Way back in 2003, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time was released. It was, and still is considered one of the best action-platform games to come out for its time. It was followed by a not so welcomed sequel, The Warrior Within and a somewhat more respectable ending of the trilogy in The Two Thrones. As the story closed with the final installment, there were still a few unanswered questions explaining how the Prince went from this intriguing acrobatic heir to the throne in The Sands of Time, to the Godsmack-listening emo in The Warrior Within. Cue The Forgotten Sands. (Supposedly.)

The story for The Forgotten Sands doesn’t necessarily add anything to the original trilogy. It is set between the first two games and is more of a separate adventure for the Prince which rides on the trilogy’s timeline. To my recollection, there aren’t even any references to the actual Sands of Time, which is one of the main arch’s for the story. And interestingly, if you were for whatever reason put side by side the cover of The Forgotten Sands with the poster from The Sands of Time movie, you will be struck with some similarities. But, according to everyone involved, the two properties had nothing to do with each other.

But I digress. Onto the Review.

The Forgotten Sands is one of those games that you hear about, get excited for, and then while you’re playing it you can’t help but wonder what got lost in the translation. I’m not saying it’s a bad game, it’s actually fairly entertaining. But playing through it you can’t help but feel like something’s missing, or something is just not right. And by the time you figure it out, you’re fighting the final boss and then you walk away feeling like you just got taken advantage of. (The taken advantage of where you don’t really fight what’s going on but at the same time you’re not really happy with what’s happening. Just to be clear.)

To get to the point, there are give or take 6 different types of enemies you encounter. Repeatedly. And the various (or not so various) booby traps (ha-ha, booby. Hush it, I’m easily entertained) are the same saws, spikes, spiked pillars, etc. over and over again. The combat gets old fairly quickly because of the lack of a decent system. There are a few combos but when you get put in the middle of a wave of enemies your first reaction is just to swing away hack and slash style.

And added to the combat are 4 elements that you may use against enemies. Earth, which surrounds you in rocks acting as a shield. Wind, which blows all enemies away when the Prince pounds on the ground. And then Fire and Ice, which are very similar and forgettable as bonus powers. You’ll find yourself using Earth and Wind more than the other 2 anyway, and for good reason, since they actually help you in sticky situations. All these powers can be upgraded by an XP system that is fairly basic and nothing to really write home about.

There is a cool ability of being able to freeze water. When you first get the ability you think to yourself “this is fairly interesting and pretty fun.” But like the combat, it gets a bit repetitive, so towards the middle of the game you think, “how many busted pipes does this damn place have?!” Then finally during the final stages you get smacked in the face with a series of platforming puzzles involving this power that make you take a breath when you’re done saying, “that was awesome!” It’s just too bad they waited till the end to drop those puzzles on you. Not only were they more difficult, but I’ll say they were the most fun I had platforming in the whole game.

Bottom line, if you sit down to play The Forgotten Sands, you won’t be disappointed. Yeah, there are a few gripes I have with it but it’s nothing out of the ordinary for a Prince of Persia game. You don’t go to a restaurant for the bread, you go for the food. Same thing here, you don’t play Prince of Persia for the combat, you play for platforming and puzzle solving. It’s what the series is known for, where it strives, and what is consistently great about The Forgotten Sands. It may have been pushed out there for the sake of coming out shoulder to shoulder with the movie release, (Proof? Why would they just leave the 2008 cell shaded Prince reboot hanging out to dry when it was obviously set up for a sequel?) and the story may not actually fit in the timeline of the trilogy, but that doesn’t stop The Forgotten Sands from being a game worthy of the name Prince of Persia.

Verdict: 3.75/5

If you’re a big Prince of Persia fan, buy it. But, for no more than $35 because if you’re good you’ll be done with it in less than 12 hours. And since it’s an easy Platinum Trophy (one playthrough) if you plan it right, there won’t be much to come back to once you’re done.

Rating: 4 / 5