Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
North American box cover
Developer(s)	Ubisoft Montreal
Publisher(s)	Ubisoft, SCEJ
Designer(s)	Jordan Mechner
Series	Prince of Persia
Engine	Jade[1][2]
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2, Xbox, Nintendo GameCube, Game Boy Advance, Microsoft Windows, Mobile phone
Release date(s)	November 6, 2003 PlayStation 2 JP September 2, 2004 NA November 6, 2003 PAL November 21, 2003 Xbox NA November 12, 2003 PAL February 20, 2004 GameCube NA November 18, 2003 PAL February 20, 2004 Game Boy Advance NA October 30, 2003 PAL November 14, 2003 Windows NA November 30, 2003 PAL December 5, 2003 Mobile NA January 8, 2004
Genre(s)	Action-adventure
Mode(s)	Single-player
Rating(s)	CERO: B ESRB: T OFLC: M / G8+G8+ PEGI: 12+ / 7+GBA
Media	Cartridge, GameCube Game Disc, CD-ROM/DVD-ROM (2)
Input methods	Keyboard, Mouse, Joystick, Gamepad

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is a third-person action-adventure computer and video game published by Ubisoft. It was released on November 6, 2003 and is a continuation of the landmark MS-DOS and Macintosh game series Prince of Persia, created by Jordan Mechner in 1989.

The Sands of Time, developed internally at Ubisoft Montreal, successfully captures the mechanics of the original platformer and extends it to the 3D generation. An earlier attempt by The Learning Company to transfer the game to 3D (Prince of Persia 3D) was released in 1999, but failed to meet the standards set by the franchise. The Sands of Time was praised for its visual design, finely tuned game mechanics, and intriguing storyline, winning the game several awards.

The game was developed for the PC, PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube, Xbox, and later a 2D-version for the Game Boy Advance and mobile phones. The success of The Sands of Time led to two sequels, Prince of Persia: Warrior Within and Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones, in 2004 and 2005, respectively. Ubisoft announced that the latest game in the Sands of Time series, to be titled Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands is in development and scheduled for release in May of 2010.

[edit] Gameplay

The prince in combat.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time combines exploration and combat to create a unique synthesis. Both elements make use of the Prince's acrobatic capability and agility. Throughout much of the game, the player must attempt to traverse the palace by running across walls, ascending or descending chasms by jumping back and forth between walls, avoiding traps, climbing structures and jumping from platform to platform, making other types of well-timed leaps, solving puzzles, and using discovered objects to progress. The cultural setting of the game provides many linguistically interesting inscriptions to be found on walls.

During combat, many of the same moves vital to the player in other situations can be put to use to overpower enemies. One example is the ability of the Prince to rebound off walls in order to strike enemies decisively. The player can also vault over the enemies' backs and then finish them off in two hits. The player generally attacks enemies and blocks using a sword, although other factors such as the Dagger of Time and its time-control abilities eventually prove to be critical to victory.

A pivotal gameplay element is the Prince's Dagger of Time. It contains "charges" of the Sands of Time from the hourglass that allow the Prince to control time. The Prince has the ability to "reverse" time and travel up to ten seconds into the past. While using this ability, all sounds and previous action play backwards, and the play environment accurately resets to its previous state. For example, if the Prince was struck by an enemy attack during the rewound period, the health he lost will be given back to him, or a bridge that was destroyed a few seconds ago will repair itself. The Dagger also allows the Prince to slow down time, and freeze his enemies, using it as a main-gauche to attack them directly.

The Dagger only comes with a limited number of uses. However, defeated enemies are absorbed by the Dagger, replenishing its stock. The stock can also be replenished by absorbing Sand Clouds. This encourages the player to confront and vanquish enemies (as opposed to avoiding them) in order to replenish the power to manipulate time during the more tricky acrobatic sections of the game. However, if the player does not absorb the Sand from a fallen enemy in about five seconds, said enemy will come back to life. Extra Sand Tanks can be gained by collecting eight Sand Clouds, and extra Power Tanks (which are used for different powers than the Sand Tanks) are gained by vanquishing sixteen enemies after having collected a new Sand Tank.

Later on, when Farah takes the Prince's sword and dagger, after solving a puzzle he gains an extremely powerful new sword in a large room, which has the capability to destroy the Sand like the dagger.

[edit] Synopsis

[edit] Setting

Passing through India en route to Azad, King Shahraman and his son, the Prince, conquer the Maharajah of India for honor and glory with the aid of the Vizier who betrays his leader to aid the foreigners. After looting the city, they continue to Azad. In tow with them are the mysterious artifacts of the Maharajah: the Hourglass and Dagger of Time along with the Maharajah's beautiful daughter, Princess Farah.

[edit] Plot

In Azad, the Vizier of the Maharajah tricks the Prince into releasing the Sands of Time contained inside the Hourglass of Time, using the Dagger of Time. The Sands wash over the kingdom, turning all living beings into monsters. The Prince, Farah, and the Vizier remain unchanged due to their possessions; a dagger, a medallion, and a staff, respectively. On a journey to repair the damage he has caused, the Prince teams with Farah to return the Sands of Time to the hourglass, using the Dagger of Time. Throughout the journey, the Prince and Farah begin to grow closer. As they make their way to the Hourglass of Time, the Prince hesitates, and the Vizier uses magic to throw him and Farah into a tomb. Inside the tomb, the Prince and Farah find baths, which they use and show affection for each other. The Prince awakens, and the Dagger and his weapon have been stolen by Farah, who left him with her medallion so that he would not be affected by the Sands of Time. The Prince pursues and catches her, but she falls to her death. Saddened by his lover's death, he angrily strikes the Hourglass of Time with the Dagger of Time, thus reversing time to the point before the invasion even took place. The Prince awakens, still with the Dagger of Time, and makes his way to Farah. He tells her a story about the events of the game, because she does not remember due to the time reversal, but the Vizier shows up, and attempts to kill the Prince. The Vizier reveals his intended betrayal during their battle but the Prince emerges victorious and slays the Vizier. He gives the Dagger of Time back to Farah and prepares to leave. Farah remembers nothing.

