Game Is Lyf

Developer(s): Ubisoft Montreal, Ubisoft Quebec, Ubisoft Singapore, Ubisoft Casablanca
Publisher(s): Ubisoft
Composer(s): Xbox 360, PlayStation 3,
PC: Steve Jablonsky
Wii, DS, PSP: Tom Salta
Series: Prince of Persia
Engine: Anvil / Jade
Platform(s): PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable, Java ME
Release date(s): Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable:
NA May 18, 2010
EU May 20, 2010
Microsoft Windows:
NA June 12, 2010
EU June 12, 2010
Genre(s): Action-adventure
Mode(s): Single-player
Rating(s): BBFC: 12
ESRB: T
Input methods: Keyboard and mouse, Gamepad

Ubisoft takes us back with a classic Sands of Time adventure, but is it a welcome return or would you be better off suffering the charmless heroics of Jake Gyllenhaal?

Déjà vu is a word of few definitions, both personal and formally. It can strike emotions of dullness, the sheer repetitiveness of life grinding even the best of us down to mere dust. The other is blissful return, the feeling of “coming home” as it were.

Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands falls right in the centre of these two polar extremes. You feel euphoric for the return of the original Sands of Time formula many have cried out for, but only to a certain extent. And anybody looking for the much more fantastical, falteringly simplistic 2008 rebirth won’t find it here. This game harkens back to the originals of the PlayStation 2 era: a linear yet free-form experience.

The storyline follows a similar pattern to Sands of Time: The Prince finds a power that cannot be harnessed, attempts to utilise said power, cocks it up. The key focus here is puzzles and platforming. This is where the game both succeeds and falters. Not much has changed from the original iterations. The success of this being that we have control and gameplay of the utmost fluidity, a true joy to control… all except for the camera. The fixed camera angles sometimes prove problematic for the player, hiding death drops just off-shot.


However, ignore these niggles, and the game works well. It’s was the human connection between you and the game that hit home with Sands of Time. The initiative learnt as you progress – not once forced upon the player, all done without ever realising – is the beauty of the gameplay. This time round it’s not such a grand surprise, but the fact it’s there is a pleasant addition.


New additions to the formula are what keep Forgotten Sands fresh, if only for a limited time. Water puzzles, where you have to stop time to use gushing drains of water as platforms and handholds is interesting the first time around. Same as combat with 15+ enemies is a good concept for the first battle. Yes, the game has harkened back to a game that I adore. But it’s has not done away with the biggest graft I had with Sands of Time, that it’s just so damn repetitive.

You finally get into a set structure of free running, fighting, free running, puzzle solving, boss fighting, free running. I’m not saying it’s a bad formula. It’s just done to death in The Forgotten Sands.

Mix this with mediocre graphics and sound design and tunnel vision can ensue. Ubisoft have gone straight for mid-section presentation values. Character animation is good, but the environments are washed out. Same for the sound design. Combat sounds are decisively meaty, but the voice acting is sometimes obnoxious and forced.

I was quite lost on putting a final opinion to this. And through feeling, it was easy to deduct what it was. Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands is a forgettable piece of entertainment. It ticks all the boxes that Sands of Time fans craved, but is that really all we wanted? The true definition of a summer release: here today, gone tomorrow.

Minimum System Requirements for PC Game:

OS: Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7
CPU: Intel Pentium D @ 2.6 Ghz / AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+
RAM: 1 GB
HDD: 8 GB free disk space
Graphics: 256 MB Graphics Memory
Sound Card: DirectX 9 Compatible
DirectX: Version 9.0c
Network: 128 kbps Broadband Internet Connection

Recommended System Requirements for PC Game:

OS: Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2.66Ghz / AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+
RAM: 2 GB
HDD: 8 GB free disk space
Graphics: 512 MB Graphics Memory
Sound Card: DirectX 9 Compatible
DirectX: Version 9.0c
Supported Graphics Cards:
NVIDIA GeForce 6800 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 100 / 200 / GTX series
ATI RADEON X1600 / HD 2000 / HD 3000 / HD 4000 / HD 5000 series
Laptop versions of these cards may work but are NOT supported.