Prince Of Persia: Sands Of Time

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is a third-person action-adventure computer and video game published by Ubisoft. It was released on November 6, 2003 and is a continuation of the landmark MS-DOS and Macintosh game series Prince of Persia, created by Jordan Mechner in 1989.

The Sands of Time, developed internally at Ubisoft Montreal, successfully captures the mechanics of the original platformer and extends it to the 3D generation. An earlier attempt by The Learning Company to transfer the game to 3D (Prince of Persia 3D) was released in 1999, but failed to meet the standards set by the franchise. The Sands of Time was praised for its visual design, finely tuned game mechanics, and intriguing storyline, winning the game several awards.

Plot:

In Azad, the Vizier of the Maharajah tricks the Prince into releasing the Sands of Time contained inside the Hourglass of Time, using the Dagger of Time. The Sands wash over the kingdom, turning all living beings into monsters. The Prince, Farah, and the Vizier remain unchanged due to their possessions; a dagger, a medallion, and a staff, respectively. On a journey to repair the damage he has caused, the Prince teams with Farah to return the Sands of Time to the hourglass, using the Dagger of Time. Throughout the journey, the Prince and Farah begin to grow closer. As they make their way to the Hourglass of Time, the Prince hesitates, and the Vizier uses magic to throw him and Farah into a tomb. Inside the tomb, the Prince and Farah find baths, which they use and show affection for each other. The Prince awakens, and the Dagger and his weapon have been stolen by Farah, who left him with her medallion so that he would not be affected by the Sands of Time. The Prince pursues and catches her, but she falls to her death. Driven by grief, the Prince stabs the top of the hourglass with the Dagger of Time, locking the Sands of Time back into the hourglass, reversing the events of the game to the point before the invasion of the fortress ever took place. The Prince awakens in a camp, still with the Dagger of Time, and makes his way to Farah's bedroom. He tells her a story about the events of the game, because she does not remember due to the time reversal, but the Vizier shows up, and attempts to kill the Prince. The Vizier reveals his intended betrayal during their battle but the Prince emerges victorious and slays the Vizier. He gives the Dagger of Time back to Farah and prepares to leave. When she asks his name, he asks her to call him "Kakalukia," a word of familiar significance to Farah that she told him of on their adventures in the previous timeline.

GamePlay:
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time combines exploration and combat to create a unique synthesis. Both elements make use of the Prince's acrobatic capability and agility. Throughout much of the game, the player must attempt to traverse the palace by running across walls, ascending or descending chasms by jumping back and forth between walls, avoiding traps, climbing structures and jumping from platform to platform, making other types of well-timed leaps, solving puzzles, and using discovered objects to progress. The cultural setting of the game provides many linguistically interesting inscriptions to be found on walls.

During combat, many of the same moves vital to the player in other situations can be put to use to overpower enemies. One example is the ability of the Prince to rebound off walls in order to strike enemies decisively. The player can also vault over the enemies' backs and then finish them off in two hits. The player generally attacks enemies and blocks using a sword, although other factors such as the Dagger of Time and its time-control abilities eventually prove to be critical to victory.

A pivotal gameplay element is the Prince's Dagger of Time. It contains "charges" of the Sands of Time from the hourglass that allow the Prince to control time. The Prince has the ability to "reverse" time and travel up to ten seconds into the past. While using this ability, all sounds and previous action play backwards, and the play environment accurately resets to its previous state. For example, if the Prince was struck by an enemy attack during the rewound period, the health he lost will be given back to him, or a bridge that was destroyed a few seconds ago will repair itself. The Dagger also allows the Prince to slow down time, and freeze his enemies, using it as a main-gauche to attack them directly.

The Dagger only comes with a limited number of uses. However, defeated enemies leave behind piles of the Sands of Time, which can be absorbed by the Dagger to replenish its stock. The stock can also be replenished by absorbing Sand Clouds. This encourages the player to confront and vanquish enemies (as opposed to avoiding them) in order to replenish the power to manipulate time during the more tricky acrobatic sections of the game. However, if the player does not absorb the Sand from a fallen enemy in about five seconds, said enemy will come back to life. Extra Sand Tanks can be gained by collecting eight Sand Clouds, and extra Power Tanks (which are used for different powers than the Sand Tanks) are gained by vanquishing sixteen enemies after having collected a new Sand Tank.

Later on, when Farah takes the Prince's sword and dagger, after solving a puzzle he gains an extremely powerful new sword in a large room, which has the capability to destroy the Sand like the dagger.

Two years ago only I played and finished this game. I got the setup of this game from my friend. Now, I cant simply delete it. So, I installed it and gonna play it again. This is one of the BEST action game. Since, this is going to be my sencond time, I think i could complete this game within a week. Lets see what happens