Right now it looks like I might be making this into a series, this is technically the second one so details can be found in the Mass Effect one when I finish and post it, but this is a review of Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, and the 2008 version titled only Prince of Persia. The third part is a comparison of the two.
I am aware, and want to make sure you are as well, that the two games are set in different mythologies and intentionally use different mechanics, but the comparison will go over the length and gives my opinions on their success (or potential success).
And no there isn't a typo in the title. The games are so short that I felt that they needed only half of the word for review
Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands
This game takes place in the same mythology as the Sands of Time Trilogy, it fits in the series in the time between The Sands of Time and The Warrior Within. The game follows the prince as he is visiting his brother Malik in a city on built on the ruins of King Solomon's city, for all I know it is the same city, it does not really go too far into how much rebuilding/expanding has happened since King Solomon was living there. As you are arriving you find the city under siege and in typical Prince of Persia fashion you enter the city by hopping along a few falling buildings in a cutscene. You travel around the walkways fighting off groups of invaders trying to meet up with your brother.
You meet your brother in the vault after fighting past various groups of amazingly resourceful invaders who are ahead of you despite the gates and doors being shut. Your brother unlocks the fabled army of Solomon, the key he used breaks into two pieces which you and your brother each take a half, the sand pouring from the now open vault turns your brothers guards to stone and the room starts to fall apart separating you and your brother. You quickly encounter a Djinn named Razia who explains the true past of the army and tells you that you need to reunite the key to stop it. She also "gives you more time" to help you do it. This being in the Sands of Time mythology you have gained the power to rewind time as you find out from a small cutscene.
The combat follows the other Sands of Time games where you are fighting large groups of enemies at once while you leap with acrobatics dodging them. Unlike the others you do all your fighting with only one sword instead of a sword and dagger or other second weapon. But you do get powers with which to help you fight the swarms with. The only problems with the combat system I had was the inability to block, you can do a roll to dodge or kick enemies but not block. Also there were a few time where I tried to kick and either the game was too far behind or it missed my hitting the button and did not kick.
Overall I thoroughly enjoyed the game though it was very short, I managed to play through it twice and get 1000G on it within 1 and a half days of renting it. So good game extremely short. I would say rent it but not buy it. I do not know if they have plans for any DLC to it, but there is no links on the main page for it and I do not know what they would add, since they wrapped up the storyline within the game.
Prince of Persia
This is the new re-imagining that was released in 2008 from Ubisoft to try and start a new series after the Sands of Time Trilogy. They felt that the Prince of Persia series could be restarted like the Zelda or Final Fantasy series where they keep certain aspects and re-imagine the details, which has advantages over trying to continue stories in the same world.
The story in this starts with the Prince wandering through a sandstorm looking for Farrah (the main love interest from the Sands of Time game). He enters a canyon and ends up accidentally rescuing a mysterious woman, You travel with her helping her for a while and eventually you get a cutscene which displays the mechanic that they added to replace the ability to rewind time. Elika (the woman you just saved) has magic and can use it to save you and pull you back to solid ground. You travel with her to the temple at the center of her land and find out that a great dark evil is trying to escape and only she can stop him. You travel around the world "healing" the land at specific focal points or (as the game will tell you again and again) fertile grounds.
Combat in this version focuses on a one on one battles with you chaining your attacks, you can only ever take two hits then you go to a cutscene where you have to hit a random button or be saved by Elika. Most enemies form in black funnels and can be killed before they even spawn. You have to fight four bosses as you travel healing the land.
The game and the story are enjoyable and fun but the game is also short like the other, the biggest letdown I felt was the way they ended it, I will admit I did not get the DLC Epilogue but the way they ended the game itself was not my favorite. The other slight problem I had was the whole never die thing, without a health bar certain dangers were unable to truly "kill" you or hard to figure when they would actually cause your "death".
Overall I did enjoy the game and thought it was fun. I would recommend renting this game as well. I also managed to get a few of the achievements I had not expected to get easier than I thought I would.
Comparison
Achievements
The games both have a good average of achievements, overall I feel the 2008 game had a better achievement selection than The Forgotten Sands, The forgotten sands has a good selection of achievements that look like they might be a decent challenge, but once you are further along in the game you get abilities or weapons that make them easier. Also the fact that with minimal hassle I was able to get 1000g.
The 2008 game had a few more challenging achievements though some of the achievements were easier than I thought, 1 achievement was to beat the game with Elika saving you less than 100 times. I was not expecting to get that achievement but did.
Response
I feel that the main problem people have with the 2008 game is that it was not Sands of Time, people were expecting something more along the lines of the linear progression and time rewinding of the Sands of Time games and did not get it.
I think The Forgotten Sands will get a boost due to Ubisoft timing it to release right along with the new movie, and since the game follows the games and not the movie, it won't be hurt by being a crappy movie tie-in.
