any of the prince of persia games like another reviewer noted. I hope you won't run into any either because I absolutely hate glitches. I just reviewed another game full of glitches.

Anyway, great game. It was nice to see the prince return to this format after the sands trilogy. The game has the typical moves like running on walls, climbing, acrobats, etc. so no surprises there. You do learn new abilities in the game and it makes the game much more challenging to move on. Towards the end, the sequences you must do to clear an area are just amazing. It can get frustrating but it's very rewarding. The fighting is more like Warrior within if I remember right but does have a hint of Two Thrones in the mix with certain button sequences.

Buy if you like the series. If you haven't played any, try picking up any of the games in the series. If you like one, you should like them all.

I'll start by saying how surprised I am to see the amount of negative reviews this game has garnered here. Sure-Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands is not perfect, but for the most part it's a very solid and fun play through. If anything, the only real disappointment of the game is it's unremarkable last gen graphics.

It's pretty safe to say a game is fun when a player starts the game all over again immediately upon its completion. That was exactly the case for me with Prince of Persia: TFS. I've even considered a third play through. It's that fun and addictive.

Make no bones about it, I'm a huge Prince of Persia fan. "The Sands of Time" is still one of my all-time favorite games. That particular entry was about the closest thing to perfection I've seen in a game and the two follow up games "Warrior Within" and "The Two Thrones" were for the most part great to play as well. Then came the 2008 title "Prince of Persia" for Xbox 360 and PS3 which was beautiful to look at but unremarkable to play.

"Prince of Persia: The forgotten sands" is a welcome return to the Prince's earlier roots and I enjoyed this one exponentially more than the last entry. What I do miss from the last game however are the graphics. In comparison to the 2008 Prince of Persia, TFS is a fairly large step backwards graphically. This game looks as though it might have been perfectly at home on any of the last gen systems. Outside of the cut scenes-the graphics are pretty mediocre and surprisingly bland for a series known to graphically wow the player with each outing. And (as a side note) what's up with the ugly black glow around the Prince in certain areas? "Alan Wake" had this same graphical weirdness. I truly hope this isn't some new trend in video game graphics. It looks really ugly and out of place and does not do the game's already so-so graphics any favors.

One of The Forgotten Sands most notable characteristics is how "player friendly" the game is. It's not overly difficult or frustrating (outside of a few sections with freezing and unfreezing water at the very end of the game) and combat is very straight forward and easy to understand. Also-the game does a great job of letting you know where to go and what to do next. It is also well paced-switching back and forth frequently between combat and platforming so neither mechanic gets too dull or repetitive.

There are a few tradeoffs to this more player friendly prince however, and that comes in the form of less nuanced combat mechanics (combat has devolved somewhat into mere button mashing), easier puzzles and less challenging "trap" areas. This is most definitely a more casual Prince experience than previous games-but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes it's great to just sit back, relax and play a great game that doesn't expect the world from you.

That being said though, "The Forgotten Sands" is not at all shallow or forgettable-quite the opposite in fact. New abilities like freezing water, revealing past areas, a cross chasm jump ability involving your enemies and upgradable elemental powers add a lot of freshness to the Prince franchise. These new play mechanics go a long way to reviving the POP game play we're familiar with and add a whole new level of fun and technique. The water freezing alone makes for some absolutely brilliant and completely original areas the likes of which no Prince of Persia has seen before. Of course classic tried and true POP mechanics make their return as well including wall running, column hopping, time reversal and even a couple of mechanics introduced in the 2008 game.

Prince of Persia The Forgotten Sands is perhaps not the most graphically finessed game it should be considering the gorgeous last installment, but it is definitely a return to the brilliant fun play of the last gen trilogy. I'm eagerly awaiting the next prince installment where hopefully both the game play and the graphics are truly up to par with the current console generation. Regardless though, this is still an absolute blast to play and should not be passed up under any circumstance.

PS: One last thing I wanted to comment on is the length of the game. Several people have griped that the game is too short. True, the game is only about six or seven hours in duration, but that's not a bad thing. Not everyone has 30 plus hours of free time on their hands to sink into a video game. The Forgotten Sands is a great experience for all seven of it's hours, so why does it matter how brief the game is?

So i bought this game on Feb. 10 and i put it into my xbox and started the game and was very impressed with the intro, which catches your attention immeditly. This game takes place in the middle of Prince of Persia: The sands of Time, and The warrior within. Its the seven years inbetween the two games. The story line is actuall very good with its own vibe all its own, along with some things from the first and second games but i will let you find that out yourself. The graphics are very nice, even on the crap tv that i have. So thats all i will say for now but if you are a fan of the Prince of Persia series, I suggest you get this game and try it out cause i gaurentte that you will have a good time playing it even if it is a little short but o well.

Generally a good game. I beat this game in less than 6 hrs. It has its pluses and minus but in all , its about if you enjoy the series or not. I for one will not complain about it because i picked this up for about $12.

Note:
One thing i noticed is sometime finding your way in the environment is harder than defeating the bosses.

All in all its a good game if you pick it for less than $20

Game was fun, great buy for $10 on sale. Pretty easy to get 1000 gamerscore too. One of the best Prince of Persia games (and a movie tie-in game at that!)

i am a huge fan of the prince of persia series, the trilogy of sot,ww,tt, all sit on my shelf with pride. i really enjoyed warrior within the most but the others are good too. which is why i have to give this one a relativley low score.

this is a good game, the puzzles are alotta fun, the ability to freeze water is a great addition and the concept of freezing time so water becomes solid is another great interesting inovation. about halfway through the game you get the ability to air dash which is actually another mechanic to solve the climbing puzzles. it's a good addition and overall i have to say i love the puzzle aspec of this game it's a big improvement on an already spectacular franchise.

now for the bad

well..... almost everything else i hate to say it. the combat has been completley nurfed from what it was in previous games, the ability to hop from enemy to enemy and cut them up as you go is good but the controls are too lose and buggy. i can't figure out how something so rock solid became so very broken. not just the combat controls but the game in general, there were times i would hop on an oponent and get tagged by another then, then i would watch as the prince stood and ignored my commands for a good 2 or 3 seconds while getting hammered by attacks. the enemies themselves are far ad away way weaker than they ever have been, if i had the more in depth combat system i dunno what i woulda done with it, two or three strikes kills most everything once you upgrade the prince a little bit. even the final boss went down without too much fuss.

the story is actually pretty good but it rushes along at such a pase that it's over before you really know it. i wish there was more story to be told and more areas to explore.

overall, from anyone else i'd give this game a fair to pretty good rating. but coming from the same company that birthed the original trilogy i'd say it's simply an adequete game, not bad but not good either, a worthwhile addition to the series and far and away better than that cell shaded disaster. i just would have expected a bit more.