[edit] Development and release

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time was revealed on March 3, 2003 and was created largely by the same studio behind Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell in attempts to "breathe new life" into the action/adventure genre.^[3][4] Initially shipped on November 6, 2003 in North America, the game was later released on November 21, 2003 and September 2, 2004 for Europe and Japan, respectively.^[5]

[edit] Version differences

• GameCube (and GBA): Features the original Prince of Persia, and some of the "Making of" featurettes. If the player connects a Game Boy Advance with its own copy of The Sands of Time, the Prince's health will regenerate. This version also features slightly downscaled speech to allow all spoken dialogue to fit on the disc.
• Xbox: The NTSC version features Prince of Persia, Prince of Persia 2, as well as all the "Making of" featurettes. The PAL version only features the original Prince of Persia.
• PS2: Features the original Prince of Persia and the remake of the first level of the original 'Prince of Persia' accessible with a code at the start menu.
• PC: Features a remake of the first level of the original Prince of Persia which is accessible with a cheat code.
• Mobile phone: Gameloft released this game and its two sequels as mobile games.^[6][7][8]

[edit] Audio

Soundtrack

The Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Original Soundtrack was released November 3, 2003 by Ubisoft. Stuart Chatwood, of the now defunct Canadian rock band The Tea Party was selected as composer for the game in early 2002. He began drafting and writing material in late 2002 and began the recording process in January 2003. The vocals of Maryem Tollar are featured throughout the game. The ending credits song, "Time Only Knows", original by UNDER17 and vocals Momoi Haruko, is sung by Cindy Gomez.

[edit] Reception

Reception
Review scores Publication Score GBA GC PC PS2 Xbox 1UP.com C+[9] A[10] B+[11] A[12] A[13] Edge 9 of 10[14] Electronic Gaming Monthly 9.33 of 10[15] 9.33 of 10[16] 9.33 of 10[17] Eurogamer 9 of 10[18] 9 of 10[19] Game Informer 8.25 of 10[20] 9.5 of 10[16] 9.5 of 10[17] GamePro [20] [16] [17] GameSpot 7.1 of 10[21] 9 of 10[22] 8.9 of 10[23] 9 of 10[24] 9 of 10[25] GameSpy [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] IGN 7 of 10[31] 9.6 of 10[32] 8.8 of 10[33] 9.6 of 10[34] 9.6 of 10[35] Play Magazine A[16] X-Play [36] Aggregate scores Game Rankings 73%[20] 92%[15] 88%[37] 92%[16] 93%[17] Metacritic 75%[38] 92%[39] 89%[40] 92%[14] 92%[41] MobyGames 75 of 100[42] 93 of 100[43] 89 of 100[44] 93 of 100[45] 94 of 100[46]
Awards Publication Award IGN Editors' Choice Award[35][32][34] Gamespot Editors' Choice Award[25][22][24] E3 2003 Game Critics Awards Best Action/Adventure Game[47] 2004 Game Developers Choice Awards Excellence in Game Design, Excellence in Programming[48] Penny Arcade Best Absolutely Everything (Game of the Year 2003)[49] Electronic Gaming Monthly 2003 Game of the Year

IGN gave the game a 9.6/10 rating and voted it as the Game of the Year 2003 thus praising the game for its "intuitive control, stunning atmosphere and satisfyingly clever environmental puzzles," and later concluding it was one of "[their] favorite adventure offerings of all time."^[34] GameSpot gave The Sands of Time a score of 9.0/10 "recommend[ing it] wholeheartedly."^[24] Zero Punctuation repeatedly mentions the game as a personal favorite, praising the time-control mechanism, beautiful environments and "really strong characterization" of both the Prince and Farah and only marking it down for repetitive combat mechanisms.^[50]

In general, the game was most often praised for its graphics, the acrobatic combat and platforming, the forgiving and responsive controls, the animation of the Prince, the story, and the time-manipulation abilities of the Dagger.^[14] Graphics were received mostly as a positive aspect of the game, with GameSpot saying it had "beautiful look to it".^[24] The Cincinnati Enquirer and Nintendo Power agreed, describing the game as "graceful", "gorgeous", and had "unprecedented animation".^[39][51]

The game's average score on review aggregators Metacritic and GameRankings is a 92%, making it one of the best reviewed games for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube.^[16][14]

[edit] Film

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is an upcoming film based on the 2003 video game of the same name. The film is directed by Mike Newell and stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Gemma Arterton, Ben Kingsley, and Alfred Molina. Filming is taking place in the United Kingdom and Morocco. Prince of Persia was originally scheduled to be released on July 19, 2009, but this was postponed during the first month of shooting to May 28, 2010.^[52]

The film is being made for Disney by Jerry Bruckheimer's Studios, using the same team behind the Pirates Of The Caribbean for the shooting schedule.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

Game

• Official site
• Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time at Xbox.com
• Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time at Playstation.com
• A retrospective analysis of the game, originally printed in Edge via the Internet Archive

Movie

• Prince of Persia Movie News
• Prince of Persia Movie Articles
• Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time at the Internet Movie Database