Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands (Wii) - Review by Chris

Introduction

For a few years now, Ubisoft's action platform title Prince of Persia has been missing in action on the Wii and bar a port of Two Thrones not long after the console's launch, Nintendo gamers have had to look elsewhere to get their share of the Prince's acrobatic platforming. With a summer blockbuster movie holding the license's name, Ubisoft have felt it was time to bring another round of Prince of Persia titles to the console, this time including the Wii, and thankfully creating a new story to fill in some of the gaps in the previous trilogy rather than simply creating a movie tie-in. Does this one stand up to its predecessors or does it simply fall flat on its back?

Gameplay

Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands takes place between the events of the Sands of Time and Warrior Within, hoping to fill a 7 year plot gap. The Prince has left his father's kingdom in the hope of proving his worth and befriends a genie named Zahra on the way to doing so. Meet her, she says she can grant him his wishes and give him the kingdom he has always dreamed of as well as the princess he has always wanted. However, leading the Prince to his hearts desires results in a catch: his kingdom is crumbling under the weight of a strange mystical plant, tied to an evil sorceress, and the princess he desires needs rescuing. So starts the events of The Forgotten Sands and the Prince's escapades as he tries to vanquish the evil destroying his kingdom and save the princess.

In traditional style, the gameplay of The Forgotten Sands doesn't stray far from the tried and tested elements which have made up prior games. Gameplay feels much more like the Sands of Time rather than its two succeeding titles, with a heavy focus on providing plenty of challenging platforming sequences and a small helping of combat. The platforming makes up the majority of what the game has to offer and will see the Prince going through his usual routine of climbing walls and poles, jumping and wall running across vast gaps and doing various other acrobatic antics to reach his designated destination. It remains consistently challenging throughout and while it is never difficult to work out the route you have to take, actually completing the route can prove difficult due to various traps placed to impede your progress.

Luckily, the implementation of some new sand powers in the game, known as Creation powers, allows you a better reign over the platforming sections. Unlocked progressively, you'll gain access to powers which allow you to place hoops on walls, whirlwind features on flat surfaces and a bubble powerup which allows you to stop and stand within a bubble in midair so you can plan your next move. These powers are well implemented, making for a great inclusion into the series, and add an extra layer of difficulty to the later platforming sections, which often require the use of all three powerups to cross some very difficult sections. There is no rewind power this time but missing a jump or falling from a ledge doesn't mean death. So long as you have a life orb, you'll be placed back on the last solid piece of ground you stood on and even if you don't have any of these, save points are frequently placed meaning you'll never have to drudge through long sections to get back to where you were.

Unfortunately, while the platforming lives up to its canon, the combat does not. Feeling more like an afterthought, combat feels slow and sluggish, even with the use of some acrobatic moves. At specific sections, all entrances and exits to rooms will be blocked and you'll be forced to clear a wave or two of enemies. In the beginning, it's simple enough as the enemies pose little threat but as the game progresses and more difficult enemies enter the fray, you'll often find yourself cursing these sections as enemies are often over powered and the combat, unleashed through shakes of the Wii-mote and Nunchuk, feel too slow to keep up. A dodgy camera doesn't help the proceedings either and while you can take full control of the game's camera yourself, it still becomes difficult to manage these sections and they ultimately bring the game down a step in the enjoyment factor, although it still remains an enjoyable 12 hour romp.

Standing alongside the main single player offering is a two player cooperative mode. While many might groan at the prospect of a co-op mode in a Prince of Persia title, the developers have done a good job of making the second player feel more involved with the gameplay. While they won't control a character, a feat controlled by the first player, what the second player can do is help in combat or with progression through the levels by slowing down or stopping enemies or traps as well as being able to draw lines to show routes that the Prince can take to get through specific sections. Bring both cursors together and holding them over each other for a couple of seconds gives the second player even more input into the game by allowing them to make use of the Creation powers for placing hoops or whirlwinds that the Prince can use. In a game that has always been a single player experience, the developers have done a fantastic job in making an enjoyable, engaging and meaningful experience for a second player.

