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Posted on January 3rd, 2006 - 10151 Reads

Rated Mature Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones GameCube Review Bronze Award

-- Written by Justin Joseph



 Unlike Ubi Soft's other game intended to be in a trilogy, we actually got our game to complete another. Beyond Good & Evil was rumored to be a one, but Prince of Persia was able to finish its off. It all started with The Sands of Time. It brought back the joys of platforming with an incredibly acrobatic prince of the Persian empire. It did well to make navigating the game's levels intriguing, but failed miserably with combat. Warrior Within lent the prince a much darker attitude full of arrogance and pride. The story was fairly good with excellent combat and music that only some could appreciate. With Two Thrones, Ubi Soft took the best that both previous games had to offer and combined them into what this is. It offers a great narrated story, very good music, a satisfying battle system, and a nice looking city. Well, at least what's left of it.

Those that haven't played the predecessors of the trilogy may end up confused playing this game. The game focuses moreso on Warrior Within's ending than it does the story of SoT, but it takes material from both. You once again control Prince, and he is returning to his home of Babylon with his new found love Kaileena. Kaileena was the Empress of Time in Warrior Within and if you get the best ending, you rescue her from the Island of Time. Unfortunately the Prince's homecoming is bittersweet, as he returns to a city engulfed in fire and ruin. Someone has done something to turn the people of the city against each other, and it's the Prince's job to find out who. He eventually discovers the Vizier from SoT has returned with a vengeance, and he kidnaps Kaileena. When you reach her, the Prince is forced to witness her death as the Vizier uses the Dagger of Time to kill her. This causes the former Empress to release the Sands of Time throughout the entire city, infecting everyone including the Prince. This infection causes the Prince to have a new alter ego simply named the Dark Prince.

The Dark Prince is obviously his evil and arrogant other half. Playing through Two Thrones almost lends you to believe the Prince has become schizophrenic because of how his dark side speaks to him and vice versa. At times their conversations are rather humorous as the Dark Prince's arrogance offers some witty remarks. At various points in the game this dark side will simply take over the Prince and you become him in body. The Dark Prince uses the Dagger Tail whip as his main weapon along with the Dagger of Time that you retrieved from the Vizier at the beginning. Although it's tough to say the Dark Prince doesn't look a little strange because he really looks like a freak. Nevertheless, it's rather entertaining to play as him since his whip can do some major damage to multiple enemies at once. You can use it to sort of "grapple" various things while wall running or jumping from platform to platform. It can be a pain to play as him sometimes though, as you must keep him alive by continually obtaining sands to replenish his health.

Other than that, the only bad part about the Dark Prince is fighting with him isn't exactly fresh. It's fun to play as him no doubt, but he's really no different than fighting as the actual Prince. He just has a whip, and you will end up seeing him doing a lot of the same attacks with it. It can almost turn into button mashing sometimes since you can pull off his best combos just doing that. Fighting as the Prince is better though, as the engine from Warrior Within makes a welcome return. The only bad thing about that is it's nothing really new either. There are new weapons for you to utilize in the game's dual weapon fighting system, but seeing them in action is the very same as it was in WW.

Two Thrones makes up for the lack of battle originality in the newly developed Speed Kill system. This is a totally new concept and one that really drives how fun the game can be. At any time during the game when you're near an enemy, you have a chance to kill them with stealth. In other words, if you sneak up on an enemy without it detecting your presence, you can initiate a Speed Kill. This is displayed as a white haze on your screen, and when you see that, pressing Y at any time will start it. Once you start it, you must pay attention for additional white haze "prompts" that will alert you when to hit the B button. If you do it successfully, the Prince will attack. If you fail, your kill is interrupted and you finish with traditional combat. Some enemies only take one hit of the B button, while some can take as many as six. No matter what the number, it's very satisfying to utilize it every time you can because it makes getting through the game a lot quicker and easier. Near the end of the game it can get a little repetitive seeing the same Speed Kill sequence so many times, but it generally doesn't hurt the experience. It's also entertaining as always to fight without using that tactic though, as using the Prince's combos is always nice to see again.

Another new gameplay feature Ubi Soft developed for Two Thrones are the chariot races. Honestly, these weren't too compelling, but they had their fun moments. There are only a couple in the game, and it's simply the Prince riding a horse drawn chariot through a series of inner city paths. During such you must bash into enemies riding the same thing as well as take out single enemies that climb onto yours using the Dagger. It can be a pain to go through them since you have to start the whole thing over if you die. They are generally easy enough though so that you don't have to do that. It wasn't exactly the most exciting thing to do in the game, but like stated it has its moments.

