SoulKnife
12-02-2005, 09:24 AM
Well if the information I've gotten from the gaming media is right, this is the last game in the Sands of time series. If that's true this game is not a bad way to go out.
The story opens with our prince returning home, Kaileena in tow. He's looking forward to seeing his home, Babylon, and getting some much needed RnR after seven years of running. However, he reaches the harbor only to find the city in flames and an enemy army stomping what's left of the cities defender into paste.
Boy just can not catch a break
Things go from bad to worse when Kaileena is captured and subsequently murdered releasing the sands, which the enemy army more or less bends to it's will. This makes their already beefy army that much harder to deal with, and endows their leader with Immortality. Making things worse the sands nearly infect the prince, giving rise to a new darker personality that starts to whisper in his ear as well as turning him into a partial sand creature. Whenever stressed he changes and must find a body of water to revert back.
The story line is one of the games strong points, in my opinion. We get to watch as the prince goes from the focused (selfish) person he was in 'warrior within' to something nobler. Granted it took him three games to learn this but he does manage it.
The characters and their animations are fairly impressive. The prince himself moves life an acrobat through, above and below the streets of Babylon. The other characters all move exactly as their design suggests. Large brutish warriors toss finesse to the winds and try to overpower you with brute strength while lithe and deadly dancers block your blows with their graceful sword dance.
The city of Babylon itself is a bit of a wonder and you get to travel a good bit of it in your quest. Thus you are exposed to hanging gardens, market places, rooftop highways and more. Or I should say what's left of them. The invading army seems to have shown little care for the wonders of the cities architecture as they rampaged through, setting of collapses and fires all throughout the city.
The music returns more to the original 'Sands of time' style instead of the hard rock favored in 'Warrior within'. This, as far as I'm concerned, is a good thing. Nothing against rock but the Persian inspired music seems to fit the overall setting this time around.
Speaking of sound, the voice actors all do wonderfully with their roles, the original voice of the prince is back, and does a good job of showing off the growth the prince goes through during the course of the game. The other actors all handle their characters well for the most part but for me the most interesting was the voice of the dark prince. Throughout the game he gives advice as well as commentary on your actions and he does it well. You could almost start to like him, almost.
As for the game play, it's fairly solid. The platforming should be familiar to those who've played other games in the series though they've added a few new acrobatic tricks to the prince's repertoire. You'll soon find yourself leaping for handholds and trying to get safely across a section of the city without breaking your silly neck.
The traps and puzzles are both back and while not overly difficult they do give pause to your actions as you try to figure out just how your supposed to use that or avoid this to get up there.
One new wrinkle they've added is the speed kill system. It's not hard to activate, basically if you can get close enough to any enemy without them noticing you, you can activate the system. The tricky part is getting within range without being noticed. This isn't always easy and sometimes requires patience but it does pay off as the enemies are a bit tougher this time and your dagger isn’t the best thing to take on and armored sand monster with. Especially since some sand guards can activate gates that summon more monsters for you to fight.
The light prince's speed kills involve you waiting for the dagger to glow before pressing the button for each hit. This isn't hard in practice and against normal enemies. However some of the boss encounters require the use of this system and it's really easy to panic and hit the button to soon, screwing up the attack, and allowing the target to smack you around like they owned you.
The dark prince is most assuredly the more combat oriented of the two. His speed kills are easy since they involve simply choking the target to death, however they lack the visually finesse and style of the light prince's moves. However, the dark prince has access to the dagger tail, whereas the normal hero has to grab whatever's available from defeated enemies. The dagger tail is a neat tool that can help you get across a section of city. In combat it is a deadly weapon and it can easily keep multiple targets at bay as well as deal damage to them. The downside to the dark prince is that he constantly needs sand to restore his life, or he'll die making it imperative to kill and kill and kill. You can find sand in some breakable objects and I'd suggest you do so, you'll need it to keep you alive long enough to get to bodies of water to turn back.
The enemies are fairly tough overall with some requiring you to be aware of their weakness to succeed. For example the sewer dwellers hate light and will be blinded if you lead them into a shaft of it. Another is the sand dogs. They are most vulnerable when they try to draw sand from you, and since they can only be killed when they are knocked on their back or trying to drain sand, it'd behoove you to take advantage of that.
There are only four boss fights but they are each interesting and require use of your head as well as your blades. However they are not the spectacular like in some other third person games, though the bosses do feel like appropriate obstacles for the prince.
The chariot racing is cool but there are only a couple points where it happens so it's not used as much as it could've been. Actually in all honesty the game isn't that long. You cold easily beat it during a rental if you just wanted to see how the series ends, but for the entire time you play it is a most entertaining ride.
