01/22/2006>> Prince of Persia: Two Thrones (PlayStation 2)

Genre: Action / Platform

 

 

 

 

 

The Prince of Persia series has experienced many different iterations over the years, but it has received much criticism for it’s deviation of character in Prince of Persia: Warrior Within. Indeed, Warrior Within was an unfinished and poorly executed game, complete with a new motif of blood and sex. The game polarized many critics; I was one of those that accused the game for its stupidity. With this split feedback on the game, Ubisoft decided to stray from Warrior Within while keeping its dark themes.

 

Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones represents both previous games equally, with the Price fighting to maintain his balance of good and evil. A new gameplay innovation: the Dark Prince and the Prince himself, has been introduced in order to please all fans of the previous games. Although the former incarnation may have nearly destroyed this wonderful series, The Two Thrones has now become greater for its faults. This game has learnt from its mistakes, and overall this is the return to force we’ve all been waiting for.

 

 

GRAPHICS
Graphical prowess has never been extremely evident in the PoP franchise; however Ubi has always managed to keep a standard of visuals which add to the game’s atmosphere and setting. This is true as well of The Two Thrones, which has done away with Gothic architecture en lieu of Persian palaces and gardens. Textures are rendered well, however there are many that are very bland and others which are viewed in extremely low resolution. Models also have a good amount of detail, but again, the features on models like that of the Prince do have notable flaws and some poor mapping.

 

Particle effects are very prominent and they look very good, but the framerate suffers whenever they are too populated on screen. Things like dust, fire and smoke cause some slowdown in the game, leaving one to think they could have been removed to increase performance. The game runs at a variable rate; I could distinguish anywhere from 15-35 FPS at any given moment in the game. Nonetheless, the game looks very cool, especially the wonderful architecture which we’ve come to expect from PoP.

MUSIC
The greatest disappointment of Warrior Within was certainly its music. Thankfully, its generic guitar twang has been replaced by a meld of Arabian and Persian chimes, each with distinguishing instruments and great energy. Some rock has been infused into these traditional hymns, given the game a pounding sense of power, giving the player a huge boost of energy in the game. This is easily the most improved area of The Two Thrones.

 

SOUND
The sound department however has not been ameliorated in such dramatic ways. Syncing errors abound, especially in cut-scenes where the lip sync will be about a second off the voice track. The sounds seem to stick out during cut-scenes which make them very annoying. Also, many things just don’t sound like they should, like baskets falling from high instances which sound too wooden to be realistic. Luckily the sound is bearable, but some of the games distinct immersion is lost in the poor audible features.

 

 

COMBAT
Combat has been revamped from the two previous games, as Sands of Time was criticized for being too linear and Warrior Within was criticized for being too combat-oriented. This time, the Price uses a common dagger to dispatch foes using stealth instead of brute force. The new speed kill system offers the player to quickly exterminate foes in order to quickly get back into the puzzle solving which makes up most of the game. To initiate a speed kill, the Prince must walk up behind an enemy undetected, begin the animation and press a button at the precise moment his dagger glows. This system is very well executed and offers many well animated flips and stabs. This is also used effectively during boss fights, giving the player a feast of incredible acrobatics to wonder at. Aside from this, combat is fast, but again suffers from blocking problems and the sin of boredom. You can pick up an enemies weapon and use it temporarily, but it offers little to entice you into searching out other swords. Enemies will often hit you multiple times leaving no opportunity to block. However you will be speed killing many enemies which leaves PoP’s infamous combat system out of the picture much of the time.

 

The Dark Prince, who is played sporadically throughout the game, brings a different gameplay experience to The Two Thrones. He is constantly losing health which keeps a slight pressure on the player, although he/she will not feel threatened by the abating health bar as it is easily replenished by killing monsters or destroying surrounding items. The Dark Prince uses a whip named the Daggertail alongside the usual dagger which gives him more killing power and more interesting speed kills. The pace is also much faster when playing as the Dark Prince, as you will need to quickly skip to each source of Sand in order to keep your health bar up.

 

 

ARCHITECTURAL PUZZLES
The incredible architecture puzzles we’ve observed in all of the game’s iterations are back, with many new and incredible ways of getting around. Some of these new techniques look absolutely astounding, such as the Prince jumping from a dagger plate onto a long flag which he rips in half all the way to the bottom. The game is less ridden of traps, giving much of the control to the player. An immediate change to the game is its pacing; The Two Thrones is much faster than previous games, whether it is running or plat-forming. The camera angles and environment also give you indicators of when to initiate a jump or another critical move. Whereas combat was largely segregated in Sands of Time, it is embedded in the levels in The Two Thrones, which gives a great mix of puzzles, stealth and fighting throughout the entire game. There is even as small chariot scene which is wholly cinematic and a ton of fun to play.

 

STORY
The story of The Two Thrones continues after the ending of Warrior Within, and while the story seems largely consequential at the beginning, it evolves into a much more detailed story about the return of the Vizier. As the Prince and Kaileena return to Babylon they find the city in utter chaos. Their boat is hit by a wanton catapult load and they are split up. Without revealing too much, I can say that the Sands are again released and the Prince is infected by them, revealing the new Dark Prince. The Vizier is also transformed, and you must now hunt him throughout Babylon to reclaim your kingdom. The story is also narrated by Kaileena, alluding to the narration in Sands of Time. I enjoyed the introverted tale of the Prince and I was pleased to see some characters make a return. The story isn’t overly enthralling but it will keep you interested enough in the Prince’s fate to actually care about the outcome of the game.

 

OVERALL
The Two Thrones has given the PoP fanbase a great return into its proper form. The game has faults, but most of them are minor and can be overlooked. The wonderful and addictive gameplay is again in full force, and with such new techniques and interesting combat there is no doubt this will be well received by both critics and gamers alike. All PoP fans should own this as a testament to what a wonderful series this is, and because of the period we’ve had to endure between Sands of Time and The Two Thrones. Overall, with the new gameplay and amazing music and graphics prevalent through the game, there is no reason why anyone should give up the chance to play Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones.

 

 

 

Game Score

 

8.6

 

Reviewed By: Philippe Borduas