Word to any game developer out there - these are overused: please stop cramming them into your games. None of these points stop Forgotten Sands being a fine game. It's just not original and after seven years, more has to be expected than what Forgotten Sands provides. Perhaps the most interesting thing to arise from this game is the question of where the series goes from here, if Ubisoft are so scared of change.
Don't forget that Forgotten Sands is carrying Ubisoft's much-maligned DRM system, where your PC has to be online at all times in order to play the game. Your saved games are also stored online by default. However, this can be changed if you want.
Its release is being timed to coincide with the release of the blockbuster Prince of Persia movie coming out next month. You've probably heard about it already, as your female friends have likely been spamming their Facebook feeds with pictures of the film's Prince - Jake Gyllenhaal - sporting a washboard stomach and chiselled pecs.
We won't be anywhere near an cinema in May though, if Ubisoft get their way. We might just be pinned to our chairs, fixated by the site of a non-Gyllenhaal Prince vamping it up on our monitors in classic, non cel-shaded Prince of Persia style. Interestingly enough, the game's plot isn't that of the film, instead it goes all the way back to the Sands of Time trilogy, which ended in with The Two Thrones.
This one, The Forgotten Sands, goes further back, as it's set between the events of the first Sands of Time and the second Warrior Within games. Hence 'interquel'. Story-wise, this means the developers can't do anything too dramatic with the universe. After all, how would they then explain everything getting back to 'normal' in the second and third games? So, instead, the Prince is sticking to his tried-and-tested scenario - the kingdom is under devastating attack, and timewarping sand is needed to save everyone.
As such, he can rewind time straight away. There's no messing about with contrived explanations of why you haven't got access to the time warp powers, you just do, right from the get-go. It'd be boring aka 'the same' if he just did the same things as before, so Ubisoft are giving him a load of new elemental powers to learn throughout the rest of the game. One of these will be a freezing ability, so, for example, you could stop a water fountain in time so you could climb it.
It's safe to say this is one of very few platform games that doesn't adhere to the opinion that difficult key combinations are the only way to provide a challenge. Many of the puzzles in the game require you to navigate areas in which the environment is falling to pieces around you. Often you are given visual clues as to where to go via cut-scenes, but sometimes you can tell just by watching changes in the landscape.
Climbing up, down and around parts of the landscape is a huge part of the game. Again, the game never punishes you for getting things a bit wrong, unless you do something really stupid and just leap blindly into the abyss, in which case death is pretty much what you deserve.
Yes, you can run along the walls, as well as up the walls, something you'll find yourself doing a great deal - even when it's not strictly necessary. You can also spring off the wall at any point, hurling yourself across yawning gaps in precarious undie-soiling fashion. The seamless fluidity of the animation is at its best in scenes like these, indeed the animation is so good in SOT you'll often find yourself slowing down time just to admire the view a bit more closely.
It's really that good. The latter event may not have grabbed the headlines, but 14 years on the all-new Prince is hogging a lot of pages. Of course, he has appeared since, in for the sequel, and again in for a 3D version that history has incontrovertibly deemed 'shit'. Following the debacle that was Prince Of Persia 3D, it may have been tempting to bury the licence and forget about the whole thing. Never go back, as the saying goes.
Creator Jordan Mechner has done exactly that though, overseeing the development of this 21st-century incarnation. Suffice to say, the Prince looks a lot better than in the original. Unlike when an old band gets back together, the magic of games means that everything is shiny and new, and such are the exponential advances in technology over the past decade that it almost looks like a different medium. Even judged by current standards, the look of Sands Of Time is immediately striking, and it comes across as a kind of soft-focus fairytale, in keeping with the ninth-century Arabian Nights-style setting.
A lot of effort has clearly gone into the visual style, and if it were a film it would probably be one of those cheesecake 70s Slnbad adventures albeit thankfully without Martin Shaw.