Overall I’d say this is a solid and fun game that though short is a great way for the series to end. My only real regret is not getting the pre-order soundtrack. But aside from that I am most happy with my game purchase.
The story opens with our prince returning home, Kaileena in tow. He's looking forward to seeing his home, Babylon, and getting some much needed RnR after seven years of running. However, he reaches the harbor only to find the city in flames and an enemy army stomping what's left of the cities defender into paste.
Boy just can not catch a break
Things go from bad to worse when Kaileena is captured and subsequently murdered releasing the sands, which the enemy army more or less bends to it's will. This makes their already beefy army that much harder to deal with, and endows their leader with Immortality. Making things worse the sands nearly infect the prince, giving rise to a new darker personality that starts to whisper in his ear as well as turning him into a partial sand creature. Whenever stressed he changes and must find a body of water to revert back.
The story line is one of the games strong points, in my opinion. We get to watch as the prince goes from the focused (selfish) person he was in 'warrior within' to something nobler. Granted it took him three games to learn this but he does manage it.
The characters and their animations are fairly impressive. The prince himself moves life an acrobat through, above and below the streets of Babylon. The other characters all move exactly as their design suggests. Large brutish warriors toss finesse to the winds and try to overpower you with brute strength while lithe and deadly dancers block your blows with their graceful sword dance.
The city of Babylon itself is a bit of a wonder and you get to travel a good bit of it in your quest. Thus you are exposed to hanging gardens, market places, rooftop highways and more. Or I should say what's left of them. The invading army seems to have shown little care for the wonders of the cities architecture as they rampaged through, setting of collapses and fires all throughout the city.
The music returns more to the original 'Sands of time' style instead of the hard rock favored in 'Warrior within'. This, as far as I'm concerned, is a good thing. Nothing against rock but the Persian inspired music seems to fit the overall setting this time around.
Speaking of sound, the voice actors all do wonderfully with their roles, the original voice of the prince is back, and does a good job of showing off the growth the prince goes through during the course of the game. The other actors all handle their characters well for the most part but for me the most interesting was the voice of the dark prince. Throughout the game he gives advice as well as commentary on your actions and he does it well. You could almost start to like him, almost.
As for the game play, it's fairly solid. The platforming should be familiar to those who've played other games in the series though they've added a few new acrobatic tricks to the prince's repertoire. You'll soon find yourself leaping for handholds and trying to get safely across a section of the city without breaking your silly neck.
The traps and puzzles are both back and while not overly difficult they do give pause to your actions as you try to figure out just how your supposed to use that or avoid this to get up there.
One new wrinkle they've added is the speed kill system. It's not hard to activate, basically if you can get close enough to any enemy without them noticing you, you can activate the system. The tricky part is getting within range without being noticed. This isn't always easy and sometimes requires patience but it does pay off as the enemies are a bit tougher this time and your dagger isn’t the best thing to take on and armored sand monster with. Especially since some sand guards can activate gates that summon more monsters for you to fight.
The light prince's speed kills involve you waiting for the dagger to glow before pressing the button for each hit. This isn't hard in practice and against normal enemies. However some of the boss encounters require the use of this system and it's really easy to panic and hit the button to soon, screwing up the attack, and allowing the target to smack you around like they owned you.
The dark prince is most assuredly the more combat oriented of the two. His speed kills are easy since they involve simply choking the target to death, however they lack the visually finesse and style of the light prince's moves. However, the dark prince has access to the dagger tail, whereas the normal hero has to grab whatever's available from defeated enemies. The dagger tail is a neat tool that can help you get across a section of city. In combat it is a deadly weapon and it can easily keep multiple targets at bay as well as deal damage to them. The downside to the dark prince is that he constantly needs sand to restore his life, or he'll die making it imperative to kill and kill and kill. You can find sand in some breakable objects and I'd suggest you do so, you'll need it to keep you alive long enough to get to bodies of water to turn back.
The enemies are fairly tough overall with some requiring you to be aware of their weakness to succeed. For example the sewer dwellers hate light and will be blinded if you lead them into a shaft of it. Another is the sand dogs. They are most vulnerable when they try to draw sand from you, and since they can only be killed when they are knocked on their back or trying to drain sand, it'd behoove you to take advantage of that.
There are only four boss fights but they are each interesting and require use of your head as well as your blades. However they are not the spectacular like in some other third person games, though the bosses do feel like appropriate obstacles for the prince.
The chariot racing is cool but there are only a couple points where it happens so it's not used as much as it could've been. Actually in all honesty the game isn't that long. You cold easily beat it during a rental if you just wanted to see how the series ends, but for the entire time you play it is a most entertaining ride.
Overall I’d say this is a solid and fun game that though short is a great way for the series to end. My only real regret is not getting the pre-order soundtrack. But aside from that I am most happy with my game purchase.