Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones

by UBI Soft

Product Features

• Play and master two distinct characters, the Prince and the Dark Prince -- wield the powers and weapons of two master warriors with different combat styles, attitudes, and histories
• The expanded Free-Form Fighting system lets you choose the way you kill - Strangle enemies from afar, use a new stealth art to inflict surprise decapitations -- and much more
• Dominate enemies on the perilous rooftops, dodge through chaotic streets, and ambush pursuers in dark underground passageways
• Manipulate time to surprise enemies, using all-new Sands Of Time properties
• Action combat, agility and story-driven puzzles are blended together for a rich gaming experience

Product Details

• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B000A0EFJM
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.8 x 0.5 inches ; 4.8 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: November 30, 2005
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (53 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,471 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #89 in Video Games > PlayStation 2 > Adventure

Product Description

Platform: PlayStation2

ONE WARRIOR TWO SOULS RETURN TO HOME EXPECTING PEACE INSTEAD I FOUND MY KINGDOM RAVAGED BY WAR NOW I AM AFUGITIVEI WANT TO RESTORE PEACE TO MY LAND MY PEOPLE AND MY SOUL

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A fitting conclusion, December 9, 2005

By 

Lestor neeker Wong (Singapore) - See all my reviews

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Prince of Persia The Two Thrones (Video Game)

The Prince returns in the third, and most possibly, final instalment of the Prince of Persia saga, and this time, we've a double dose of him. Yes, the Prince is back with a split personality, which, despite sounding a little depressing, is actually quite a good idea. For one, you'll get to become more powerful when you're playing as the Dark Prince, and you'll also get to execute some moves and weapons that are not available when you're just the, er, usual Prince. This reduces the repetition that usually comes with playing a game with the same character throughout. Of course, the idea of alternating between two characters (as seen recently in Ultimate Spider-Man) isn't new, but the idea of alternating between two characters trapped in essentially the same character is quite an ingenious one.

The story in The Two Thrones begins after the events of Warrior Within, the second part of the trilogy. Now, if you didn't manage to unlock the alternative (and officially "real") ending in that game, you'll probably find the plot in The Two Thrones a little baffling. Anyhow, it goes that the Prince, upon returning to his native land, quickly finds himself back in trouble again. A familiar foe from the first instalment of the series returns to haunt him. his new lover is killed, and his kingdom is under siege. So begins another journey of jumping, running along the wall, swinging from bar to bar, rolling under trap doors, and the likes, just to free the clutches of fate once again.

Needless to say, the environmental puzzles that basically define the Prince of Persia series are once again a major feature of this game. And just like the previous instalments, these puzzles are rather straight forward, especially with the help of the frequent "glance-of-the-area" camera hint. Still, it's great doing all these again, simply because they're fun. Failing to solve a puzzle successfully is usually a problem with pressing the wrong commands instead of not figuring out what to do. This is more evident in the PC version of the game, as the controls are less conventional than using controllers. The satisfaction of performing a successful acrobatic move could be easily cancelled out by a mistimed jump. Thankfully, as with the earlier versions of the series, you can rewind time with the sands of time, which give you an opportunity to try the challenge again. This is particularly useful since it allows you to restart immediately from where you failed without having to redo the entire level.

The combat system in The Two Thrones has also been further improved. You'll still get to wield two weapons at the same time, and you'll still get to do the cool combos and such. In the case of the Dark Prince, you'll also get a really powerful weapon called the Daggertail, which allows you to lash out at multiple enemies with some degree of venom. You'll even get some new moves to add to the already impressive collection. All these are good. However, the thing that separates the combat system of Warrior Within and The Two Thrones must be the introduction of the "speed kill" element. This basically requires the Prince to sneak up on an enemy and execute a one-kill strike, thus eliminating the need for mindless (and prolonged) fighting.

Performing the speed kill is not as simple as simply tapping a key or button though. When you initiate a speed kill sequence, the game freezes. You'll then need to tap one or more keys or buttons in certain sequences shown on the screen to complete the kill. If you miss a step, the speed kill will fail, and you'll have to fight the enemy as per normal. If you've played God of War, you'll find this oddly familiar, but hey, there's nothing wrong in borrowing an idea if it works for the game.

