Gamertell

Last time we took a look at the original trilogy of Prince of Persia games, and now we move onto the era of Ubisoft. The French developer took the franchise in a new direction, while maintaining the original feel the series was known for.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

Despite the mainly negative reaction to the first 3D Prince of Persia, when publishing giant Ubisoft picked up the rights to the franchise it decided to stray from its two-dimensional roots. Designer Jordan Mechner joined up with the team at Ubisoft Montreal in an attempt to finally bring the classic gameplay of the original PoP games into the modern era. The fruit of their labor was Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.

Story: Released in 2003, The Sands of Time received almost universal critical acclaim and several Game of the Year awards. The game featured the most engrossing story the series had seen yet. While attacking an Indian kingdom with the Persian army, the Prince discovers a magical dagger that grants him power over time. Later, the Prince is tricked by an evil Vizier into releasing the titular sands of time, which infect the world, turning regular citizens into violent, hideous sand monsters. He eventually restores the sands, and in the process, reverses all of the events that happened, including a romantic relationship with the daughter of the Indian Maharajah, Farah. But since all of their time together had been reversed, by the end of the game she no longer has any memory of him.

Gameplay: The dagger of time created the most unique gameplay aspect of the new Prince of Persia. With it, players could now control time by reversing events that had happened. For example, if a player was hurt by an enemy, reversing time would refill their health bar. The dagger had a bar itself, which could be refilled by killing the sand monsters who would then release the sand used by the dagger.

Aside from the dagger, Sands did an excellent job of updating Prince of Persia for a modern audience. The Prince’s trademark acrobatics made a return, and this time around he could run along walls or even jump back and forth between them. These moves are also translated into combat, which would often see the Prince taking on several enemies at once, forcing him to use high-flying tactics to survive.

Unlike many games that receive such high critical praise, Sands was also a commercial success, and so, Ubisoft brought out a sequel just a year later.

Prince of Persia: Warrior Within

The release of Prince of Persia: Warrior Within saw a dramatic change in tone for the series. For the first time in its history, the lead designer of this Prince of Persia game was not Mechner. Instead, Kevin Guillemette took the reigns, and the result was a much darker, grittier game.

Story: Warrior Within takes place seven years after Sands, and sees the Prince haunted by the guardian of time, Dahaka. Since the Prince was able to escape death in the first game by using the dagger of time, Dahaka wished to kill him in order to set the time-line straight. But, in an attempt to save himself, The Prince heads to the island of time in order to stop the magical sand from ever being created in the first place. Throughout the game, the Prince’s journey becomes entangled with that of Kaileena, the Empress of Time. Having witnessed her own death at the hands of the Prince, Kaileena attempts to kill him in order to save herself. In the end the two join together and are able to kill Dahaka and escape their fates.

Gameplay: While Warrior marked a strong stylistic change for the series, for the most part the gameplay remained in tact. The platforming, puzzle solving, and adventuring elements were all as good, if not better, than what was seen in the games predecessor. However, the new direction had a strong impact on combat. The Prince could now carry two weapons at once, as well as use combos, special attacks, and the environment in battle. Warrior also featured extremely violent fatalities—including full-on decapitations—which caused the game to receive a Mature rating in North America, a first for the series.

But despite the still solid gameplay, many fans were disappointed with the changes made to the series. And so with the final installment in the trilogy, Ubisoft decided to go back to what made the original so successful.

Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones

Guillemette once again headed up the third installment of the series, but this time, scaled back the violence and darkness that turned so many off of Warrior. But while Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones harks back to Sands of Time, it also has a a fair bit of Warrior‘s spirit, merging some of the best aspects of its predecessors.

Story: This time around the Prince finds his ship attacked by an army led by the Vizier from Sands—who, despite dying in the first game, is alive due to the Prince’s reversing of time. When the Prince attempts to stop the Vizier from making himself immortal with the dagger of time, he ends up being partially contaminated by the sands. This contamination leads to the creation of the Dark Prince, an alter-ego that is much stronger and more aggressive compared to his lighter counter-part.

Eventually, the Prince is able to overcome the darkness that tried to consume him, and kills the Vizier once and for all. Farah, who has no memory of the events of Sands, once again falls in love with the Prince and becomes his Queen.

Gameplay: Gameplay wise, Thrones feels a great deal like Sands, with a very strong emphasis on platforming and puzzle solving. The Prince has many more moves at his disposal this time around, including more impressive wall jumps and the ability to balance on swinging poles. In terms of combat, the Prince is once again armed with the dagger of time, which removes a great deal of the excessive violence seen in Warrior. But with the inclusion of the Dark Prince, not all was lost. When he transforms to his dark alter-ego, the Prince becomes much more powerful and is given a new weapon, a serrated whip that has become fused to his arm. This whip allows him to pull enemies in close, for some impressive kills. But, as with everything good, there are drawbacks to being a Dark Prince. When in that state the Prince’s health would slowly drain. In order to keep him alive players were forced to continually collect the sands of time released from fallen foes.

With Thrones, Ubisoft was able to successfully close out one of the biggest series’ of this decade. But with the story wrapped up, many wondered where the franchise would head next. Next time, we will take a look at the future of Prince of Persia, which includes a brand new take on the series, as well as a big-budget, major motion picture.

Read [Gamertell’s Prince of Persia Chronicles Part 1: The Early Years]