Amazon.com: Prince of Persia: Warrior Within: Nintendo Gamecube: Video Games

35 Reviews

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3.9 out of 5 stars (35 customer reviews)

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20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A preview of a worthy sequel...(rating based on first-look), November 23, 2004

By	Abhilash.R "The Sagittarian" - See all my reviews

Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars

If you enjoyed playing Prince of Persia - The Sands of Time, then you will be spellbound by its sequel "Warrior Within". This game no doubt, ups the ante of the previous rendition by a huge scale. Since I am not in a position to review it yet, let me state my first impressions of the game in the context of the videos and files I've gone through.

Firstly, the protagonist. The Prince in the first game was an up-and-coming warrior of immense skill and heart. Though naive, he had the courage to set things right . But he had no clear idea of what to do except restore the order of time.
In Warrior Within though, the Prince is 10 yrs older. And more mysterious. He is the ultimate warrior, having experienced countless battles since restoring the Sands of Time. He is dark, broody, independent and utterly dangerous to the point of being manic. And he knows exactly what to do now.

Sands of Time has a very brightly-lit atmosphere to it. All the surroundings are visually breathtaking and there is a soft aura of appearance to it, probably showcasing the transient beauty of the Arabian landscape.
POP-Warrior Within is the exact opposite in appearance. It has vivid and awe-inspiring landscapes, no doubt, but it is creepy, foreboding and unforgiving. It rather showcases the effect of the Sands of Time's disastrous effect on the world. It also has a completely re-worked graphics engine which looks terrific. The terrain and the characters looks extremely realistic and fluid in movement.
I wish to state that if there is any reason POP:WW might have a fallout with you, it could only be the environment itself. Take it for granted that the game will have a very dark, menacing look to it, all through. It will be gorgeous to look at, no doubt, but somehwere down the line, we might start asking "Why is it SO dark in concept?". This could turn us off quite a bit coz' we would want to relate this game to the fantastic feel of Sands of Time. Let's face it. Sands of Time had the most uplifting level design to date. I surely hope Ubisoft has not taken the word 'bleakness' to the extreme.
I also noticed that the Prince is not the same naive, likeable guy we know off. Hopefully he doesn't have a total makeover in his personality.

Neverthless, POP:WW has a lot more to offer.....

Sands of Time had the bubbly Farah as your companion. In Warrior Within, you seek no one's aid in combat. But a few new mysterious characters do help you at times, in achieving your objective. Variety is one thing you can expect.

In Sands of Time, the Prince has only a few but effective combat moves to his repertoire. In one hand he held the Dagger of Time and in the other, he had a Scimitar to deal primary damage and he could piece together a few combos to deal some effective damage.
In Warrior Within, the combat is truly groundbreaking. Just like Ryu Hayabusa in Ninja Gaiden, the Prince has some amazing combos to showcase his skill. Not only can he dual-wield weapons this time around, but he can also grab his assailant's weapon and counter target his enemy. He can also contextually use his environment to good effect, for instance, latch onto a pole and revolve-slash multiple enemies. The effect, I tell you, is something to be seen. Warrior Within is the first game to introduce 'free-form' combat, meaning, you can create your own combos and latch them together to deal some truly unique and incredible attack manoeuvres. Imagine. Think of all the weapons that he gets his hands on and the combos you can attach them to. The though itself is whetting my appetite.

Sands of Time had a sense of grandness that not many games could even think off, particularly the level design. Even Halo cannot compare itself to it. But Warrior Within is very similar to its predecessor. Though darker story-wise, it has the same sweeping sense of scale the first rendition enjoyed and provides a lot more than that. Ubisoft has been clever not to expose everything just yet but it is safe to say that Warrior Within is much bigger than Sands of Time.

The enemies in Sands of Time were few and all of them were zombies. With some understanding, they could be easily disposed off. Not so in Warrior Within. I believe there are all-together 9 types who range from the fast Executioners who attack in co-ordinate pairs to the massive Brute who can crush you with one swipe. There is another creature called the Griffin that could put even some Ninja Gaiden bosses to shame. All sounds exciting.

Phew !. If I go on, this preview would probably never end. Since this is just a general description of what you can expect in Warrior Within, I'd be hard pressed to discuss its finer details. It is astonishing how Ubisoft has managed to change the game completely in just over a year after the first game. I would be very surprised if you aren't impressed with its technical aspects. They are truly Next-Gen and among the three consoles supporting it, the XBOX version undoubtedly looks and feels better. But it is safe to say that Prince of Persia : Warrior Within will be a must-buy for any console.

PS: Thanx for going through the preview. If you are interested in my review , you can check it out in the Playstation version of the game.
Have a nice day.