You may be wondering now how does the Dark Prince concept actually work. Well, you'll begin the game as the Prince, and as the game progresses, you'll soon find the hidden nature of the Prince slowly manifesting. During parts of the game, the Prince will be consumed by his darker self, and will morph into the Dark Prince. Playing as the Dark Prince will no doubt draw comparisons to playing as the Sand Wraith in Warrior Within, since both loses health all the time. Therefore, apart from fighting and solving puzzles using the skills available only as the Dark Prince, you may find yourself trying to find sands to recharge your health constantly when you're playing as him. It isn't a problem when fighting enemies, since dead enemies release more than enough sands to keep you alive. It's a problem when you need to solve a puzzle, since there aren't many sand pots around to replenish your health. This basically means that you'll have to be very quick in finding a way out of the situation. At times, it almost feels like playing a Dahaka chase sequence from Warrior Within. It's really quite stressful, but like the Dahaka sequences, it's also challenging, which should please fans looking for a more than straightforward adventure.

Apart from the acrobatics and combat, The Two Thrones also includes a number of chariot races, which you'll either love or hate. The chariot sequences not only require you to get from point A to point B, but also send enemies towards you when you're trying to get the horses under control. It feels like Burnout at times, only with more aggressive AI trying their best to make sure you fail. In my opinion, the chariot races are even tougher than keeping the Dark Prince alive, so players who're not exactly good at this kind of thing may find this a particularly tough challenge.

Gameplay features aside, the thing that make me sit up and take notice is the return of the humble Prince from The Sands of Time, the inaugural title of the series. Ok, not entirely the first Prince, but it's a good try. In his usual form, the Prince is no longer the arrogant (and at times, corny) bugger who called his enemy "bitch", and who boasted about his fighting skills and everything else under the sky. Many fans of the first game have criticized the warped nature of the Prince from Warrior Within, so it's not really a surprise to see Ubisoft tugging the Prince's leash. Unfortunately, the clock wasn't fully turned back, as the amount of blood and gore appears to have increase in this edition. Slicing your enemy apart and seeing blood spats may not be my cup of tea, but I guess there're people out there who like this kind of things. Nevertheless, it's a still good effort in blending the elements from both The Sands of Time and Warrior Within.

The Two Thrones maintains the graphical standards of the previous titles, even though the graphics do look a little dated. . The characters' movement as also as fluent as before, but what stands out most is still the magnificent background of the various screens. As the camera angle moves around an area before you begin an area, it's hard not to get yourself immerse into the sheer mass of the surroundings. This has been always been a strength of Prince of Persia, and continues to be.

The audio features of this game also live up to its previous standards. The most impressive thing isn't the sound effects or the music though. Rather, it's the internal banter between the Prince and his darker self. At times, it reminded me of the first game, in which the Prince regularly talked to himself. It's also a particularly nice touch to get the original voice actor from the first game to voice the normal Prince. It just makes the proceedings a little more enjoyable. People who don't really enjoy the heavy metal soundtrack from the previous game will also find solace in The Two Thrones - it doesn't feel like a rock concert that much this time round.

All in all, The Two Thrones pretty much wraps up the series on a high, which makes it easy to recommend. The gameplay is as satisfying as ever, and even though it does feels like a case of been there, done that at certain points, it's still an intriguing adventure on the whole. Moreover, you're bound to get a good deal out of this game, since you're getting two Princes for the price of one! Unfortunately, we still don't get to know the Prince's name, which is a shame. But we do get a blast from the past in the form of a fan-favourite, and for supporters of the series, this could just be more than enough.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, but not for the casual gamer!, February 11, 2006

By 

J. Bergman "schmizz" (Baltimore, MD) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Prince of Persia The Two Thrones (Video Game)

Prince of Persia:The Two Thrones overall is a good game. You definitely get your time out of it. Not that it's the longest game ever made, but some spots are just so tough. Too tough in fact.

Graphics(4 out of 5): The graphics in this game are very solid. The entire game has a nice finished look that really puts you inside the game. The movements of the prince are very fluid and lifelike, just as in the past outings.

Audio (5 out of 5): The audio is outstanding. It doesn't let you down on any level. The voice acting is very good and professionaly done. The Prince still sounds like a wuss, but you should be used to that by now. Ubisoft was smart enough to steer clear of the inapropriate heavy metal soundtrack that was in the last game and have gone back to the middle eastern orchestration that the first game did so well.

