Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands Review

The Forgotten Sands is Ubisoft's first return to the Sands of Time trilogy with an interquel. But does it hold up as strong as the originals in the series?

Nearly five years have passed since the release of the last of the Prince of Persia reboot trilogy, The Two Thrones. Since then, we saw a reboot of the reboot which was a departure from the original Prince and story. Now, along with the release of the movie, Ubisoft has returned to the Sands of Time saga that initially revitalized the franchise with Forgotten Sands. The game takes place between Sands of Time and Warrior Within, so it’s part sequel, part prequel. But does it deserve to be called a part of the original story?

The game begins with the Prince visiting his brother Malik’s kingdom which is suffering in the midst of a war. Malik decides to unleash King Soloman’s army as his aid, but he soon learns an army of undead sand people aren’t ones to take orders. All hell breaks loose, and you need to find your brother to seal the army once again with the help of magic from the Djinn.

From the minute the game takes off, it certainly feels like the Prince we all know and love. Yuri Lowenthal has returned as the voice of the Prince, and as soon as he says his first line there’s a sense of nostalgia and all seems right in the world. Being that he was the original voice actor for Sands of Time and Two Thrones, having him return makes the character feel like the "true" prince, coming off with that air of intelligence, charm, and that little bit of arrogance that makes him who he is.  The character is just as witty as ever, with the same “inside his thoughts” storytelling device.

The only other speaking characters the Prince run into are Malik and the Djinn who helps him, Razia. Both keep to the standard of good voice acting, never sounding silly or forced. The interaction between Malik and the Prince is particularly great, with a real sense of sibling rivalry and joking between them.

Much of the game is spent running around chasing after your brother while the Prince screams “Malik” from overhead beams and across chasms. The story itself isn’t half as exciting or endearing as would be expected. Since Malik is actually seen only for an occasion here and there and conversations with him last only a minute or so, we don’t get to know enough about him to become attached. And since the game is only a mere 6 hours or so, there isn’t enough time to flesh out the plot. Everything happens so quickly and predictably, and the end is so basic and unexciting that it is hard to get invested.

The wall running sections are done very well and once the simpler runs are out of the way in the beginning of the game, things get trickier and a lot of fun. The added powers the Prince gains throughout the game turn this sections into some of the best seen in the series. Besides the power to control time, the Prince gains power over water, being able to freeze it to use as poles to swing on and walls to dash across. Some of the runs involving water can be really tricky and involve good timing, as the Prince only has a limited time in which the water stays frozen. I found myself having to stop and come up with a plan of action before progressing, which shows how well thought out these sections are.