Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands

After the many reboots of the Prince of Persia series, and the new action adventure crapfest on the big screen, it's remarkable that anyone still has any affection for the plucky little time-altering prince. For the latest action-hero incarnation of the series (though the new game has nothing to do with the film, which is based on the first reboot of the series, The Sands of Time) The Forgotten Sands sees the Prince essentially transformed into Lara Croft: racing around a decaying castle pulling this lever to open that door, leaping across forbidding chasms in time to get beneath the lowering portcullis etc etc etc, with the game's central McGuffin being the other half of an amulent, held by his increasingly-untrustworthy brother, which must be rejoined in order to stop the undead sand Armies of Solomon from swarming across the planet.

Fortunately, the Prince has gotten some otherworldly help from the mysterious djin who allow him to reverse time (as you might expect, given the franchise), as well as control water and some other nifty skills. The result is a pretty bog-standard adventure story interspersed with genuinely enjoyable puzzles. The frustrating time limits and occasional leaps into the unknown notwithstanding, there are many wonderful moments of getting into a new area and having moments of what-the-bloody-hell-do-I-do-now – although the answer, by and large, is normally indicated just after the obligatory level-starting "kill all the undead soldiers that have just appeared and level up" bit. In that respect, it's actually not all that different to God of War: vaguely mythological trappings, numberless undead armies, increasingly kick-ass weapons and abilities, although the combat system here is pretty much limited to hack/shove/dodge – some more combos would have been kind of nice. Were it not for the time-reversing tricks and the intricate puzzles there'd be nothing to recommend The Forgotten Sands, but fortunately that's enough to make it worth your attention.

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