Prince of Persia: Warrior Within
The sequel to Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time has finally been released, but this time around it’s a totally different story. With a much darker and grittier tone, Warrior Within takes the Prince of Persia series in an entirely different direction. Does this new direction fair well, or does it fall flat on its face? All this and more will be answered when you read the review within.

Graphics:

At a glance, most would say that the graphics in Warrior Within are the same as its predecessor’s. However, what they won’t notice is that the environments are more detailed, the cutscenes are graphically improved, and the landscapes are much larger in scale. Despite the improved cutscenes, Warrior Within’s in-game graphics are just about the same as its predecessor’s. Also, if you hadn’t already noticed, Warrior Within has a much darker theme. The characters, including the Prince, have a grittier look than in the original. The addition of blood and a more mature tone are meant to represent that the Prince has matured over the years, not to mention the fact that he has realized he is doomed to die. In addition to the characters and environments, the weapons are much more detailed. All main and secondary weapons have their own design, which adds an extra layer of depth to the game. Lastly, the free-form fighting system provides the Prince with even more fancy footwork that is always enjoyable to watch as you slice enemies to pieces.

Sound and Music:

Unlike the music within The Sands of Time, Warrior Within’s music is much more rock than middle eastern. While the game does occasionally play a middle eastern style song, the majority of the game’s music is rock. Ubisoft was even able to get permission from the band Godsmack to use their songs “I Stand Alone” and “Straight out of Line.” It’s definitely intense when a Godsmack song is playing as you maneuver quickly to avoid being killed by the Dahaka. As for the voice acting, the only famous person on the roster is Monica Bellucci, who played Persephone in The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions. Also, due to being much more mature, the Prince is voiced by someone different than the guy who voiced him in The Sands of Time. However, since the new guy does a pretty good job as the Prince, it isn’t really a big deal that it’s not the same actor. While most of the sound is good, I found the random comments and screams from both the Prince and the bad guys during battle to be quite annoying. I don’t mind the Prince’s comments as much as the enemy’s, but what does get on my nerves is that after swinging your weapons for awhile the Prince will start angrily screaming. Not only does he do this in battle, but he’ll also do it when you attack barrels to open them. At first it didn’t bother me, but after about a few hundred times it started getting on my nerves. My final complaint is that, during a few of the cutscenes, the character’s lips would move but no talking would occur. For some reason the voice acting in certain areas didn’t work, and I would be forced to read the subtitles. While it’s not a very big problem, it does seem odd that some of the voice acting wouldn’t work.

Storyline:

The story in Warrior Within takes place around 5 to 7 years after the conclusion of The Sands of Time. After using the Sands of Time to prevent his own death, the Prince messed up something known as the “Timeline”. Since he was supposed to die, an immortal incarnation of Fate named the Dahaka has been spawned to kill the Prince and return the Timeline back to normal. Hunted by the Dahaka, the Prince embarks upon a quest to defy his preordained death. The Prince decides to journey to the birthplace of the Sands of Time, find a way to travel back into the past, and stop the Sands from being created. Without the Sands, the Prince’s actions in The Sands of Time will not occur and the Dahaka will vanish. His journey leads him to the core of an island where the sands of time were created, and now his must find a way to prevent the Empress of Time from ever creating them. Along the way you’ll encounter the Empress’s servant Kaileena who, after saving her life from Shahdee, agrees to repay the debt by helping you on your quest. Overall, Warrior Within’s storyline is a bit more in-depth than that of The Sands of Time, but isn’t really anything more impressive.

Gameplay:

For the most part, Warrior Within is a platforming game just like its predecessor. However, this time around there is a bit more action thrown into the mix. With the creation of the free-form fighting system, Warrior Within allows players to choose exactly how they want to eliminate their enemy. For example, after grabbing a guy by the throat you can throw him off a cliff, throw him at another enemy, slit his throat, or cut him in half. With so many choices and combos, fighting enemies is no longer as simple as just pressing buttons. However, not everything about the fighting system is great. Enemies can gang up on you easily, and if you don’t know at least a few combos, you’re sure to be killed. Another thing I found somewhat annoying is that bad guys can sometimes attack you when you’re trying to get from one point to another. I enjoy a sweet fighting system as much as the next guy, but when the action sequences get in the way of my platforming missions, it tends to get me pretty angry. Especially angry when it causes me to die. As for the platforming, every thing you know and loved about The Sands of Time has returned. However, the Prince does have a few new abilities. You can now slide down curtains with your weapon and use ropes to run along walls that you wouldn’t normally be able to make it across by running normally. Another interesting addition are the sequences with the Dahaka. You can’t fight him, so all you are left to do is run. However, everything behind you becomes unsafe as the Dahaka gets closer and closer, so you’re pretty much limited to getting every jump and move correct or else face death. Last but not least, one of the biggest additions to Warrior Within are boss battles. Every once in awhile you’ll encounter a main boss, but most of the time you’ll run into sub-bosses such as giant golem things. While boss battles are a welcome addition to the series, the majority of the ones you fight will be overly irritating, especially the end boss. It’s not that Ubisoft made the bosses difficult; it’s just that they gave them cheap and annoying moves that do a crap load of damage that you can’t block. This is the first time in my life that I’ve ever needed to call a game unfair, but that’s definitely what these boss battles are. I can understand the need for a harder end boss than the one in The Sands of Time, but I think Ubisoft definitely went overboard.

Controls:

The only real change in controls from the last Prince of Persia is that fighting is a bit more complex. Instead of just hitting the “B” button a zillion times, pressing “A” to jump over them, and using “Y” to finish them off, fighting is a little more complicated this time around. However, a multitude of combos that you can perform are listed in the booklet to the game, and once you get the hang of fighting you’ll be fine. As for the platforming controls, everything is the same as it used to be. If you’re new to the game, on screen tutorials are there to help you learn all the fancy moves you’ll need to complete your quest.

Replayability:

Though the single player quest is longer than the one in The Sands of Time, eventually the game will come to an end. Lucky for us, there is a load of things you can do after the single player is over. Throughout the game there are treasure chests with artwork to collect, new weapons to gain the profiles for, nine hidden health upgrades, and even a secret ending to unlock. Also, as always, you can go through the game on a higher difficulty as many times as you see fit.

Despite the addition of a completely revamped fighting system, Prince of Persia: Warrior Within just doesn’t have enough power to surpass The Sands of Time. Though the mature theme does work, it just doesn’t have the same feel that its predecessor did. However, Warrior Within is a worthy sequel and shouldn’t be passed up by anyone who is a fan of the series.
Graphics: 9.8/10
Sound and Music: 9.0/10
Storyline: 9.0/10
Gameplay: 9.5/10
Controls: 9.0/10
Replayability: 9.5/10
Out of 10
9.6