You have to hand it to Ubisoft Montreal—when it comes to big-budget titles, they really know how to put together a well-made game. Aside from the likes of the Assassin’s Creed series (whose pedigree has come a long way since inception) and Splinter Cell, arguably their biggest—or at least most well known series—has been Prince of Persia, beginning with last generation’s Sands of Time.
Royal return
You have to hand it to Ubisoft Montreal—when it comes to big-budget titles, they really know how to put together a well-made game. Aside from the likes of the Assassin’s Creed series (whose pedigree has come a long way since inception) and Splinter Cell, arguably their biggest—or at least most well known series—has been Prince of Persia, beginning with last generation’s Sands of Time.
With the release of the PoP film just around the corner, the newest entry in the venerable adventure series, The Forgotten Sands, could be easily dismissed as a cheap movie tie-in. But rather than go that route, Ubisoft elected to make Forgotten Sands a quality game, and it’s all the better for it.
Gone are the drastically changed mechanics of the (highly underrated) PoP 2008 reboot, as Forgotten Sands actually acts as a sort of lost adventure for the Prince, taking place between the original Sands of Time and its sequel Warrior Within.
Before Forgotten Sands came out, I was a little skeptical about Ubisoft seemingly turning tail to retreat away from the bold, striking art direction and refreshing change of pace PoP 2008 offered. But I must admit, even for a more traditionally-minded PoP, Forgotten Sands is damn good, and a lot of fun.
It’s not surprising, then, that Forgotten Sands‘ gameplay will be familiar to anyone who’s played Sands of Time. The Prince once again has the ability to rewind time (although Sands of Time’s dagger is conspicuously absent), and there’s plenty of puzzle-based platforming to be had.
This time around, however, you also have control over the elements—most notably water—which the Prince can now freeze in order to create makeshift stepping stones to get across chasms and the like.
Thankfully, the developers haven’t crammed in so much combat as in previous iterations of the series, and although it’s pretty hack-and-slash simple, the Prince has access to a basic experience tree that will afford him some elemental upgrades that keep things interesting (particularly when the screen is overflowing with sand-baddies). As a nice added flourish, there are also some small nods to PoP‘s 2008’s acrobatic one-on-one duels.
And even though I was slightly disappointed by the developer’s decision to nix the living-watercolor cel-shading look that made PoP 2008 such a visual delight, Forgotten Sands is still just as sumptuous in its own right. Everything from the detailed, large character models to the beautifully designed, colorful sets make this game quite a looker—even though you might not have expected it to.
The addition of the Prince’s new elemental powers really make the series’ trademark platforming shine, however. Adding geysers of the water that must be frozen and unfrozen in order to ascend the game’s labyrinthine chambers makes for a fun (and aesthetically gorgeous) mechanic that only improves as the game goes on.
A seasoned gamer will be able to blow through this one in a day or two, but if you’re a fan of adventure games—a genre that’s so underrepresented now—you owe it to yourself to check out Forgotten Sands.
