Back in 1989 video games were still primitive and barely becoming mainstream entertainment. Games were designed by a team made up of few people, or sometimes even just one person. It was during this time that a game by the name of Prince of Persia hit the scene and made gaming history. Taking place in medieval Persia, it was one of the first games to feature fully animated characters and its sequel took things even further in 1993, introducing magic and a much deeper story to the mix. In 1996 Prince of Persia 3D began production but wasn't released until 1999 due to many problems; the game failed to be revolutionary and didn't fit with the Prince of Persia (or POP) legacy. Now, four years later, Prince of Persia returns on all next generation systems promising to bring the Persia legacy back to glory, as well as reinvent the entire dying third person action genre at the same time.

In Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time you are Prince, a young man who, alongside his father, has killed the Maharajah in medieval Persia. With the Maharajah defeated, you and your father, with all of his men, loot the palace; found inside is enough gold to cover a mountain, a giant hourglass and a mysterious dagger. As Prince steals the dagger he runs into his father's men trying to haul out the enormous hourglass. A Vizier encourages the young Prince to use his dagger and combine it with the hourglass. Unknowing of the dagger's ability to render the wielder immortal and give him or her the power to control time, Prince does just this, oblivious to the fact that the Vizier wants the power for himself. What Prince also doesn't know is how much destruction he is about to cause by unleashing the power within the dagger.

Prince of Persia's story unfolds both during the actual game and via short cinema style sequences; you actually play out quite a few of the actual story scenes as well, including the opening plot mentioned above. It's quite a sight to see soldiers trying to break into the palace, flaming boulders flying into the walls and destroying bridges, while you scale the palace walls trying to find your own path inside. The story is full of twists and turns, mystery, suspense, action and even a little romance, all meshed together very nicely to create a solid storyline that alone would be enough to keep you playing.

Before its multi-platform release, Sands of Time promised it would redefine what a third person action adventure game should be. In a genre that has seen so many games come and go, so many variations and new ideas, it seemed hard to do this - but somehow, it was done. Prince of Persia's gameplay is nothing short of spectacular; I could use a million words to describe how great and fun it is but still feel as though I hadn't said enough. It combines everything a good action game needs to balance it out; a great fighting engine, smart and challenging puzzles, good controls and a main character who makes Spider-Man's abilities look like child's play. As Prince you will literally run up the walls - in fact you'll run across them, off them, down them and all around them throughout the entire experience. Prince's climbing abilities come naturally too, so you will never worry about losing them, which is good as you will need them throughout the entire game.

Most of the experience is about getting from here to there, killing what's there, then going from there to somewhere else. The areas are mostly divided up by rooms, even if they're outside areas you still won't be running a mile to get somewhere. Prince usually must do one of two things: climb up, or climb down. Don't let that get you down though, as this could not be more fun; in fact it's probably the best part of the game.

You'll be so challenged in getting from one area to another that it seems impossible to accomplish; most areas need to be analysed carefully before you try to traverse them, just so you can figure out what to do. What would be just good looking scenery in most games is your way out in this one. Plain walls need to be climbed and leapt from so you can grab a wire to swing from, then plant yourself against another plain wall only to immediately wall jump off to grab a higher bar to get up to where you need to go. Prince of Persia's level design is brilliant and extremely fun to put yourself up against. Precise timing is required as you run along a wall to leap off and grab a ledge across from you, only for it to crumble under your grip as you struggle to climb up and leap to another ledge. The same can usually be done going down, as experienced in an amazing level near the game's finale in which you must find a way down a circular shaped prison; with nothing sticking out of the walls when you first start. Why go through the trouble? Easy, so you can get to the bottom and destroy enemy after enemy, only to go into another room and do it all over again!

In any other game this formula would be dull, repetitive and just plain boring but Prince of Persia is everything but. I found myself playing for hours just to see what room I would be challenged with next; the leaps to make, enemies to fight and puzzles to solve. Another thing that saves this title from repetition is the dagger's abilities to slow down or rewind time. Making mistakes is common in a game like this and if it weren't for the ability to rewind time and correct a slip up on a jump you'd be repeating huge sections over and over again.

