Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones

Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones
Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones
Developer(s)	Ubisoft Montreal
Publisher(s)	Ubisoft
Designer(s)	Kevin Guillemette
Engine	Jade
Platform(s)	GameCube, PlayStation 2, Playstation Portable, Xbox, Wii, Microsoft Windows, Mobile Phone
Release	Playstation 2; December 1 2005; December 2 2005; June 15 2006; Xbox, GameCube & Microsoft Windows; December 1 2005; December 9 2005; Wii & PSP; April 3 2007; April 5 2007; April 5 2007; April 3 2007;
Genre(s)	Action-adventure
Mode(s)	Single player

Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones is a video game developed and published by Ubisoft. It was released on December 1, 2005 in North America for the Xbox, PC, PlayStation 2, and the Nintendo GameCube. It was released for PlayStation Portable and the Wii^[1], under the title Prince of Persia: Rival Swords with the Wii version utilizing the motion-sensing functionality of its controller.

Following Prince of Persia: Warrior Within, The Two Thrones is the third game in the Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time series.

Gameplay

The Prince's acrobatic skills have improved. He is now able to launch himself off walls at 45 degree angles at strategically placed vertical shutters, slide down chutes, and balance on swinging poles, among other things.

While in Warrior Within the player fights with a sword, in the Two Thrones, much like The Sands of Time, the player fights with the Dagger of Time. As a result the combat is a lot less bloody as the dagger is too short to cut off the heads of his opponents or slice them in half, unless they are weakened first, or attacked in a Speed Kill. The designers have also improved the stealth system. Whereas in the Warrior Within, stealth wasn't an actual gameplay feature but merely an occasional occurrence, stealth can be used excessively in the new game in lieu of normal fighting. Instead of merely being able to do more damage when striking without being seen, The Two Thrones uses a speed-kill system. The system is a lot like the system used in the God of War for boss battles, and also the use of the hidden blade in Assassin's Creed, and allows the Prince to quickly and quietly kill off any enemy not aware of his presence. The player cannot perform a speed kill on one guard if another guard can see it. If the player does not complete the speed kill, the enemy knocks him off and the speed kill fails. It is very useful at times where there is a sand portal, in which the player has the opportunity to kill the portal commander and neutralize the chance of enemy reinforcements coming. The amount of moves or the length of time required depends on how strong the opponents are. However, because of this system, the strangle option as featured in the Warrior Within has been removed. The same system is also used in some of the boss battles. On the other hand, as the prince's personality appears less sadistic and violent than in Warrior Within, the free form fighting system is rather more limited, with the prince not being able to jump off enemies or rebound off a wall when in the air.

Another change in the gameplay is the fact that every boss needs a specific strategy in order to be beaten, while in the previous games it required nothing more than effective fighting, adding to the variety of the game.

Furthermore, the Prince takes control of a chariot twice in the game, radically changing the gameplay for a small period of time, where the player has to reach his goal without crashing or being killed by the sand creatures, which try to throw him off.

The Prince also develops a split personality, known as the Dark Prince, and this alter-ego constantly bickers with him in his mind about right and wrong. At times, the Prince physically transforms into the Dark Prince. These transformations are scripted and not controlled by the player. During these times, however, the Prince retains control of his body, and the player still has control over the character. For the most part, the Prince's dark side is simply an inner voice.

When controlling the Dark Prince, the player loses the ability to wield a secondary weapon, instead using the "Daggertail", a bladed whip fused to his arm. This opens medium range combat moves (like pulling an enemy closer, then slashing them) and new interactions with the environment (such as swinging off poles to reach a ledge). The Dark Prince also constantly loses health as a result of the semi-transformation, much like the Sand Wraith from Warrior Within but with eventual death from the loss. He goes back to full health whenever he collects Sand, from either a monster or object. Also, his Daggertail gives him a different button combination for speed kills, in which he strangles his victims. The Prince returns to normal after the player comes in contact with water.

The game itself is relatively short, with players of an average skill level able to complete a single story mode in about ten hours. Compared to the other games of the series, it has a more complex gameplay but less violence than Warrior Within and has a more "cinematic" style, due to the impressive speed kills, the variety of gameplay and the usage of slow motion, which was introduced in Warrior Within.

Development and production

The developers of The Two Thrones stated that they were aiming to make the game an equal blend of Ubisoft's two previous Prince of Persia titles. The first game, The Sands of Time, was relatively light in mood, while the second, Warrior Within, was significantly more dark and grim.

Yuri Lowenthal was confirmed to reprise his role as the voice actor for the Prince. Yuri was also the voice actor for the Prince in The Sands of Time. The Dark Prince was voiced by Rick Miller. Stuart Chatwood and Inon Zur, the composers from Warrior Within, both returned to compose the game's score, which has been described as "having Persian influences, but being much more epic than Sands of Time".

Many official videos were released involving humor, such as the bloopers of the mechanics (in a pre-rendered format) and "real-life" training.

Criticism and software bugs

An apparent software bug in Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones is the inability to invert the y-axis of up-down movement in the game's navigational view for players choosing to use a mouse as an input device. A setting in the game is included to do so, but does not have the desired effect.[1][2] The developers have also decided to use the Starforce drivers as its copy prevention system, for which they have received some criticism.[3][4] However, later versions of the game, including a special edition which includes the entire trilogy, have been released without Starforce.

For PC.[5][6][7]

Names in other countries

The game was released as:

Prince of Persia: I Due Troni (Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones) in Italy
Prince of Persia 3: Les deux royaumes (Prince of Persia 3: The Two Kingdoms) in France,
Prince of Persia: Las Dos Coronas (Prince of Persia: The Two Crowns) in Spain
Prince of Persia: Dwa Trony (Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones) in Poland.
Принц Персии: Два Трона (Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones) in Russia.
Принцът на Персия: Двата Трона (Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones) in Bulgaria.
Prince of Persia: Cele doua tronuri (Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones) in Romania

References

^ IGN: Ubisoft Announces Prince of Persia: Rival Swords

External links

[1] IGN: Ubisoft Announces Prince of Persia: Rival Swords

[1]