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Prince of Persia: The Warrior Within

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Though there are vast differences between the two games, you may hear many comparisons between this sequel, and the long-awaited Half Life 2. This is because one took no less than 6 years to be made (!), while Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, came out just last year. Could any sequel, cranked out in only a year, possibly equal what many critics called one of the best games of 2003?

The answer may surprise you. While there isn't much different here other than slight tweaks, true fans simply wanted more of the same, and get it. The ability to manipulate time is here. The cool action-savvy fights are here. The ancient temples to search and booby traps to avoid are here. That's good news.

If only the same praise could be said for the storyline, all would be golden. Here's the deal: while the Prince can manipulate the past and present, the future isn't set yet. This future insists that the prince is to die, as he should have already, when he opened the hourglass of time. Although the prince has used Farah's gift of her amulet to continue to bend time to his wishes, the enforcers of the laws of time are on his trail. The prince must stop this chase once and for all, by going back in time to stop the Empress of Time from putting the Sands of Time into the Hourglass of Time at the Island of Time. Just one year after playing the complex story of the prior game, this is a slight step backward.

Assisting you in this quest is...not Farah? Indeed; the droll wit and helpful battle skills of your lost love do not appear in this game, leaving you with the far less romantic --and only slightly helpful-- Karleena. For all the work the game designers did on this character's curves, you'd hope they could've made her more three dimensional as well. But hey; what do you expect from a Slave of Time on the Island of Time...?

Mind you; the weak storyline is pretty much the only gripe you'll read from this critic in this review. All the former game's action goodness is still here, with some cool added bells and whistles to boot. Make a mistake and you can "rewind time" a few seconds, just like in the prior game, and replay the game at the moment just before you made that accidental misstep. Additional time tweaks are learned in time (no pun intended), from the ability to have enemies slow to a crawl while you fight at lightning speed, to the ability to create a sort of sandstorm "kaboom" of sorts, severely damaging all sand creatures in its wake. This isn't even getting into the sword upgrades that make later fights easier, while you can even grab the occasional enemy's fallen weapon, for a cool two-weapon option. If there's a gripe to be had, the cool battle scenes are not one of them.

The same praise can be given for the levels. Here's the most ingenious concept: you must travel the Island of Time in both the past, as well as the present. Why...? Because while you must thwart this Island's machinery in the past, all of the traps and other security devices are still active. Meanwhile, the present-day ruins of this long-since-deserted island are devoid of any working traps, but these ruins are too destroyed to allow any further access to some areas. You must crisscross back and forth in time to make the complete quest to your final goal. This is an intriguing game design concept, because you get to see each level map as it appeared "then" in all its intricacy, and as it appears "now," as ancient ruins to explore. Cool.

So cool is this time-travel storyline, I could've nearly forgiven the game for all its weak storyline flaws about an Empress of Time and an Island of Time...if not for The Monster of Time! Time out for a sec: "Monster of Time"...? Yes, you read that name right. Hot on your trail is this thing called the Dahaka; an invulnerable beast whose very touch means instant death. Though the concept of what this Dahaka wants is merely alluded to, the short end of it is that it is ticked off you are breaking the laws of time, and wants you to die so time can proceed unhindered. At various moments of the game you suddenly see the Dahaka and the chase is on! You must race past a gauntlet of traps to reach the safety of the next time warp room, and escape him. Trouble is, these chase sequences are very unforgiving, meaning this monster is hot on your trail in real time; one simple trip up means certain death. True, you have those cool time rewind powers to help you out, but they aren't enough to keep these chases interesting. The truth is, chases involving instant death are not very challenging; they're just annoying.

This is a shame, because aside from the Dahaka, I had very few gripes with this game at all. Sure, the storyline was a bit over the top with its simplicity, but the game that encircles this story is very fun. The levels are ingeniously detailed. Many levels are even able to be revisited at will, leading to some nice non-linear elements to the tale. After all; this is a game about the ability to change time for the better. Who wants a linear storyline? Add to this a few nice moments with the fair Karleena, whose two-dimensionality is probably because she stays in the Hourglass room and doesn't follow the Prince around. When the Prince had to say goodbye to Farah in the prior game, it was all the more poignant because we had been with her throughout the game. In this game you visit Karleena four times...so how intense can this "romance" be?

Here's the interesting part: there are indeed secrets. No, I'm not talking about the various secret treasure chests which open up an art drawing or two in the "extras" menu. Secret passages lead to a totally cool reward, which increases your health meter. Find all nine, and you are given the coolest reward I've ever seen in find-all-secrets gaming; a totally different ending. In fact; some may even call it the only way to get a "good" ending to the game, even though the prelude to the next game (i.e.; open ending alert!) must still be present. Let's put it this way: you get one additional prior battle, and it's to defeat that infernal Dahaka...which you get to kill, once and for all. That's one secret worth seeking out.

Overall, this is a game that has enough of "more of the same thing" to make it an admirable sequel. Sure, this is another case where the second part of a story "needs" to use Empire Strikes Back as a template, and that means a rather disappointing open ending, even if you get the "good" ending. However, the best ending possible does have a split-second glimpse of the fair Farah, so if she makes a comeback in the third game of this story, who are we to complain? We wouldn't even complain if the game came out in just one more year. There really isn't much this game needs in the way of new technology. It just needs a better storyline. Give it one, and we'll gladly walk across walls with the prince once again.

	Final Rating : Small Crater. Dahaka notwithstanding, this is an enjoyable moment of more of the same, with some nice added tweaks. Keep the Dahaka dead for the sequel, and we're sure to buy it.
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Prince of Persia: The Warrior Within

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