Prince of Persia has been an odd game franchise over the years. Jordan Mechner's original, released in 1989 on the 8-Bit Apple II, has spread over every format in existence. For most it has been a classic puzzle and action adventure. To others (myself included), they were games that caused much frustration. I always felt that deaths were too often due to stupid mistakes and falling down one of the many holes that take up the majority of the levels. This problem was solved with the 'reverse time' element of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. I rejoiced that all those stupid, stupid mistakes that I would inevitably make could now be rectified! Now this action is brought to your PSP in Prince of Persia: Revelations.

Revelations isn't a new game, but more an updated version of Prince of Persia: Warrior Within. Though this was a good game, it's not the best of the recent trilogy (The Sands of Time, Warrior Within, The Two Thrones) and at times you feel they should have created an original title for the PSP, or at least started with The Sand of Times, to allow the whole trilogy to be released. The story begins a few years after The Sands of Time. The Prince has returned home, only to be haunted by a creature hell bent on his destruction. Seeking counsel from an old mystic, the Prince is told that his actions have created The Dahaka, an incarnation of Fate, and there is now a rift in the timeline. The Prince must travel across lands and through time to recover the Sands of Time and defy his predicted death in the process.

When you first start playing, you will be blown away by the visuals. The cut scenes have a beautiful cinematic quality to them and could be watched on their own merits as a short film - the option to watch them separately in this way would have been a nice extra, as they truly are the highlight of the game. However, on the move it's difficult to view things; in fact, for the majority of the game, the moody palette used is so somber that any change in the lighting causes the action to be almost indiscernible. This can be a real pain if you're in the middle of a battle or playing through a tricky section.

The controls are reasonably easy to use and they're explained as you go along, but still take some getting used to. These range from simple combat to fantastic jumping and walking along walls. The combos are explained in the first level as you use them to take out a number of opponents; however, it is difficult to remember what each combination does and so this can be a little hit and miss. It can be annoying if you are fighting a multitude of enemies and your combo only ends with a stun rather than a kill and needs to be repeated again and again. Though when those killer blows hit, they are spectacular. At times it feels like you are playing Tekken, as you flow several hits in succession with your sword before ending with a bone-crushing throw or death. Although it takes extra time, if you are able to execute the opponent while they are down then you are presented with a gruesome 'sword through the torso' cut scene that could have easily have come from the last Mortal Kombat game. The integration of movement into the combos, such as being able to swing around poles or kick a number of opponents as a lead into a combo and then execution is so much fun, and it reminds me of playing the Sega classic Streets of Rage.

While fighting the armies of enemies can be a lot of fun, the bosses, on the other hand, are horribly difficult and frustrating. In fact, there is a boss on the opening level who I needed six attempts to kill, and this really didn't help ease me into the game. (I was in Easy mode, too!) As you progress, there never seems to be any logical way to beat these bosses, as you would expect; in most games there usually comes a point where a weakness is shown (e.g. the boss takes a second to gloat while you take your shot) and this would at least give you an idea of how to proceed. However, to defeat these bosses you're stuck with guesswork as you try numerous suicidal attacks, before getting lucky. The cumulative result of this is that I got tired of having to restart the level or load the last save over and over again, and it really affected my enjoyment of the game as I continued to play.

Once I got to grips with the gameplay, I had so much fun with all the different combos and fighting weapons on offer. I loved the PS2 games and I am glad to see most of the fancy movement elements brought to the PSP too. When the first new Prince of Persia game was released in 2003, one of its finest features was the fluidity of the movement in relation to the levels. Unlike other games (like Zelda) that are limited to basic movement, the Prince can run, jump and even walk along walls for a short time. This remains an excellent feature that makes for fantastically satisfying gameplay, as you traverse the immense levels in double-quick time, leaping across gaps, running along walls and jumping to the next ledge, sliding down pillars, swinging on poles and a host of other nifty moves.

Not for the PSP though! When it comes to the PSP, the phrase, "Aww bless, at least it's trying!" comes to mind. It is unable to emulate the PS2 and if you attempt to run through the level, you may as well resign yourself to a blurred screen, a quick death and (if you're lucky) a restart. The poor PSP seems unable to cope with this amount of action going on. The graphics become blurred and walking along walls is an impossible task, as you are never able to make out whether what you are aiming to reach is a ledge or a shadow. This takes away a vital ingredient of the game, namely fluid movement. The inability to navigate several areas by jumping from place to place and actually finish the level makes the game impossible to play, and completion should be met with a Knighthood instantly.

There are a number of technical glitches that arise every now and again. Though many have used this as an excuse to bash the game, I never experienced them too often to be all that distracting. When they do kick in you have the choice of waiting for the screen to calm down or just restarting. Yes, it is almost like the PSP is having a fit and needs a milky-pop to calm it down. The load times are not excessive and I have experienced worse on the PSP, so at least the game makes up for it by allowing you to fast-forward through the cut scenes. However, this game is far, far, far, far too hard! The puzzles swing between being so mind-numbingly difficult that they make you want to give up, or so ridiculously simplistic that they're a little insulting. I only completed the game once, and though I enjoyed most of it, I did not feel any impulse to play through again. Despite the numerous unlockable pictures available, I did not have any desire to find and collect them all, as I did for the trophies in Super Smash Bros Melee.

The biggest problem with Prince of Persia: Revelations is that it has no longevity once you've completed the admittedly lengthy adventure through once. It has some great graphics and sound, and indeed the gameplay can be very satisfying (apart from the overly hard, frustrating elements I've mentioned), but once you've played through it, you're done. Because of this, Prince of Persia: Revelations is a game that is ideally suited for rental, so you can decide whether or not it's worth adding to your collection permanently. After all, there are no Sands of Time for getting a refund at your local game store once seven days have passed!

Reviewed by David Simpson for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).