Still seen as one of the best games of the PS2 era, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time was a classic in every sense of the word, one that brought the platform game into the twenty-first century with innovative use of the environment, beautiful animation and a feature that allowed you to rewind time to avoid death and correct your mistakes without lengthy backtracking from the previous checkpoint. After bestowing this system upon the amazing Race Driver GRID, the Prince must find a new way of coming back from an early death. Your companion Elika is the answer, but does her ability to prevent you from failing make this far too easy for all but the casual gamer?

The most obvious change to the series this time round is its graphical style; rather than utilising the realistic visuals seen in the last trilogy, Ubisoft has instead opted for a complete overhaul and a brand new cel-shaded style. This sets the game apart from its predecessors immediately, looking more beautiful than the series has ever done before; both the environments and the characters that inhabit them have a 'brushstroke' quality to them, with vibrant colours and textures bringing the world to life in amazing high definition. The Prince himself looks more elaborate than ever, with a headscarf that trails fluidly behind him, and everything from his mighty gauntlet to his complicated arrangement of clothing has been brought to life perfectly, topping the already stellar visuals found in the Sands of Time trilogy. If you want some HD eye candy then you've come to the right place.

Aside from the visual design though, this is still Prince of Persia through and through. As such, the story is just as epic as ever, with the Prince tasked with overcoming an almighty evil. On the search for his donkey - who is not only a noble steed but carries a fortune of gold on his back - he becomes lost and runs into Elika, a princess on the run from her father's forces. Yes, you have heard this sort of story before but the plot develops bit by bit over the dozen or so hours of gameplay and soon you're on a hunt to defeat the real evil behind the world's troubles - the god Ahriman - and by the end you'll be reflecting on what is an excellent narrative. It's a shame that most of the back story - the Prince is new to this land - is told through optional dialogue between him and Elika, though; it feels like a streamlined story was the plan. Other than this however, the story is as epic and brilliant as the series has ever been, taking you into Elika's world better than anyone could have anticipated.

Unlike most action adventure games of late, such as Mirror's Edge and Tomb Raider: Underworld, Prince of Persia ditches the expected linear design for a much more open world where you can choose which areas you visit. Every area must be 'healed' by Elika to complete the game, ridding each section of the map from the corruption that Ahriman has cast over it, but after healing the first four areas, the world opens up to the Prince and you can access every other area of the game. The only problem is that these later levels require Elika's special abilities, which are gained from the temple where you begin. These abilities are activated using the collectable light seeds, which only appear once an area has been healed. In short, this means that you must backtrack and explore each level once more after beating the boss at the end (each area uses one of the four bosses in the game). This could have been a chore but thanks to the interesting placement of the seeds, you explore each level in a different way than you did previously, with seeds hidden in places that you never knew were accessible. This helps the game to feel fresh after every area, further aided by the knowledge that you were the one who saved the place, restoring vibrant colour to the world once more. This repeats over and over until you have acquired all four of the abilities in the game, making for a very predictable experience but one that you feel you have some input in when it comes to the direction it takes.

For those who played the Sands of Time and its sequels, it will come as no surprise that the Prince is just as agile as he has always been; he swings across poles, jumps across huge chasms and wall runs like no one else can - a skilled player won't even stop for breath while traversing the environments. The seemingly impossible is made possible in Prince of Persia, where you can run between rings on the ceiling or run across the walls of an area, jumping from side to side for minutes at a time. The animation does a great job at making these actions look plausible and the aforementioned ceiling running is especially impressive in this way but they require little more than a single button press to pull off. Need to jump? Then press X and you'll almost always end up where you're supposed to be. See a ring? Then press circle to use them to swing you to wherever you need to go next. Land on a power plate -coloured sections of the area that correspond to certain abilities - and you have to press triangle to activate Elika's power, with the button also used to perform a co-op jump if you need that extra boost across a gap. The controls don't get any more complicated than this; save for sliding down and letting go of ledges with R2, movement is often not needed at all when the Prince is performing his skills. It can feel like a quick time event on occasions, but the feeling of being a badass, free running Prince overcomes this issue.

