Metareview - Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones

by Blake Snow { Dec 2nd 2005 at 12:00PM }

The Prince of Persia series has consistently delivered quality action/adventure gaming. Looks like Ubisoft may continue the trend with their most recent iteration of the franchise given what reviewers are saying:

GamePro 90% - "The Two Thrones feels more like Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, with mostly linear platforming puzzle sequences. But there are loads of tricky new platforming techniques such as boosting off of diagonal wall springs, swinging via chain, and stabbing door-opening gears and climbable wall crevices, in addition to tons of new and improved wall running and Prince of Persia-patented acrobatics."
Gamespot 86% - "The Two Thrones marks a fitting end to a fantastic trilogy. The plot ties up all the loose ends and should prove satisfying for fans of the series."
IGN 88% - "The gameplay that comes along with his sandy highness works against the overall experience. At times it feels like every bit of wonder is always followed or preceded by the Dark Prince, which represents the sum of Warrior Within's faults — a reluctant admission that Prince of Persia still aspires to be a simple action game when it's so much more than goblin chopping."

At the time of writing, the Xbox version scored the highest with an 88.5% ratio, followed by the PS2 at 88%, and lastly the GameCube with 86%. Where does Prince of Persia rank on your action/adventure list?

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Lite @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM

Still tryin to geth through Warrior Within....

APK @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM

I thought that the first was a perfect game, the second one was dissapointing. Having played the third for a few hours it seems to be very good, but the first is still the best of the series. At least they went back to the orginial voice, the guy in WW sounded like Glen Danzig.

paralipsis @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM

Maybe this is the motivation I need to give Warrior Within a try.

epthegeek @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM

Warrior Within was a serious misstep.

Sands of Time was fantastic. Great gameplay, good story, amazing production quality. The very definition of an AA title.

When Warrior Within messed with a lot of the things I loved about the first one, it was a huge buzzkill. The heavy goth slant, the metal music rather than the mid-eastern flair, the heavy decrease in the gymnastic puzzling coupled with an almost Final Fight style increase in the combat (which I found highly annoying), the unsympathetic story (him saving himself, rather than saving someone else).

I'm thrilled with Two Thrones so far. It steps back into line with the Sands of Time in every category that I care about -- and the new gymnastic bits and traps are great. Certainly a game you must not miss, no matter what platform you prefer.

pennywise969 @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM

I think metareview sounds like a creature that Godzilla would need to battle.

Back_Lit @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM

If the different ratings are based on graphics why is the PS2 build superior to the GCN build?

Jay Battle @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM

Does anyone know if this bad boy is playable on the 360? Contemplating picking it up

Andrew @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM

Ummmm, Joystiq, you need to take another look at each systems %. This is what they are really reporting- XBOX (88.7%) | GC (87.0%) | PS2 (86.0%)

Hachi_roku @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM

" the unsympathetic story (him saving himself, rather than saving someone else)."

There were two endings in Warior within. He could either save himself or the lady who created the sands. It all depended on how many life upgrades and sand tanks you had.

leojsoap @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM

th' PS2 is down to 82.8% now, ouch. GC at 87% and XBOX at 88.7%

Quicksilver801 @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM

I seen a commercial for this on VH1. I swear it was like a mini movie. The traler went on for at least two minutes. My friends and i kept expecting it to end any minnute and it didnt. Quite funny but made my roomie wanna get the game.

Joost Schuur @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM

The Xbox version did not play on my Xbox 360.

ronald.raygun @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM

#9 i thought it was if you got the water sword...i thought if you had the water sword you were able to fight and defeat the dahaka. however as for me i thought PoP sands of time was one of the best games and severely underrated by US customers, my only problem with it was it was too short. PoP WW i thought was still really good nowhere near as good as the first but was still really good in its own right and even though it was a lot of backtracking was like twice as long. This seems good so far but i havent had much time to play.

Prince @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM

Do we have to get all the Life Upgrades like in WW so we can get the Real ending... that would suck.

david buvoltz @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM

I've played both sands of time, and warrior within and loved both of them. also to an earlier comment, to get the water sword, and kill the dahaka you must get all 9 life upgrades. it also helps when fighting him to have all 6 sand tanks (which you can easily get).

Jason @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM

#4, you CAN save someone other than the prince in WW. Also, the metal music was there to represent a darker prince, but it definately had an arabian "flair" (actually, the scales used). The first game showed a naive, spoiled prince; the second showed a dark, desperate, hunted prince. The tone of the games is a matter of aesthetic preference. However, WW DID fix the reduntant, monotonous combat found in Sands of Time with a system that is only topped by Ninja Gaiden, albiet much easier. From a gameplay perspective, WW was better.

Jason @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM

To add to that, I liked the tone and story of Sands of Time better, too. However, I can't argue that WW's combat system took the series to new heights. In Sands of Time, I seriously felt dread each time a combat sequence started up.

Aman @ Dec 18th 2005 9:02PM

I like almost everything about sands of time wat really amazes me is the fighting style of the prince. in other games they always show like some sort of a guy who does these tricks or fighting style which is nearly imposible for the strongest to do. i like the prince more than any other games bc he does the best fighting moves and they're more realistic. realistic meaning that the strongest man can do. i also like the mid-eastern music in the game, its like a combination of both mid-eastern n rock. the 2nd part, prince of persia warrior within, was actually more serious. now dis guy's more powerful n more alert. i like the ending as well, yet i saw the wrong ending where i kill the empress, lol. the actual ending was when the empress gets saved n the dahaka gets killed right? anywayz, the third part didn't really come out yet but i heard that there's more variety like going on cielings more graphics n more fighting styles, plus now in the third part the prince fights his enemies ta the end by a combination of the first and second parts of the game, n also a new combination of fighting moves, plus the graphics r also goin ta be better.
If anyone finds out the ending of the second part plz email it ta me, desi_p1mp@yahoo.com, thanx, n by the way wats the prince's name???