Reviewing this game is difficult. Quite simply I have been a fan of the Prince of Persia games since the very beginning and as such have laid my hands on every iteration I could get hold of. The reboot of the series that started with the Sands of Time kicked off a series that I still play to this day and will always be held with reverence and love. The next reboot, the cel-shaded, one on one combat adventure simply titled Prince of Persia was supposed to be a return to the original roots of the series but fans dismissed it as too easy and didn’t like the fact that you couldn’t ever die. The tone was right but the execution was off and fans weren’t sure what to expect next. Well they probably didn’t expect this…

Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands is a return to the Sands of Time trilogy set in between Sands and Warrior Within and actually has nothing to do with the recently released Sands of Time movie. The game starts out with a beautifully rendered scene of the Prince scampering across rooftops and leaping between falling towers as he gets to his brothers palace only to find it under siege by a huge army of assailants. He rushes to his brother’s aid and learns that he is planning on releasing King Solomon’s army, a mystical force that can end the world unless properly harnessed and the Prince’s brother Malek feels he is the man for the job. What a cock. Faster than you can say Sand Zombie Apocalypse he’s let loose huge hoards of monsties for you to leap over, slice up and generally batter the crap out of. You are then granted mystical powers of your own by the Djinn (that’s basically elemental genies to you and me) and are soon able to freeze water to use as platforms, recall broken sections of wall and floor and the favourite: Rewind time so you can have another crack at a series of traps or avoid death entirely.

So then, it’s a return to old stylings: Mixing platforming and combat to progress through a huge kingdom to achieve your ultimate goal of saving the world. Even the original voice actor from Sands is back for this outing and this game really does feel like a return to the Prince we all know and love. The parkour is the best it has ever been. It retains all the best moves from the previous titles and throws in a couple more (even if Isaac Newton would have a thing or two to say about the physics of some of them – landing on a vertical surface and still being able to run two metres straight up? Hmm…) and caters for veteran Persia players by stringing together some ridiculous runs and throwing some nice puzzles into the mix.

One disappointment is the combat. There’s nothing really wrong with it but it seems to be lacking a certain flair to it. The combat engine is the same Tag Fighting Technology that powered Arkham Asylum but the system doesn’t work as well here. Prince of Persia games have always revolved around blocking, countering and mixing the agile Prince’s acrobatic skills for visual flair as much as combat efficiency and only one of three of these has made it through here.

You can’t block and you can’t counter. It took me a long while to adjust to this, as an updated version of the original engine had also been the basis for Assassin’s Creed’s combat. This in turn though is probably why the same system wasn’t used here. It’s been used for five games already (soon to be six with Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood on the way later this year) so clearly Ubisoft wanted something new for this outing. This is a real shame though because the combat in Warrior Within was the pinnacle for any of these games (Assassin’s Creed included) and the series seems unable to better it. Even Two Thrones lost some of the visceral brutishness of Warrior that detracted from it as it was a system designed around a darker, more violent Prince. The change in tone for Thrones left it feeling almost censored as blood and dismemberment were removed (even though some truly nasty stealth kills were thrown in – Consistency Ubisoft! Consistency!)

What we get is rhythm based and context sensitive combat. You have a basic sword swipe that can also be charged; a dodge move, a kick/shove attack to knock back enemies and a leap move that lets you bounce about enemies heads and attack from above. There is also magic you can use for protection, crowd clearance, setting people on fire and attacking from a distance that mix in well if not brilliantly (the fully levelled up Whirlwind attack is a thing of beauty).

You can also run along walls and leap about mid combat to avoid your enemies and hell you’re gonna want to. To compensate for the simplified combat you get up to a rather sphincter tightening 50 enemies on screen at once. The enemies are unfortunately clones of each other and do look and attack identically to each other and the larger enemies all use the exact same attack pattern as the Titans from Arkham Asylum. That’s just lazy. The bad guys are all very pretty though (the huge Elephant mini boss is a particular favourite) and once the fights begin incorporating all types of foe your tactics and timing really are put to the test and it really does get very satisfying. There’s an achievement for killing 50 enemies without taking a hit and it is a great feeling when you nail it.

What you are left with is a very satisfying experience but it’s not one that’s going to appeal to everybody. The pace and setting aren’t as intense as the Sands trilogy but not as relaxed as the most recent cartoony Nolan North adventure. It’s retained the difficulty of the previous trilogy though and the new approach to the powers keeps things fresh enough that this never stoops to the quick, cheap cash in it could have been. The platforming really is an absolute pleasure and you can, if you know which way you’re going, blast through huge sections of pitfalls, column jumps and magic induced scenery changes without even slowing to a walk and with enemies thrown in at random points along the way the challenge to take down the enemy without breaking stride is always a welcome one. I immediately started up again after finishing the game as I couldn’t wait to try and get through this as quickly and smoothly as possible on a second run with prior knowledge of the layout.

If you like your adventures fast, pretty and full of that Arabian Adventure feel then you’re going to be right at home with this Prince and this hopefully marks the beginning of another trilogy is this Prince’s universe, although I’m still eager to find out what’s happening in the other Prince’s world. Two concurrent Prince of Persia storylines? That might be a little much to expect but I can’t wait to see what happens next…