Let me make myself clear: Prince of Persia: Forgotten Sands is an extremely fun game. It follows the classic formula of the other Prince of Persia games: perform high intensity acrobatics with simplistic combat mechanics and death-defying puzzles. But Forgotten Sands executes this formula so well that I want to almost say it is better than Sands of Time. Almost.
It’s a high quality game and you really should play through it if you are remotely interested. The mostly challenging campaign lasts about 6-9 hours packed with AMAZING graphics. The story, while mostly original, is intriguing until you get your first super power (from there on out, it’s pretty bland).
That said, PoP: FS is very repetitive with the combinations of traps (you will see at least ONE saw-blade down every hallway) and it isn’t until the end of the game do you experience the most rage inducing puzzle/trap in the game.
I like to call this trap/puzzle/GRR RAWR moment event the jumping through walls while solidifying and unsolidifying them. This is pretty much the only time you see how stupid the Prince is, and I quote “HURR DURR, LOOK, EMPTY SPACE. I HATE LEDGES”. Prince jumps to death. This happens absolutely no where else in the campaign until the end.
Another thing to note, this game is best played with a controller. If you do play with one, turn off the Steam overlay. There are some really horrible bugs with the overlay.
After you beat the campaign, you are treated to a great narrative at the end that makes it sound like you get to continue playing after you beat the game. Seriously, the Prince sets you up with this whole “but the hardest part of the journey was meeting my father” and then the screen flashes in the way it does when it loads transitions in levels. Suddenly you are back to the main menu. Game over. Trolls win.
Forgotten Sands has three modes you can play after you are done (though I’m not sure why). Most likely you’ll never play them. For maximum enjoyment, log onto UPlay and unlock the Ezio costume, it makes the game so much better.
Verdict: BUY IF ON SALE