I've been playing this game for the last 3 hours or so, and i've come to the conclusion that all the reviews i've read have been too kind to it.

If you haven't already heard, Ubisoft took its sleeper hit Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and decided to rape it repeatedly in order to appeal to the 'mass crowd'. Just to rub salt in the wound, let's see what Sands of Time has that Warrior Within lacks:

1. The lovable Prince.

The Prince in Sands of Time is an arrogant jerk who waltzes in, unleashes the Sands of Time and has to clean up the mess. He's arrogant, he talks to himself, and is overall a charming character who grows on you. Warrior Within's Prince is Generic Action Hero. He has corny one-liners, and although once again the story is about saving his own ass, you never really feel like it is.

2. Balanced combat and puzzle solving.

Sands of Time was a brilliant update of the PoP franchise that mixed the deadly traps and mind-bending puzzles with just the right mix (actually, a bit too much) combat. The combat system worked well, and it was all the game needed. Warrior Within decided that the combat was the most important thing, and added more combos, 'dual-swording' and blood than Tekken and Dead or Alive combined. This wouldn't be a bad thing, except they dumbed down the game as well. The traps aren't half as hard to get through, and if what the review says is true, there's no puzzles of the mirror-light variety. If I wanted a fighting game, i'd play Dead or Alive. If I wanted mass slaughter, i'd play Halo 2. Prince of Persia does not need this.

3. Script, script, script!

The first game was a masterpiece of charming humour. This second game sounds like it's been written by someone who's played all the (bad) dungeon hack games of the 90s. "You must go to the Island of Time, to meet the Empress of Time, and defeat the creatures of Time." WE GET THE FUCKING POINT ALREADY. This also fits in with:

4. Supporting character(s)

In the first game you had Farah, who was as far from a damsel in distress you could get. She was sharp, witty, and led the Prince on through the entire game. Even though you had to look after her in some bits, the piercing dialogue between her and the Prince kept you amused. In Warrior Within, a darker, bloodier Prince apparently needs a metal-covered slut and some usually red-clothed whore. By the way, when you see the metal bikini, you'll realize the character design was only created for horny teenagers. It's a freaking metal G-string from Princess Leia's worst nightmares. And there is NO HUMOUR WHATSOEVER. A case in point is when metal-girl is fighting the red harlot, which is obviously some kinky shit - it looks more like lesbian wrestling than fighting. The Prince stumbles upon this. Now, the old Prince would have made some wise crack about joining in, but this new (pansy 'hardcore') Prince is "OH THE NOES I MUST HELP HER!".

Pathetic.

5. Summing up.

Don't get me wrong, this game isn't all bad. Some of the charm of the first game is still peeking through in terms of level design, which definately has come along from the first game. Some of the room puzzles are genuinely enjoyable to complete. But if you're a huge fan of Sands of Time, I suggest you rent Warrior Within first. It might not be the game for you.

Penny Arcade said more or less the same thing.

I haven't played either of them, but the first looks entertaining.

and more blood than Tekken and Dead or Alive combined

so, there's not an awful lot of blood then? ;(

because I don't remember there being much blood at all in Tekken, really. Maybe I'm just completelt desensitised and didn't notice, I don't know.

And it sounds pretty disappointing, because I liked the first on a lot. But if Ubisoft actually manage to turn a profit on this one, I guess it's not so bad.

And it sounds pretty disappointing, because I liked the first on a lot. But if Ubisoft actually manage to turn a profit on this one, I guess it's not so bad.

It's pretty disheartening that games have already reached the state where you need sex and violence to sell a game over humour and good game design :(

You can say a lot about Nintendo, but at least they've never stooped to the sex for sex's sake, yet.

Cool thanks for the review or whatever it was. I'll be sure to double think about getting this game. If I even do get it.

I just finished the game yesterday and I have a lot to comment about with Lee's post here.


1. The lovable Prince.

The Prince in Sands of Time is an arrogant jerk who waltzes in, unleashes the Sands of Time and has to clean up the mess. He's arrogant, he talks to himself, and is overall a charming character who grows on you. Warrior Within's Prince is Generic Action Hero. He has corny one-liners, and although once again the story is about saving his own ass, you never really feel like it is.