As for the story, it is of a similar ilk, and involves the titular Prince inadvertently unleashing the titular sands, thus destroying a kingdom and turning its entire populace into ferocious demons. Clearly feeling a little sheepish, he sets out to rectify matters immediately, which is where you step in, easing into the action at a fairly sedate pace.
This is just as well, as the control system takes some getting used to, particularly with a mouse and keyboard. Not because it's bad, but because it's so original, providing a refreshing change from the tired platform antics of Tomb Raider et al. A triumph of design, the emphasis has wisely been removed from pixel-perfect gymnastics and placed instead on a far more cerebral approach.
Simply finding out what you can actually do is a joy in itself, be it walking on walls, clambering up pillars or swinging on bars like a particularly well co-ordinated chimp. It's a breath of fresh air, and elevates the game beyond the realms of a mere 3D platformer. Mechner has stated that he wanted the gameplay to capture the frenetic pace of the original game, but initially this wish seems to have gone unheeded.
At least the first hour of the game seems to involve being stuck up a pole wondering what to do next. What you actually do is look for another nearby column, adopt the most appropriate of four directions and attempt to leap the gap. Depending on your decision, you'll either make it or you won't, and should you miss, you'll know not to try it again, eventually working out the correct route. Hardly twitch gameplay then, but as the action unfolds your manual dexterity is tested as well as your mind, and you are made to approach the game with a degree of gusto.
Effectively timed sections appear, forcing you to put your skills into practice without having all day to think about it. So, for instance, a pressure panel will open a distant door, giving you about 20 seconds to scarper up a wall, avoid a spinning blade, leap on to a ledge, hurdle a chasm and throw yourself through the door just as it slams behind you.
So far, so Indiana Jones the film, not the game , but once you get your confidence it's done in such an elegant fashion that it feels perfectly natural. And should you misjudge a move and hurtle towards imminent death, you can make like Cher and turn back time.
Yep, the mystical sands of time allow you to do just that, as stabbing the R key enables you to rewind the action to the point just before you cocked up, replete with wibbly-wobbly visual effects. You can't do it indefinitely, as the sands eventually run out and have to be replenished, but while your magic dagger is full of magic sand, it's a very useful tool to have.
In real terms, it's little more than a glorified quicksave, but one that maintains the sense of immersion, something that has clearly been uppermost in the game's design. For example, health is restored by drinking water as opposed to finding an arbitrary health pack, again maintaining the integrity of the universe or at least to the extent that a gushing head wound can be cured with a sip of water.
The magical sands also have other uses, and as well as reversing time they can slow it down, giving you something of an advantage over enemies during close combat. And if you think that sounds familiar, you'd be right, as it is to all intents and purposes, bullet-time, albeit without the bullets scimitar-time doesn't quite have the same ring.
Also handy in a scrap, enemies can be frozen in time, enabling you to slay them without reply. As for the fighting, although you can sometimes run away from nasties, you will eventually have to get stuck in, using the game's much-vaunted multi-directional combat.
What this means is that when surrounded by a slew of enemies, you can switch between them and lock on to one while lashing out with your sword. It's not really that big a deal -particularly with the keyboard -and the combat isn't particularly satisfying.
Demons have to first be lacerated into submission with your sword, and then swiftly finished off with the Dagger of Time lest they rise again.
In a one-on-on situation, this presents no problem, but with three or four it becomes something of a crowd scene, and your path to the stricken demon is often blocked. Also, due to the fact that the Prince locks on to an enemy, if you need to back off to replenish your health, you have to first put away your weapons, thus leaving yourself vulnerable.
On the plus side, you can use your sword at any time, even when climbing a ladder or hanging off a bar. This adds to the perceived reality and comes in handy when hanging off a branch attempting to ward off a flock of killer birds, for instance. Or maybe they were bats. Prince Of Persia was of course all about traps, with instant death meted out in a number of gruesome ways.
