Prince of Persia The Warrior Within

Prince of Persia Warrior Within is the follow up to last year’s hit Sands of Time – the platforming masterpiece that slipped under the radar of most gamers.

Warrior Within begins a few years after the conclusion of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. The Prince has returned home to Babylon, to find himself hunted by a supernatural creature bent on his destruction. Forced to live a life on the run, he seeks counsel from an old mystic, who explains that his actions have spawned an immortal incarnation of Fate, known as the Dahaka. In his quest to save the Sultan’s palace from destruction, the Prince created a rift in the Timeline.

Hunted by the Dahaka, the Prince embarks upon a path of both carnage and mystery to defy his preordained death. He quickly comes to realize that there’s only one possible way to stay alive: journey to the birthplace of the Sands of Time, find a way to travel back into the past, and stop the Sands from being created. Without the Sands, the Prince’s last adventure will not occur – and the Dahaka will vanish. His journey leads him to the infernal core of a cursed island stronghold harboring mankind’s greatest fears.

Ubisoft is going the distance to ensure this holiday season isn’t a repeat of last years sleeper hit. They’ve added many new features to make an already stellar game even more entertaining. You can now use dual weapons to string together unique combos or you can throw them into enemies. Also new to Warrior Within is the Free-Form combat system that lets the player create their own style of fighting. Simply start by grabbing your enemy and then choose what you want to do next, you can grab an enemy then; throw them over a ledge, slice their head off, cut them in two, or stangle them – the list goes on. Chaining basic moves together is the fundamental idea behind the free-form combat system, and that’s easier now thanks to new moves and attacks.

You can already sense the darker more mature theme, the Prince also looks more mature and hardened by his dark nature. And he’s more violent and aggressive, handing out double sword decapitations and beheadings wherever he goes.

The artistic direction was a prized feature of the original, and the sequel will only push the visual envelope further. The setting is more realistic and mature, and with the Prince having to deal with the whole death thing emotions such as fear and depression are felt throughout the story. Environments and characters posess a sense of emotion and depth, the environments are also very diverse and change according to time – the Prince may have to travel back in time to prevent things from happening and while doing so the world will look remarkably different. So much work has gone into the level design that each of the unique areas throughout the game can be seen as works of self expression from each of the artists on the design team.

Combat is a major element in the Prince of Persia series - rivalled only by its role of exploration – and Warrior Within has plenty of both. On top of all the swinging, jumping, wall riding and rolling - you can now cut into banners and soar down them. This opens up a new dimension in puzzle solving and exploration and straight up looks badass.

The sole element that the series strive on however is it’s unique play with time. Yes – You can control time. You may reverse time to prevent your own demise, you can bring time to a slowdown and show those un-dead fools how cool your moves look, and you can also freeze time to snag some kisses on your lady friend Kaileena; voiced by Monica Belluci of The Matrix trilogy fame. That last part was a joke, but Kaileena will be voiced by the talented and beautiful Moneca Belluci. The whole time warping elements play into the puzzle solving and combat as well as giving the game an original feel.

I got a chance to play a demo version of Warrior Within and the adventure aspect felt very natural and easy to control. Animation was fluid and I was even able to interact with the environment; vaulting off walls to attack enemies, swinging around pillars while beheading undead thugs, and even tossing sticks and plants at zombie like creatures – sure, it did absolutely nothing but it was cool seeing the prince throw plants at someone. Controlling the camera was simple and you can switch from third person to first person on the go, there’s also a fixed view for tricky puzzle solving.

Warrior Within is shaping up to be a holiday success, let’s hope gamers don’t over-look the prince this year. There’s still a lot to be discovered about Warrior Within, and gamers will all get their chance when the game debuts this November. Look for a review shortly after.