Prince of Persia: THe Sands of Time

[SylasGaunt]

I picked this up over the weekend and all I can say is.. sheer brilliance. The controls are tight, the time powers are cool, the music kicks a truly ludicrous amount of ass, and the game just looks gorgeous. My only real gripe with the game is that some of the fights get pretty frustrating when the sand beasties really start dogpiling onto you. Still managed to kick their asses though

[LadyTevar]

I was wondering if this was worth picking up.

[Hobot]

So what are the five ways you can control time? I would assume the first four are rewind, stop, slow and fast...

[SirNitram]

So what are the five ways you can control time? I would assume the first four are rewind, stop, slow and fast...

Slow time, stop time, accelerate time, stop time, see the future. I think.

[Sea Skimmer]

Slow time, stop time, accelerate time, stop time, see the future. I think.

That's four, But I sort of recall rewinding being in the commercials, and that would make five.

[mauldooku]

So what are the five ways you can control time? I would assume the first four are rewind, stop, slow and fast...

Slow time, stop time, accelerate time, stop time, see the future. I think.

That's two stop times

I remember seeing slow, stop, accelerate, and rewind. Seeing the future would be cool, but how could that be implemented?

[Seggybop]

Apparently you use it to see the solutions to puzzles you will inevitably complete.

[mauldooku]

Apparently you use it to see the solutions to puzzles you will inevitably complete.

Doesn't that make it sort of...easy?


Oh, and BTW...does anyone know whether its possible to beat the game without using these powers? That might be a cool little challenge in and of itself...

[weemadando]

When I played the preview code I nearly smashed the PS2 I was playing it on, because roll and jump seemed to be bound to the same button and weren't even context sensitive.

I mean after commando rolling off the edge of of a jump 12 times because the Prince felt like doing that rather than jumping...

[SylasGaunt]

When I played the preview code I nearly smashed the PS2 I was playing it on, because roll and jump seemed to be bound to the same button and weren't even context sensitive.

I mean after commando rolling off the edge of of a jump 12 times because the Prince felt like doing that rather than jumping...

Never had this problem so I assume it's been fixed.

So what are the five ways you can control time? I would assume the first four are rewind, stop, slow and fast...

Okay here's the breakdown.

Slow Time- Just slow motion. It slows you down to but it slows the pace somewhat and gives you more time to think.

Stop Time- Not so much a stop as imposing super-slow motion on an enemy. Basically you stick them with the Dagger of Time which knocks them backward in really slow motion. You can then use this time to either finish them off with an attack (since it makes them vulnerable, however you won't regain any sand if you kill them this way) or use it to get an enemy off you so you can deal with his three buddies who just warped in.

Rewind- Uses up one of your sand tanks and can rewind time about 10 seconds or so. Comes in handy during some of the more difficult fights since you can correct mistakes and easily replinish your sand, but sees most of its use when you goof on on manuever going through the myriad deathtraps of the palace (what kind of sadistic bastard designed this places defenses?). Gotta be careful though because when you use the dagger (either through powers or finishing a creature) it resets your rewind meter, i.e. if you get killed immediately after capturing a creature you're almost certainly fucked even if your sand tanks are full. Adds a little hint of danger in there.

Precognition- This is the one power you can't access on your own and thus the only one that doesn't drain sand or power tanks. Basically whenever you encounter a save point it shows the future including some of what you're about to run into. However one should remember that it only gives you little second or so glimpses of various areas and nasty things you're coming up on. It doesn't show you everything, just a hint.

Accelerate Time- The uber-power of death. Drains all your power tanks (and your sand ones to I think but I'm not sure). In exchange it basically acts like the stop time power only it's unblockable and hits every enemy on the battlefield. In addition it makes you hella fast, as in tap lightly in your target's direction and there you are. Lets you kill sand creatures with regular strikes while it's active so you can basically clear the whole room in an instant.. however as I said it comes at a high cost on your dagger and most enemy encounters consist of waves.. and the next one might not arrive before the acceleration wears off.

Oh and the battle theme that pops up after you get the Sword of the Enlightened Warrior kicks even more ass than the rest of the soundtrack.

Oh, and BTW...does anyone know whether its possible to beat the game without using these powers? That might be a cool little challenge in and of itself...

As far as I recall the only power you end up being required to use is seeing the future.. but I think you can skip the vision so in that case yeah. If you did manage that it would be one hell of an accomplishment.


I also feel I should add that this game has some of the coolest looking fight sequences when you've got a skilled player playing. For example a friend of mine's taken to it like a fish to water and I so wish I'd had the VCR running when he did this...

Four sand creatures warp in. He vaults over the first, slashing it and taking it down but another one blocks his path from getting at it to stick it with the dagger and dispose of it. He hops up over a low spear sweep by one SC which knocks over a second second one, blocks an attack by the third, bounces back from the block at the spear wielder, boots him in the head, backflips away and launches himself in a flying tackle, dagger-first, which knocks over the sand creature which got knocked down by its partner. He sticks that one with the dagger, rolls clear of the other two, runs up the front of the first SC which has finally ressurected, slashing it in mid-air and knocking it down. He finishes it off with the dagger then proceeds to combo the hell out of the other two, alternating hits and finishes them both off once their down.

It goes to slightly less cool but much more bad-ass when you get the Sword of the Enlightened warrior and can destroy sand creatures with a single blow without the dagger

[Gerard_Paloma]

The dagger powers that you can actively use are rewind, slow motion (everything is slowed), slowing enemies almost to a stop, and haste (you move super fast). The future visions aren't technically a dagger power. You see them every time you visit a save point.

As for the visions making the game easy, I suppose they do, to an extent, but you can always look away when they're playing if you don't want the puzzles spoiled.

EDIT: Damn, Sylas beat me to it, and went into a thorough explanation, too. So yeah, what he said.

[Lagmonster]

I have yet to try this for my Gamecube.

One thing I have tried that *sounds* awfully similar is Viewtiful Joe, which is so fucking classic Megaman I swear I giggled like a girl when I started playing it.

[SylasGaunt]

I have yet to try this for my Gamecube.

One thing I have tried that *sounds* awfully similar is Viewtiful Joe, which is so fucking classic Megaman I swear I giggled like a girl when I started playing it.

I hope those rumors it's coming out for the X-box pan out, VJ is a damn fun game. However Prince of persia's full 3D and has a lot more acrobatics and puzzle-solving with combat sequences to break it up. VJ from what admittedly little i've played (up on the GC at EB) is more combat with a couple really simple puzzles thrown in.