Review: Eat your heart out Aladdin.
Prince of Persia: Rival Swords is the most recent addition to the popular Persia of Persia series that began with The Sands of Time in 2003. It is important to note that despite the title change, this is the same game as Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones, only with added Wii functionality.
Those that are already familiar with the Prince of Persia series know that it started out as a 2D side scroller. Considering this, it comes as no small surprise that despite the addition of a 3D environment the gameplay is still very linear. Rival Swords’ gameplay is largely dominated by jumping from ledge to ledge and finding your way to the end of each section while occasionally killing enemies. There are also boss battles strewn in, who are generally more difficult to kill and each possess a unique weakness.
The story begins with the prince returning to his home expecting a chance to relax in his palace. Of course this doesn’t happen or this would be a pretty boring game. The prince’s girlfriend is soon kidnapped and killed for her powers. In response the prince embarks on a quest a quest of revenge.
The most unique part of Rival Swords is that you control two “different” characters. The prince is undergoing a change brought on by his exposure to the Sands of Time and will temporarily morph into a darker version of himself. This alter ego has higher strength, speed and a kick ass chain connected to one of his arms that can be used for both navigation and fighting. The downside to these newfound powers is that your HP slowly drains away unless you refill your sand by smashing the boxes or killing enemies. This introduces a speed element since if you take too long to complete jumps or kill enemies you die. I found this particularly frustrating since I occasionally found myself distracted from the game and all of a sudden the prince dies.
As with previous games you can control time on a limited scale. The game starts you off with three circles of sand. Using this sand gives allows you to reverse time for a short period. This enables you to go back and try again if you miss a jump or fall off a ledge. It can be tricky to get the timing (no pun intended) right. The first few times I reversed, I would just fall again. Once you get the hang of it though it can be very useful.
One of the most irritating parts of the game is the controls. While the game comes with very helpful hints (which can be annoying if you want to figure things out yourself) it nevertheless takes a while to get used to them. You control the camera by tilting the Wii remote side to side. You will have to do this a lot in order to see where you’re going and depending on which way you’re facing the stick on the Nunchuck will point you in a different direction. This can sometimes be a problem when you’re trying to jump in a certain direction and end up jumping off a ledge to your death. Apparently the prince can survive getting sliced by multiple enemies but he can’t survive a one-story fall. (But I digress.)
The animation is nicely done. I especially like the style of the fighting moves. They are very fluid and I really felt like I was pulling off some awesome moves (even though I was just randomly swinging the Wii remote and Nunchuck and hoping it would work). If you get the timing right for a special move it will slow down and show you a top down view of it just so you can savor your kill. The backgrounds are very detailed, although interaction with the environment is limited.
The game includes a running commentary that alternates between telling you the story and giving tips on navigation. This can get annoying pretty quickly as it will repeat itself ad nausea if you die and have to play a section again. The background music is subtle and helps create a nice setting for the game.