Aside from these areas of the game, there are various unlockables to discover, most of which are found by collecting and drinking different coloured potions hidden throughout the main game's world. These unlock things such as alternate characters skins, such as those used in Sands of Time and Warrior Within, as well as challenges and the original 1989 Prince of Persia title. It always means there's something to come back to and enjoy after the main game has finished and in some cases, gives an incentive to play through it all again doubling the already lengthy campaign completion time.

Controls

The game makes use of a combination of the Wii-mote and Nunchuk with movement being handled by way of the analogue stick and nearly everything else being button-centric. For the platforming sections, which make up the majority of what is on offer within the game, the game controls extremely well with the setup requiring the gamer to precisely map out their route through each section and master the tricks of the controls to time it all perfectly. With the inclusion of the Wii specific Creation powers, the pointer capabilities of the controller are put to good use allowing you to simply point and place rings or whirlwinds where you please to help you progress and allowing you to create a platform midair, courtesy of the bubble power, to allow you to further plan out your route.

Unfortunately, the controls fall down when it comes to the combat, with gestures from both the Wii-mote and Nunchuk necessary to carry out standard attacks and specials. The combat itself is kept very basic but the controls feel sluggish and don't even meet the standards seen in other action adventure titles that use a similar gesture based setup up. Similarly, the camera control can also be an issue, with it more often than not jerking around in a different direction from where you want to go. This can be alleviated by disabling the camera assist from the menu but issues still remain which can and do hamper progression through both the platforming and combat sections.

Graphics

Although not taking any leaps above what was done on a technical level with the previous Prince of Persia titles, The Forgotten Sands manages to create a homely feel about it, with beautifully realised locations and a style that puts it up there with the best that the series has to offer. Locations cover things from large, open natural environments to palace grounds and interiors and throughout the variety on offer, everything is perfectly realised to give the game the feeling of truly being set within ancient Persia. Even though there are the occasionally blurry or flat textures, it is the style of the locations, from the architecture to the interior design, which really hits home the quality of the visuals on offer.

The Prince's character model is well realised, bearing a mixed resemblance to the models used in the Warrior Within and Two Thrones but without any of the emotional baggage that made him an almost unbearable character to be with. His animation throughout all of the acrobatic stunts that you'll be able to pull off is incredibly life like and natural, just as it always has been, and even the most impossible manoeuvres seem possible because of it. The supporting cast of characters is a mixed bag, with Zahra being perhaps the other main highlight, but you'll rarely see her outside of cutscenes to the point where you can see her in any detail, and the enemy design feels flat and unimaginative but again, you'll only encounter these in scripted areas.

Sound

Anyone worried that the game would repeat the audio faux pas that was Warrior Within's soundtrack can but their fears to rest as the music here follows a similar route to that taken by Sands of Time, opting for some pleasant, ambient background tracks which highlight the artist design of each of the areas as well as bringing home the style of the overall game world. It's in tune with the Persian aesthetic at work and while it would perhaps have been nice for it to take a slightly more prominent place during the runtime, you'll definitely take notice of its subtle movements that accentuate the mood.

All of the main characters are fully voiced and for the most part, each line is delivered extremely well. The voices sound applicable to each of the characters that use them and apart from some odd one-liners from some of the characters and some repeated dialogue throughout the gameplay, it comes close to matching previous standards set for voice work in the Prince of Persia games.

Final comments

Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands sadly isn't a return to the form set out in the Sands of Time, nor is it a step above anything done in any of the other Prince of Persia titles. What it is, however, is a solid effort from Ubisoft at attempting to fill the 7 year story void between two entries in the previous trilogy. It brings with is some solid and challenging platforming that is a pleasure to play through but unfortunately fails at bringing in anything competent in the combat department, making these short sections a chore. Even with the issues, though, the game is still a good experience and one definitely worthy of your time if you're a Wii owner who has been longing for a return of the Prince and his acrobatic shenanigans.

Pro: Platforming sections are excellent, presentation is top notch, Co-op mode is innovative and really good, plenty of unlockables
Con: Combat sections drag down the experience somewhat, camera can be an issue at times, motion controls for attacks feel sluggish
Final score: 8.1

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