Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands First Look

Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands First Look
Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives.

February 18, 2010 - Seven years passed between the
events of the acclaimed Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and its
sequel The Warrior Within. The events of those seven years, when the
Prince went from a happy-go-lucky charmer to a hardened metal head, are
unknown -- until now. The Forgotten Sands offers fans a glimpse at what
happened to the Prince in those lost years.

The Forgotten Sands kicks off with the Prince arriving at his brother
Malik's palace, which is under siege. The opening scenes of a large
scale battle and the destruction of a gorgeous palace are reminiscent
of the opening for The Sands of Time. Under duress, Malik makes a
critical error. He releases an ancient sand army to take on his
enemies, but that turns all of the citizens into sand statues. And,
wouldn't you guess it, the sand army is evil.


Good thing the Prince is used to battling supernatural forces.
Along with superior sword-fighting skills, the Prince can rewind time
in short bursts, allowing him to avoid death. Each use of the rewind
function depletes one of the blue orbs at the top of the screen, just
like in The Sands of Time. Use them all up and death becomes a very
real thing.



Visually,
the new POP is halfway between the Arabian fantasy look of The Sands of
Time and the dark and harder edged look of The Warrior Within. The
Forgotten Sands is timed to release with the Prince of Persia feature
film in May, but it still has a ways to go in terms of its animations
and overall polish. The game currently looks a little rough, especially
compared to the quality the Prince series has offered over the past
decade. Fortunately, the gameplay is looking solid.


Combat is a big part of The Forgotten Sands and is no longer a
one-on-one affair as in 2008's Prince of Persia. For the new game, the
Prince engages in large-scale battles. Early on, you must take out 10
enemies who swarm you. That's a small battle. You will battle upwards
of 50 enemies at time before vanquishing the sand army. Melee combat is
a combo-heavy affair, but you can steer the Prince from one enemy to
the next so that a five-hit combo can take out close to a half-dozen
sand demons. Bosses come big and mean and must be beaten with skill as
there are no quick time events.


The new POP's combat is fast-paced action with no blocking. If you
want to avoid getting hit, you'll need to roll dodge out of the way or
strike first. You use the same sword throughout the game, but every
time you get an enemy's sand on the blade, you earn experience points
(XP) that can be used to purchase upgrades. Increase your life bar,
unlock new moves and increase your sword's damage through these
upgrades. You can also purchase powers for use in combat. Shield knocks
back enemies that have surrounded the Prince. This upgrades to Tornado,
which creates a whirling dervish to throw enemies around. Every combat
power can be improved in this way.


Along with these smaller combat powers, the Prince is gifted with
new magic courtesy of a Djinn (AKA Genie) named Razia. These are used
primarily for acrobatic feats. And I must say that as a Prince fan the
acrobatics got me pretty excited. Even in the earliest levels in the
palace, it's clear that this could be something very special.


The magic powers you earn are related to the elements, with the
first allowing you to temporarily solidify water. They spared no
expense when building this palace. It's definitely a luxury
accommodation, complete with plenty of artificial waterfalls and
fountains. One of the simpler acrobatic moves has you solidify a
waterfall, then run across it (holding a button to do so), leaping off
the wall and unfreezing the water to pass through another waterfall so
you can land on a ledge. Free the water shooting out of a spout on the
wall and it becomes your standard pole to swing on. As the acrobatic
sequences get more complex, you'll need to start using your head to
figure out how and when to use the water power to get to new places.

[Trebuie sa fiti înscris şi conectat pentru a vedea această imagine]

Things
get more challenging as you unlock new combat powers that link in with
acrobatic tests of skill. Eventually you'll need to combine water magic
with combat powers to get past obstacles. Run up a solidified wall of
water and then use the dash power to zip across a gap and attack an
enemy on the next platform. As new magic opens up, including the power
over air, earth and fire, the acrobatic challenges should become even
greater. For fans eager to test themselves in the same way they did The
Sands of Time, the new Prince of Persia title should serve them well.


The Forgotten Sands isn't restricted to Malik's palace. You'll
visit some other areas, including an area of respite. The Magic
Fountain has no enemies, but is a mystical realm where you interact
with Razia and gain new magic. What other areas might exist beyond the
palace and this fountain haven't been revealed yet, but perhaps we'll
see them soon.