Are the modern Prince of Persia games worth checking out?

Cafe Society
1

Here’s the deal. :slight_smile:

I just got a Gamecube for $40. Yes, we are very behind the times, but we’re okay with that. Anyway, Mrs. Mahaloth and I love Zelda games. We’ve played the Wind Waker and will soon play Twilight Princess. We’ve also adored Beyond Good and Evil, a game that has a lot of similarities to Zelda.

Anyway, I’m trying to find some more games similar to those that we may enjoy. I usually play the games, while my wife helps solve puzzles and figure out what we should do next.

Would the Prince of Persia games (Sands of time - Two Thrones) be worthwhile for us?

If not, any recommendations?

2

Absolutely I’d recommend them. Specifically, Sands of Time and Two Thrones, but not Warrior Within. From everything I’ve heard it’d be a waste of your time.

Sands of Time is equal mix puzzle-platform and combat; Two Thrones is a little more combat. The action is more frenetic than in most Zelda games, but the Prince is one of the most acrobatic characters I’ve ever played, and it’s an absolute joy to run around the game.

The story in both is exceptional and told very well, and you can pick up Warrior Within’s plot pretty easily from Two Thrones’ prologue. I suggest avoiding WW because it appears to have little of the puzzle-solving and strategic elements of Sands or Thrones, and is nearly all blunt, straightforward combat, which can get tedious even in Sands and Thrones.

The games are also quite beautiful, with some very well-done backdrops. There is a section of gameplay in Thrones where I nearly experienced vertigo simply watching someone else play, the design was that powerful. Twilight Princess has more amazing scenery, but PoP’s design is intense and concentrated, packing a lot more into a smaller space.

The downside to each game is the same; they’re hard. Twilight Princess is a cakewalk comparatively. The PoP games are shorter, but the difficulty makes up for it. You have tools and skills (the rewind ability is Your Best Friend), but you’ll still be loading saved games a lot. The ending is well worth it for Sands, though, and only slightly less so for Thrones.

As good as I think Sands of Time is, overall Twilight Princess is the better game IMO. Both are well worth playing, but it’s up to you if you want to play the easier but more epic game first (TP) or the shorter but much much harder one first (Sands of Time).

In short, I highly recommend getting Sands of Time, and if you like it getting Two Thrones afterward.

3

I really enjoyed Sands of Time, probably one of the best games I’ve played on the PS2. Plus they should be cheap so even if you don’t like it you’re not out much.

4

I thought Sands of Time was great (the climbing, jumping, puzzle solving) but the fighting was difficult, exhausting, and frustrating and while I played thorugh the game a couple times I could have done without all the regenerating bad guys (you’d literally fight 3-4 at a time and when you killed one another would appear until you killed a predetermined number sometime a couple dozen it seemed).
I haven’t played Warrior Within but heard it was disappointing compared to the first. And I definately want to play Two Thrones but haven’t had the time.

If you want another Zelda type game for the Gamecube I can’t recommend highly enough Star Fox Adventures: Dinosaur Planet. It pushed the gamecubes graphics to it’s limits and used real voiceovers instead of text. It was one of the last great games put out by RARE for nintendo.

Another good one is Beyond Good & Evil which got deserved rave reviews but not a lot of people have heard about it.

5

The OP mentioned he’s played that one already. It’s a great game too.

6

Sands of Time is awesome. I love this game and replay it even now. I don’t think it was hard at all, it’s got a learning curve, but as you play it you learn it, and I love the awesome stunts and I love the jumping and leaping and flips and fights.

I rented Warrior Within to try it and was not too impressed. And while the Sands of Time ending wasn’t bad, it wasn’t good enough for me - but barring that I would absolutely recommend it.

I am totally infatuated with the Prince, can you tell?

ETA: Upon reading some of the other posts again, I even liked the fighting, and I don’t always like fighting like that. You can take as long as you want with the fights. The only ones that were slightly annoying were where you had to protect Farah, and she does defend herself somewhat. Also you can block hits like nobody’s business, and I just loved the fighting moves, rebounding off the walls, etc.

I also forgot to add the dialogue is superb in Sands. He is sarcastic, cynical, and very very funny.