Making a return in Two Thrones from Warrior Within are the boss battles. There actually aren't that many, but the number is actually adequate. There is a unique foe for each battle, unlock the repetitive Iron Golems from WW. To make them even more unique is each boss requires a different strategy each time. Each actually utilizes the Speed Kill system, so it's pretty cool to have both go hand-in-hand. Each boss looks intimidating too and gives you a good fight. Avoiding most of them isn't really that difficult though, so they aren't the most challenging parts of the game. Nevertheless, each one is a nice experience, and keeps the game entertaining and fresh.

Also making a return just as in the previous two games is the time control system. Warrior Within didn't have the Prince using the Dagger of Time, but rather Farah's medallion from SoT. The Dagger makes its return in Two Thrones along with all its time controlling features. To gain these abilities though, the Prince must take out a small legion of Sand Gate guardians. Sand Gates are interesting looking structures built into the ground that constantly feed sand to those that pass it, and you have to eliminate the guardians to grab the prize. If you fail using Speed Kills, you run the risk of the main enemy calling for reinforcements through the portal, so it's in your best interest to take them all out quickly. When you do, the Prince stabs the structure with the Dagger and you either gain a time control ability or sand credits. Time control abilities include Recall and Eye of the Storm. Recall allows you to rewind a certain event in the case that you died and others are geared towards combat aid. Collecting sand credits from these gates and various treasure chests spread throughout the game allow you to unlock main menu goodies. This is mainly concept art and videos, but they're always enjoyable to look at.

The city of Babylon in Two Thrones is a great looking city. It may be broken down in a lot of places because of the Vizier's army, but the game usually looks just as great as previous titles. You will find yourself traversing the city rooftops, alleyways and various special buildings. Everything was constructed beautifully and can really help you feel that you're in the city yourself. The architecture definitely reflects that time period, so fans of the franchise should hardly be disappointed. Character models look great too, especially the Prince and someone you soon meet when you get further. The Prince looks similar to how he did in Warrior Within, but not as heavy in armor since fighting isn't all he's about anymore. He's actually topless for most of the game, so most of what you'll see of him is his lower garb and weapons. The Vizier looks downright stupid though. At the beginning when he takes out Kaileena, he stabs himself with the Dagger of Time before he gets rid of it. He turns into a complete freak and quite frankly it's impossible to describe how he looks. Ubi Soft definitely had some weird intentions with him, and it might make you wonder what they were thinking when they designed him. But overall, the game looks very good, even if it's not incredibly detailed throughout the adventure. The lighting and special effects were well-done and Ubi Soft gets props as usual.

Those of you that played Warrior Within and absolutely hated the music have nothing to worry about here. The hard rock has no presence and Godsmack is gone. Even though the rock music fit the Prince's action in Warrior Within quite well, it had no place in Two Thrones. Thankfully Ubi Soft listened to that and simply blended the music style of both previous titles. Two Thrones has a blend of soft rock and that illustrious Persian music from Sands of Time. It was combined very well too as there's never a point in the game that it will disappoint. Some of the battle themes can be slightly repetitive, but it's not really too noticeable. The sounds and voices in the game are great as well, as they were in the last two titles. All the major characters have voice roles, and the acting is just fine. Kaileena ends up narrating the story to the game and that was a nice, new approach to the presentation. There are no glitches to worry about this time either, as the characters' mouths synch fairly well and there's no instances of hearing nothing from the game. Battles sound great too, but when has the sound of clanging swords ever not been?

The most disappointing factor of Two Thrones is its replayability. This time there really are no secrets to be seen or found like in Warrior Within. There are six total life upgrades, but even getting them won't spark anything special. The only ending is what you see when you defeat the final boss. There are no secret endings or perks for going through it a second time. It is cool to unlock a new weapon code to enter in the pause menu when you beat the game, but if that's Ubi Soft's thinking that gives the game replay value they are sadly mistaken. Thankfully the game is more than enjoyable so becoming addicted to the story isn't unlikely. But that's all we have to work with here folks, as after you beat the game, the story is the only thing you have to experience again. The story is great, but that should never be the only motivator for a second play through.

Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones is a great way to end a great trilogy. Sands of Time started it well, Warrior Within continued it with a bang and Two Thrones did the job it needed to do. There really isn't too much to complain about with this game, as just about everything was very well-done. Ubi Soft gets kudos for keeping the entire trilogy as fresh as possible, offering something new with each iteration. SoT gave us time control, WW gave us great combat and TT gave us both with the new Speed Kill system. Obviously it's based on personal opinion in terms of which game is the best. Some love SoT, some WW and others will find this game to be the best. No matter, if you're a fan of the PoP franchise, there's no reason for you to pass this up. It may not be the most replayable game, but the story alone will keep bringing you back for all the great action. A great game to play, hear and look at, an awesome way to end our trilogy.

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