As a big fan of the latest Prince of Persia reboot as well as the original Sands of Time game, I wasn't quite sure what to think when this was announced. On one hand, Ubisoft was basically saying it had made a mistake with 2008-PoP, but on the other they were going back to 2003-PoP, so it would all come down to how fun the game was. Considering its movie tie-in status, I think it's fair to say that I didn't expect much. Turns out, it's actually the best PoP game so far in terms of gameplay, and beautiful to look at. Platforming is ridiculously fun and original, you can now upgrade the Prince and his new magic abilities, and though the fighting suffers from a slow start, it becomes a lot of fun later on with a ridiculous amount of enemies. As for the graphics and design, it's generally a very beautiful game, if a little over-reliant on concepts from the previous PoP games. It's not at all as unique and beautiful as 2008-PoP, but it's certainly the best looking game from the Sands of Time quadrilogy.

The game is far from perfect, though. The other integral part of the PoP experience - story - is basically ignored. Only three simplistic characters are ever seen in the entire game, and the story is basically just you touring the palace on your way to the big boss, intercut with short conversations with a random woman in dreamland. There is no character development, and barely any references to the Sands of Time game. Plus, the most important character (Malik, the Prince's brother) is never really introduced and so basically comes out of nowhere. There's also the small matter of me finishing the game in under 6 hours. This is definitely not a game you buy.

Still, despite its flaws, this game was a ton of fun, and I'm looking forward to the sequel. Unless they go back to 2008-Pop, that is... or maybe another reboot? Bah.

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