Gameplay (3 out of 5): Now here is where some of the problems come in. This is a really fun game to play and offers hours of adventure and puzzle solving. In this edition of the game you not only get to play the Prince, but you also play as a sort of evil twin when taken control of by the sands. Playing as the prince is still standard fare, but when you play as the evil twin (still fighting for the good of the people of course) the fighting technique is more God of War than standard Prince. This adds a nice touch to the gameplay and you really enjoy using the added powers and weapons. Also when you play as the evil twin, you are on a timeclock and have to complete the task before the sands run out. This adds an immediacy to the task at hand, but the challenge makes it that much more fun.

Now we can tackle the problems. Prince suffers from the same problems the previous games did. Mainly being some of the outlandish points of view it makes you play through occassionaly. You're moving along great, then suddenly you have to do something from a jacked up distant side view that makes the character almost impossible to control with any precision. Why they continue to do this, for the life of me I will never understand! It's not as bad in the past games due to the fact that they now let you get a wideangle view at certain points of the game, but it is still completely unnecesary. Why don't they take a clue from fellow lablemate Sam Fisher, who has the best controls of any video game character in history as far as I'm concerned.

Then there's one more problem. A really big one, so big in fact that it's two problems in one. THE DREADED TWIN BOSS BATTLE! About 3/4 through the game you have to go against twin bosses. One yields a sword and one yeilds an axe. I swear this was one of the hardest boss battles I have ever played and I'm no noob by any means. When you go against these guys the designers basically take away all of your combo moves and the fight turns more into strategy then thrashing. But a strategy that is so hard it took me two days to win this fight. I almost threw my controller against the wall more times than I care to remember. I swear I was giving up on the game when I said one more time and finally beat them. The designers just made this fight too hard, especially for casual gamers. And I know unless you are truly dedicated, you are not going to stick around to win this fight. Go to any Prince message board on the net and you will see the majority of topics are about how to win this fight.

So overall, this is a fun and challenging game. But at times too challenging and that always takes the fun out of it. That's why game designers put skill levels on a game, so people can get through a game no matter what skill level they are playing at and still have a good gaming experience. Because of the tough battle in this game, I would in no way recomend it to the casual gamer. Only the hardest of the hard core. I mean after you finally win the battle you do have a sense of accomplishment, but you're too angry to enjoy it!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of my favorite games, August 31, 2006

A Kid's Review

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Prince of Persia The Two Thrones (Video Game)

The Two Thrones is one of my favorite games out of all the games I have now. The story is that the Prince sails back to Babylon with his Kaileena. But when they get there, the city is under siege by an old nemesis, remember the Vizier? When they get to the harbor, men destroy their boat. They are separated until they get to land, where the Prince sees men carry Kaileena away. You start playing then.

Ubisoft has added some new things to the series. Like the awesome speed kill. If you manage to sneak up on enemies, you'll hear somthing like a heartbeat. If you press triangle, you start a speed kill. You have to press the attack button when the dagger flashes, and if done right, you'll kill the enemy without any nearby enemies noticing.

Another cool new thing are chariot races. I LOVE them. I've only done one and I hope there's another. When you drive the chariot, enemies will try to run up and throw you off. just hit em' and they fall off and roll away. Or they'll have enemies in chariots come and kill you. But all you have to do is push them into a wall and they're dead.

Another thing they added is that you get to play as two Princes. When you finely find Kaileena, you get a front row seat of her getting murdered. And by killing her, the sands are released once again, but this time, the Prince is infected. Even though he's not fully transformed, you now get to play as the Dark Prince. He uses the Dagger of Time and a daggertail attached to his arm as weapons. The daggertail is a really powerfull whip. I like to play as him, but you constanly lose life and only the sands will replenish his health.

And if you've missed Farah, she's back to help the Prince! The only thing is that you don't work together untill you get further into the game, and she doesn't remember him at all since the events in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, never happened.

Now that all of that is out of the way, it's time to review the bad part. First. YOU STILL DON"T KNOW THE PRINCES FREAKIN' NAME! They always refer to him as, Prince, or, the Prince. I just find it so annoying that you never learn his real name.
Second. The enviorments have these strange diaginol jump pads on the sides of buildings, and plates on the sides of the building that you stab so you can hang from it. Why would builders put them there? Who would ever use them? It also seems that they built the enviorment just so that the Prince could get from point A to B? In the Sands of Time, they don't have planks of wood sticking out of a wall in the perfect position so the Prince coud use it. But there they are for some strange reason.

These are my Pros and Cons.
PROS:
fantastic graphics
awesome new speed kills
playing as the Dark Prince
chariot races
CONS:
you still don't learn the Prince's name
the strange jump pads and stab plates
the Dark Prince loses health constantly

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