The prince does have a completely different personality in WW and not for the better. In WW he's not charming at all, and at some points is just downright annoying. Corny one-liners galore. About the saving his own ass thing, I really disagree with you saying "you never really feel like it is" if you are referring to WW there. At some points in the game it is blatently obvious that he's not really a hero. He wants to save his skin disregarding anybody else. In fact, the entire point of going to the island is to save his own ass in the first place.


2. Balanced combat and puzzle solving.

Sands of Time was a brilliant update of the PoP franchise that mixed the deadly traps and mind-bending puzzles with just the right mix (actually, a bit too much) combat. The combat system worked well, and it was all the game needed. Warrior Within decided that the combat was the most important thing, and added more combos, 'dual-swording' and blood than Tekken and Dead or Alive combined. This wouldn't be a bad thing, except they dumbed down the game as well. The traps aren't half as hard to get through, and if what the review says is true, there's no puzzles of the mirror-light variety. If I wanted a fighting game, i'd play Dead or Alive. If I wanted mass slaughter, i'd play Halo 2. Prince of Persia does not need this.

I think the puzzles in WW are just as good, if not better than SOT. There is a lot of the same type of thing, and on a few puzzles the solution is so deliberately obtuse that it is beyond frustrating, but overall the puzzles are fantastic. There are a lot of new, innovative ones, and while there are not the mirror/light ones that are in SOT (that has been done a hundred times anyways) there are other puzzles that are of a similar nature.

I thought the fighting was great also, and I don't think the puzzles/fighting is really over balanced at all (expecially since most of the fighting you can just run past and skip). The blood may not work for some people (and really wouldn't fit if the tone were the same as SOT) but I liked it pretty well in WW. It was pretty cool to be able to chop heads off, slice in half down the middle, slice in half across the abdomen. Blood flying everywhere in slow-mo is pretty cool in my opinion. Also, I found the kills in the game to look exactly like vampire kills in the Blade movies, if somebody wants something to compare them to.


I'll finish this post later :(

I dunno... the game kinda had me at "You bitch!"

I haven't played a lot of PoP:WW (I'm distracted by KH:CoM and FF:DoS for the moment) but I do like the new battle system. Though most of the time it seems like you're button mashing, knowing what you're doing is so much better.

I also like hot girls. Do you?

To finish my previous post:


3. Script, script, script!

The first game was a masterpiece of charming humour. This second game sounds like it's been written by someone who's played all the (bad) dungeon hack games of the 90s. "You must go to the Island of Time, to meet the Empress of Time, and defeat the creatures of Time." WE GET THE FUCKING POINT ALREADY.

Totally agree with this one. The story, I think, actually starts off pretty decent, but it gets more and more stupid as the game goes on, until I was completely clueless as to what was going on, and just about nothing the Prince did made sense to me. Also the dialogue was extremely bad.


4. Supporting character(s)

In the first game you had Farah, who was as far from a damsel in distress you could get. She was sharp, witty, and led the Prince on through the entire game. Even though you had to look after her in some bits, the piercing dialogue between her and the Prince kept you amused. In Warrior Within, a darker, bloodier Prince apparently needs a metal-covered slut and some usually red-clothed whore. By the way, when you see the metal bikini, you'll realize the character design was only created for horny teenagers. It's a freaking metal G-string from Princess Leia's worst nightmares. And there is NO HUMOUR WHATSOEVER. A case in point is when metal-girl is fighting the red harlot, which is obviously some kinky shit - it looks more like lesbian wrestling than fighting. The Prince stumbles upon this. Now, the old Prince would have made some wise crack about joining in, but this new (pansy 'hardcore') Prince is "OH THE NOES I MUST HELP HER!".

I also agree with this one. The supporting characters were horrible (although there were really only 2 of them). The chick with the metal thong is completely overdone by reviewers though, considering she is barely in the game at all. The other girl in the game is much more interesting (and a tiny bit less sluttily clad), but still not anything close to Farah. I also miss the Ico-like sequences where you had to work together with her to complete puzzles, as anything similar to that is completely gone in WW.