The combat is where the controls develop into something more substantial, with five main actions on offer; you can attack with your gauntlet, sword, acrobatics or ask Elika for some help. Combining these with your other move - a block attack - is vital for success and chaining combos together is the order of the day. Only certain moves can be chained together to form combos and when the enemy can block any incoming attack in the same way that you can, combos can sometimes be interrupted. When you do get a chain going though it really feels good to be in command; the difference with this combat to the last few games is that you only ever fight a single enemy in a one-on-one battle, which makes it a lot more about split second timing and waiting it out for your opponent to strike first, blocking just as an enemy strikes to gain the opportunity to counterattack. By focusing your attention on one enemy, you must think more about what to do next - the opposite of the virtually automatic traversal sections. This makes for an interesting balance between the two elements throughout the game, neither one being more enjoyable than the other. Unfortunately, both styles of gameplay suffer from a single but significant flaw: the Prince's new ally, Elika.

Elika is a great character. She's funny, sticks up for herself and she can hold her own in battle. She also has an obsession with saving you from death - and if you fall, get hurt in battle or even try to jump down to a lower platform, she's there to take you back to the last platform or the previous point in the battle. This seems to be a godsend at first and as a checkpoint system it works fine; but by the end of the game, the animation becomes embedded in your mind, and the thought that you won't even fail at the last boss makes the experience way too easy. When the Prince performs one of his amazing looking combos in battle, or a breathtaking display of acrobatics, you should feel a sense of accomplishment but you never really get this feeling, which not only makes the twelve-hour journey go by extremely quickly but also makes the enjoyable sections forgettable. It's an interesting way to handle death in a game, which the Sands of Time tried through the Prince's telling of the story to the player, but the execution falls short of expectations. The trophies that the game features only hint at the sort of challenge that the game could have provided; awards for Elika saving you very little throughout the game or for running across areas in short times could have been expanded upon to form part of the actual gameplay - as it stands though, Prince of Persia is just too easy.

On the other hand though, as mentioned above, the presentation of Prince of Persia surpasses anything that we've experienced before. The music is simply perfect, capturing the essence of the world beautifully, while moving with the story that inhabits Elika's home. Its suitably epic, orchestrated pieces create an atmosphere of a world that was once great and it stands alone as a fantastic example of musical scoring in a game. The same can be said about the voice acting, with the Prince voiced by the man behind Drake from last year's Uncharted. He brings a sort of smug swagger to the character, which is refreshing next to the darkness and dramatic nature of the rest of the game. This creates a believable relationship with Elika, who is also voiced brilliantly - two characters who feel real throughout the game. The voice acting is well done by all the cast, which is high praise for a fantasy game such as this. If judged only on presentation, Prince of Persia is world class; there are few games that consistently look and sound as good as this, which is one of the biggest compliments you can give to any game these days.

In a world full of murky shooters and visceral realism, Prince of Persia is a breath of fresh air. There's vibrancy wherever you look and no game has had such amazing artistic design all year. The only problem comes when you start to play through the adventure, realising that your actions are never going to result in death or setbacks. Elika saves you continuously, so you never feel any danger of losing your progress or failing your mission. This is the only problem with the game, which is already very simple in terms control and movement, but while some will see it as a mistake, it also makes the game feel unlike anything else before it. It's like the anti Mirror's Edge, never punishing you for your mistakes, instead allowing you to simply enjoy the feeling of traversing the breathtaking world that it presents. This is a truly epic adventure and one that I loved from start to end. Playing this after playing any one of the tough games out at the moment allows you to simply enjoy yourself - and in this respect Prince of Persia is excellent. If you insist on gameplay that challenges you at every turn then this game isn't for you, but if you don't mind sitting back to enjoy a delightful experience then Prince of Persia is a refreshing experience that will keep you hooked for its entire duration.

Reviewed by Sam Atkins for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).