14 DAY TRIAL // I did not like 2008's version of Prince of Persia, mainly because of the smug and boring main character and because the platforming was actually nothing but a sad and easy series of Quick Time Events. The really beautiful graphics and the auto-save function hidden as a no-death mechanic were really nice additions, but did not compensate for the title's glaring flaws.
Fortunately, Disney decided to make a movie based on Ubisoft's old franchise and not the reboot, so the developer jumped on the bandwagon and created a game that slid neatly between The Sands of Time and The Warrior Within. The fact that Prince of Persia - The Forgotten Sands, as it is called, goes back to the old universe made me happy and I really hoped the rushed development process, meant to catch with the release date for the film, would not make the game too much of a mess.
The good news for fans of the old Prince is that he is back, voiced by Yuri Lowenthal, as in the first and last titles in the original trilogy, and that he is doing a great job this time around as well. The great platforming that is a hallmark of the series is up to scratch too. This is one of the best iterations of jump-and-run gameplay in the series, as it is more streamlined, but not dumbed down like last time. It allows the chaining of cool, acrobatic moves with tremendous ease, while not oversimplifying the gameplay, an achievement the developers should be really proud of.
The combat, on the other hand, at least in the three or four hours that I've spent with the game, is quite uninspiring. It is not by any means bad, but, unfortunately, it is just too simple, with the acrobatic complexity of old gone. One hits a button to strike and a button to kick and that’s it, unsophisticated, albeit stylish button-mashing. Ultimately, it proves to be just a distraction between the really great platforming and puzzle sections, thrown in there just for the sake of variety. The story of the Forgotten Sands hasn't been impressive until now, but I hope it will get better as events of the narrative unfold.