While the big puzzles are not very frequent there are numerous smaller puzzles you will be challenged to throughout the game. Whilst these mini-puzzles are not very hard to figure out, they do require an abundance of leaping, climbing and pushing to get through. A very linear level design and gameplay style keeps you from backtracking too much or having very much trouble solving some of the game's puzzles. Luckily the actual gameplay makes up for the linear style; you really can only go to one place and it's where they want you to go. The only thing you have to do is figure out how to get there and, much like Splinter Cell, that's okay for Prince too. The big puzzles come only a few times throughout the game, in fact I can only recall two off the top of my head. Luckily they are indeed challenging and will require some thought before you run in and complete them. Trial and error is also a key factor in finding the solution and I'm actually glad they are not frequent; the way it is now balances with the rest of the game perfectly.

Battles are not fought during this entire puzzle solving and climbing; usually the only time you fight is after you get where you're trying to go. Once you are there various demons, which were once your father's men and the inhabitants of the palace, teleport out of thin air and begin slowly marching towards you. Running away is a waste of time; these guys will just appear right in front of you. Unfortunately most of these zombie-like enemies look alike and I can recall only about five different models for them, not counting the two boss characters.

The fighting engine in Prince of Persia is well equipped to take out many enemies at once, as Prince can leap around like a madman to attack his foes. Pushing the jump/roll button will even allow Prince to leap over enemies and come down slashing them in the back, making quick escapes easy, at least unless your enemy decides to knock you right out of the air with his giant staff. If this happens, you can always use the dagger's ability to rewind time and correct this mistake, assuming you have enough power cells. Your dagger's abilities are so powerful that it only makes sense to limit them but as you progress through the game you are given more cells to use.

One power cell is used for each rewind and on the side of the cell is a small white line that is used for slow motion or enemy freezing. If that line is empty you cannot do either one. To fill up your power cells you must first knock an enemy out and then push a specified button to stab him and disintegrate him into tiny pieces. Even if you have all your cells you can't always rewind to fix death in battle. If you recently used your abilities or used it on a downed foe, a small white circle will empty. This circle determines how long you can use your rewind or freeze powers and if it's nearly empty you're not going back very far; this is another great addition to help even out the huge advantage of rewinding time. Along the way you find small patches of sand with white light being emitted, which will slowly build up an additional power cell for Prince. By the end of the game you will have about eight cells, one every time you acquire four patches of sand.

The controls for each movement are given to you via text on the bottom of the screen whenever you need to use them for the first time. Prince will never tell you himself; although he does talk a lot he never actually reveals that he knows this is a video game. Prince describes various events and thoughts as if he were telling a story; in fact when you pause the game he will ask if he should continue telling the story. When you save, he informs the listener that he will start the story from that point next time. Even when you die he will proclaim that it did not happen in the story and he needs to retell that part. It is all actually very smart and makes the game feel more real, so if you're like me and hate it when someone tells the main character what buttons to press, this is a great idea.

Throughout most of the game a young woman called Farah, originally brought to Persia as a slave, who is also the daughter of the defeated Maharajah, accompanies you. Her goal is to get you back to the hourglass to undo what has been done. Prince wants very much for this to happen for reasons I won't spoil but feels he can't trust anyone. Farah ends up helping a lot during some of the puzzles and even in some battles. This is another element I was not expecting but I am glad it's here; Farah adds a lot to the game - romance, some comedic relief, plot twists and more. Her addition to the gameplay and the story ties everything together nicely and even has an important part in the masterful ending. Again, I won't dare ruin it but I will say that it was something that left me thinking and smiling for a little while and in my head I just kept saying "Now THAT was a good ending".

Graphically, Prince of Persia has its own style that fits with the game wonderfully. The bright colours are fuzzy and the game almost looks like a dream itself, which is fitting seeing as how Prince narrates the action as if it were a flashback. The camera is as good as it needs to be and whilst it does have its fair share of problems (what game of this nature doesn't) Prince of Persia actually has a sharp looking effect for when the camera automatically resets itself. Whenever I was hanging on a rope in the middle of nowhere, only seeing castles in the distance and the river a thousand feet below me, I was always able to position the camera in a good spot to see where I needed to go. If that weren't enough there are two buttons dedicated to new views: first person perspective and a full scene view. First person view allows you to rotate in any direction in a full 360-degree movement to get a good view of your surroundings, be it to see where to go or to just see some of the breathtaking visuals. The scenery camera allows you to get a full view of the situation and see the whole area at once, complete with zoom in locked on Prince if you need it. Again, this is great to see where you need to go or what you need to do, or to just get a good look around you.