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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not the best, but still good, February 26, 2006

By	D. VELLKY (Pittsburgh, PA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars

As I read over the other reviews here, I find mixed reactions over several aspects of the game. I'm here to offer my own opinions if anyone really cares. First off, I stepped into WW understanding the tone was going to be much darker than Sands of Time. I accepted this, realizing the Prince wasn't likely to be the same character we met in SoT. After all, living on the run for several years from a mythical beast one cannot kill has a tendency, I would think, to ruin one's spirit and outlook on life. However, while I accepted the darker tone and understood the reasoning behind it, I found it hampered my ability to really enjoy the game. At times, it just felt downright depressing ... but then again, I think that was the point. And while the storyline was still intriguing, it lacked the coherency of SoT. Some parts just made me go huh, what the heck was that about? In addition, I missed the Prince randomly talking to himself and I missed Farrah, though it's unlikely her presence would've made any sense in WW.

Okay, storyline aside, let's talk about glitches - another big complaint in WW. Honestly, I didn't run across a single one with the exception of the voice audio dropping out on some cut scenes. I don't know if there was something special I did to avoid the game stopping glitches I've read about or what. Bottom line, glitches weren't a problem for me ... thankfully.

Background music was another aspect that seems to have drawn mixed reactions. Though I enjoyed the Middle Eastern compositions of SoT, the metal music in WW didn't bother me. I like Godsmack, and "I Stand Alone" is an appropriate theme for the game despite it being obviously out of place for the time period. So again, the music was not so much of a problem for me.

Okay, let's move onto gameplay and combat. Platforming wise, the puzzles are still great and still an integral part of the game. There is a lot of backtracking, which can make some parts confusing, but, overall, I didn't find the backtracking tedious. In addition, the Dahaka chase scenes add intensity to the game, though some of the longer chase scenes are definitely a lot of trial and error. You don't have room for mistakes when the Dahaka is right behind you, so expect to run through these sequences a few times - at least - before getting it right.

Combat has been significantly upgraded from SoT as many people have already pointed out. The Prince can wield duel weapons, and he has numerous combos at his disposal with which to dispatch enemies. And what's even better, you don't always have to fight the enemies if you don't want to, which is a great thing considering they pop up all over the place and get really annoying. In keeping with the darker/sadistic overtone of the game, Ubisoft decided to have our enemies become rather vocal ... repeating the same few lines such as the sadomasochist women ninjas who continuously say such classic lines as "There's so much pleasure in pain," "Hit me harder Prince," and "Can't we just talk this out?" Gag me. And let's not forget the freaky, doughy looking half naked leather clad men all dressed for some whips and handcuffs fun who bark at the Prince ... yes, they bark. At least, I think that's what they were doing. Aside from that, there's just a lot of yelling and screeching period, so yes, it's nice that combat can just be avoided at many points during the game.

Boss battles have been upgraded significantly, which is a nice addition seeing as how the final battle with the Vizier in SoT was rather anticlimactic in the combat sense. In WW, the boss battles aren't throw-your-controller-across-the-room annoying difficult, but they are a nice touch. If you move around, use the sand tanks wisely, and know when and how to attack the bosses, it's never too difficult.

Lastly, I would just like to address the mature rating for the game. In my opinion, if you're going to make it a mature rating, then give it a real reason to have a mature rating. The aspects that gave the game that rating were forced and could've easily been edited. Edit a few cuss words that served no purpose, throw some more clothes on the women, and eliminate the ridiculous sayings used by some of the enemies.

Overall, WW is a four star game. It's not nearly as enjoyable as SoT or Two Thrones, but it's still a good game despite the darker tone, the annoyance factor of some of the enemies, and some minor flaws. Especially at twenty bucks, the game is worth the price.

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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Sequel, December 1, 2004

By	Serious Gamer "gail4paint" - See all my reviews

Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars

I just bought this game about 4 hours ago, and just now I have gotten up and taken a break. Wow. This game is truly amazing. If you are a fan of Sands of Time, then you will love this game. The combat system is better, you are actaully fighting real people (not all the time), and it is much more difficult.

I bought this game at a Game Stop for 50 bucks, but I see that I could have gotten in for 40. Look around before you buy this game so you can get the lowest price. (Not that it wasn't worth an extra ten bucks.) Also, I would recommend buying the strategy guide with it. This game is very difficult and I have already gotten stuck for a while in several places. Some stores are giving like 20% off the guide when you buy the game, so it might be worth it to you.

Again, this game is terrific. I know I have only been playing it for 3 hours, but for what I have played, this game is great. A 5 star game, no questions.