5. Summing up.

Don't get me wrong, this game isn't all bad. Some of the charm of the first game is still peeking through in terms of level design, which definately has come along from the first game. Some of the room puzzles are genuinely enjoyable to complete. But if you're a huge fan of Sands of Time, I suggest you rent Warrior Within first. It might not be the game for you.

I think that Ubisoft made a lot of horrible mistakes with the style and the story, but that is really it. I think the gameplay is far better than Sands of Time, the level design is about the same quality, and the length of the game is much more satisfying. Some other things I didn't like about the game is

1. The amount of backtracking you have to do. Some parts of the game it feels like you do dozens of times before the ending.

2. The lack of detail on the map and the lack of explanation about what you are doing left me wondering around in circles a lot (expecially towards the end of the game). I had no clue where to go, and there was really nothing to help me except trying every path until you get a cutscene.

3. Some visual and audio glitches. I played the X-box version, which I have heard is the best quality, but there are still plenty of visual and audio glitches. Some small examples are that sometimes the voices will get cut off or just wont start, or the prince will be facing the wrong way during a cutscene or fighting move. One major example is that during a bossfight, the Prince got stuck on the ground and would not move. He also would not die, so I had to restart the game and go from the previous save point. Did not make me happy.

Overall I think The Warrior Within was definately a very good game, I would give it an 8 out of 10, but Ubisoft could have done so much better if they would have kept the original style. Hopefully on the next Prince game, they will listen to all the reviewers and gamers complaints and go back to the classic Prince character that everybody loves.


Though most of the time it seems like you're button mashing, knowing what you're doing is so much better.


There's no way you're going to get through the second half of the game if you are just button mashing. Towards the end, certain moves wont effect different enemies (the assassin chicks can't be jumped over, but can be thrown) so you really do have to mix up the fighting a lot, and know what you are doing.

The last boss is also incredibly hard, and there's pretty much no way you could beat her by just mashing buttons.

The prince does have a completely different personality in WW and not for the better. In WW he's not charming at all, and at some points is just downright annoying. Corny one-liners galore. About the saving his own ass thing, I really disagree with you saying "you never really feel like it is" if you are referring to WW there. At some points in the game it is blatently obvious that he's not really a hero. He wants to save his skin disregarding anybody else. In fact, the entire point of going to the island is to save his own ass in the first place.

I think the puzzles in WW are just as good, if not better than SOT. There is a lot of the same type of thing, and on a few puzzles the solution is so deliberately obtuse that it is beyond frustrating, but overall the puzzles are fantastic. There are a lot of new, innovative ones, and while there are not the mirror/light ones that are in SOT (that has been done a hundred times anyways) there are other puzzles that are of a similar nature.

I thought the fighting was great also, and I don't think the puzzles/fighting is really over balanced at all (expecially since most of the fighting you can just run past and skip). The blood may not work for some people (and really wouldn't fit if the tone were the same as SOT) but I liked it pretty well in WW. It was pretty cool to be able to chop heads off, slice in half down the middle, slice in half across the abdomen. Blood flying everywhere in slow-mo is pretty cool in my opinion. Also, I found the kills in the game to look exactly like vampire kills in the Blade movies, if somebody wants something to compare them to.


I'll finish this post later :(

That's good to hear - like I said, i'm only three hours through, which is probably a bit to early to make a judgement on the game. While it's not good that the Prince's personality stays the same, the fact that the puzzles do continue to get better makes me want to go through the extra effort of finishing the game.

I agree that the new battle system fits Warrior Within perfectly, but I really wanted more of Sands of Time =/


I also like hot girls. Do you?

Only if the Prince is making wisecracks and trying to bed them... and getting refused in a humourous manner :(

I SMOLDER WITH GENERIC RAGE.

I found PoP:WW to be dissapointing as well. Worth the rental but nothing I would buy, The enemy that chased him throughout the game( i think its called the dahakahn but I cant exactly remember) is one of the coolest monsters I have seen in a long time.

One of my wanted Christmas presents, it is.