While so far everything sounds good about the graphics, the enemy models tend to get a bit boring after a bit. Most of them look quite a bit like Voldo of Soul Calibur fame, excluding birds, bats and beetle type creatures. Prince, however, actually goes through about five different looks! In the beginning you start out in your whole Persian soldier gear, but as you go on it begins to rip, tear and become to tattered to wear. A sword and dagger are your only weapons throughout the entire game, other than your mind. You find a few different swords that are required to progress; the final one allows you to go nuts and destroy anything in your way and it feels great given the storyline circumstances. Your only other weapon in the game is Farah's bow and arrow, which is hit or miss, literally. She'll either help a lot or not at all; in fact, she can even hit you with an arrow at times.

After a battle Prince will most likely have little life left and if you haven't checked your life the game will beep and inform you, similar to the Zelda series, except it doesn't last forever and annoy you to death. To regain health don't bother looking for any floating health icons or even health packs mysteriously placed atop a ledge. Your only source of life is nature's soda itself: water. Finding small fountains, puddles or streams are like walking into a room full of 10 health packs in other games. You can sit and drink as much as you'd like to replenish your health; yet another revolutionary idea for a tired genre.

As realistic as Sands of Time sounds from some of my descriptions, it is actually only considered realistic in the way that it feels like a movie instead of a game. The palace is actually laid out very unrealistically for normal people; in reality nobody could get through this palace but, hey, it's a video game and the level design is what makes this game so great! Running along the walls to dodge spikes rolling back and fourth before you narrowly land on a near by ledge, only to run as fast as you can to a closing door, rolling under swinging blades as you narrowly slide under the door before it crashes to the ground inches behind you with a thud - this style of gameplay has never been done so well and is enough to make Indiana Jones sick with envy.

Speaking of blades swinging or doors making a thud on the ground, one aspect that could have been a little better is the sound. While it isn't bad by any means it also isn't spectacular. The voice acting at times can be a little dull while other times it is full of plenty emotion and feeling. Many sounds are repeated throughout the game and while it's all fine it's not anything to scream and shout about. However, the music is superb and fits the game perfectly; a blend of Egyptian style chants and tunes mixed with rock comes in and out at the perfect moments and even gets you into the game more. Near the end the music really picks up and becomes heavy, fast and intense. This caused me to get hyped up for the upcoming challenge, which I blew through and completed without making a single mistake thanks to being pumped up; the same thing happens when facing some enemies near the finale.

All in all, Sands of Time takes about 10 hours to complete. Save points are scattered throughout the game, which often have to be earned by defeating enemy after enemy. Going into a save point also triggers brief glimpses of the future, which can be watched again if you happen to be stuck. The bosses aren't very tough and shouldn't take much time to defeat, unfortunately, but they do fit in with the story nicely. Once completed you may not have the desire to go back and play this again, however, if you missed some secrets you may want to. One of these, for instance, is the original Prince of Persia classic, which must be found during the game and can easily be passed by, meaning you have to restart your game to go get it. This is a welcome addition for those who never played the original, love the original, or just want that good old nostalgic feeling.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time may feel like a short game but it could just be because the experience is so fun and gripping that it just flies by. The graphics are lovely and the controls are superb, fitting the style of gameplay perfectly. Ubi Soft promised to bring the franchise back to glory and redefine the genre and they have done just that and more. If you were to combine elements of Tomb Raider with a watered down Ico and add in a revolutionary game engine you'd get this (although I'm not suggesting that's what the developers did!) Sands of Time is an amazing title that is easily one of the best third person action games I have ever had the pleasure to play; the story is gripping, the ending is brilliant and, most importantly, the gameplay is top notch. The only thing stopping it from scoring a solid 10 is the sometimes too linear gameplay and fleetingly fast nature of the experience. Nevertheless, this should be very high on your purchase list or your next rental. Either way, get it soon!

Reviewed by Christopher Martin for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).