They certainly haven't been overlooked here, and the vast palace in which the game takes place is full of them, at times resembling some kind of medieval torture chamber. Among the devious devices is an homage to the original in the form of the famous spikes, either lurking in a pit or ready to spring from the ground should you put a foot out of place. With all manner of hardware flying about, you do need to be on your toes, and the prince is well equipped, able to roll like a gymnast, aided by some excellent animation.
As a change of pace, puzzles are liberally scattered through the game, and require a reasonable level of thought. If you don't enjoy thinking and who does? It's a big old palace in which you're roaming around, and it's a reasonably big old game. Along the way, you'll meet a few characters, including the token female interest in the form of Princess Farah, who seems keen but may have dubious motives.
That said, the Prince is a goodlooking guy, particularly when he loses his shirt, and it has been suggested in some quarters that he's the male equivalent of Lara Croft, providing a bit of titillation for the ladies. It's not perfect, but there are enough fresh ideas to go some way towards re-establishing your faith in the genre. That said, simply categorising it as a platformer-turned-action adventure doesn't really do it justice, as it manages to transcend lazy pigeonholing to deliver a near seamless gaming experience.
If anything, it's a tad earnest in places, although this is perversely offset by some dismal attempts at humour. These are minor details though, and the real value is to be found in the sparkling gameplay and lavish environments. Expectations have been high since the game's award-winning E3 appearance, and they have largely been met. Ubisoft has kissed a frog and it's turned into a prince. Herein lies a tragedy.
When we first saw the new Prince Of Persia game we were stunned - it's quite probably the bestlooking and playable platformer ever to grace the PC. Luckily, this demo gives you the chance to see why we were and still are excited and aroused.
The game is centred around the titular Sands Of Time, which were spilled early on in the game proper, causing almost everyone in the land to transmogrify into strange beasts. To counter these and the many traps and death-defying leaps, you need to get your hands on the magic dagger the one that's imbued with time-control powers, enabling you to literally rewind time if you fluff something.
Each bit of time control uses up a portion of the sands within the dagger, but you can top this up by dispatching the enemy and your own health by drinking water. Yes there's something wrong with level 2. Also it's different gameplay from what I remember. I'll try the original version. Version 1. I'm running the game in dosbox and seems to be a bug at level 2. The exit door won't open. Does anyone has the same problem? Pink Floyd 1 point DOS version. The animation of this game was so good the first time I saw it It was one of my greatest moments in gaming.
It was one of the most impressive moments I have had and I am a first generation gamer. Arenics 1 point DOS version. I did not have a PC until about 3 years after this game came out. So when I got this game it was not the newest thing and had been out for a while.
It still blew me away. The animation was incredible. Years ahead of its time. Even games like Out of this World Another World did not impress me as much as this game did. Tomb Raider came out light years after and made great use of animation like this in 3D. This game as aged as well as any of the best PC games ever made. Still great fun! Drifter 1 point DOS version. One of the best games in that time! Beautiful animation with never-seen gameplay.
Lots of traps and difficult tasks to perform make this game jewel no. Jordiet 0 point DOS version. The best game ever! I love it! Dan 1 point DOS version. Goxon 0 point DOS version. The Prince of Persia games reminds me of those good old days. Very interesting epic adventure. Share your gamer memories, help others to run the game or comment anything you'd like.
If you have trouble to run Prince of Persia, read the abandonware guide first! We may have multiple downloads for few games when different versions are available.
Also, we try to upload manuals and extra documentation when possible. If the manual is missing and you own the original manual, please contact us! MyAbandonware More than old games to download for free! Browse By Download KB. Play in your browser. Description of Prince of Persia Prince of Persia was released in on the Apple II and received critical acclaim followed by commercial success when released in Japan the following year.
Review By Richard For a free and open-source level editor, go to popot. How to play Prince of Persia Create a new folder for the game e. Later versions allow you to set sound options. See older comments Write a comment Share your gamer memories, help others to run the game or comment anything you'd like. Send comment. Download Prince of Persia We may have multiple downloads for few games when different versions are available.
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