Earlier in one of my reviews, i called Assassin's Creed a bad Prince of Persia ripoff. But just what IS the Prince of Persia? Actually, it is a 2D side-scrolling game set in Arabia in which you control a vagabond who must save the princess and become a prince. But that game didn't go onto the map until the groundbreaking Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time multi-platform game, which set new rules for 3D platformers that even Mario 64 could not have predicted. The Two Thrones is actually the THIRD title in the 3D Prince of Persia series. Though the second title, The Prince of Persia: Warrior Within, didn't live up to the hype the old game generated, does The Two Thrones make up for the lack? Let's find out!

Plot: You control the nameless Prince of Persia (Or Babylon as the case may be) who is returning home from the Island of Time after a long and tedious journey. Something that may have surprised players of Warrior Within was that the default ending wasn't canon, the hidden ending was. Anyway, long story short, the Prince screws everything up again and must fight the bad guy while using powers to control time. Once again, he has the Dagger of Time, and once again, the wheels of suffering were set in motion by his own hands. Can he save his kingdom without losing his mind? No. He can't. But you can at least make sure that he does SOMETHING right and guide him through this game. Who knows? There just may be a happy ending.

Gameplay: You should be very glad that there are frequent checkpoints and the ability to rewind time. Most of your time is spent doing impossible stunts or risk fatal injuries. Running across a wall over a giant chasm and then leaping off of the wall and grabbing onto a ledge is only one example. The new addition to the Prince's arsenal is the "Quick Kill" ability, in which the Prince becomes an Arabian ninja and assassinates sentries that he sneaks up on. Big fun! But it requires timing. In fact, this entire game is about perfect timing. If you've got that, you just may live to see the next day! If you lack it... HA! Good luck getting past the first hour of gameplay!

Graphics: Uh... though the sprites are a bit funny looking, they are pretty well refined with extensive motion capture (I wonder if one of the Mo-cap men suffered serious injuries during the making of this...). You travel through the beautiful city of Babylon and take on the plague of monsters. Though... really, outside of the cutscenes, it is generic. There are also a few obnoxious glitches which tend to pop up during combat.

Music: Warrior Within used a Heavy Metal soundtrack which received some criticism. This one combines the old Arabic soundtrack of Sands of Time with some heavier elements from Warrior Within. It is well composed and programmed, one of the things that really sells the game. The voice acting is pretty well done. You will find out for yourself, there is hardly two minutes without the prince flapping his yap about how much his life has changed. Stupid ancient Arabic emos...

Difficulty: This game would be damn near impossible if it wasn't for your abilities to control time. Since timing and wits are key elements, some unorthodox methods are required when you are in over your head. This game has a few puzzles and traps to keep you occupied, but since getting the Game Over screen has no real consequence, you can probably beat the game in seven hours of play, provided that you don't get lost.

Overall: The Sands of Time was a groundbreaking game. It introduced elements thought to be impossible. The Two Thrones isn't that big of news though, it's been done and doesn't get the big praise. But it is still a fun game (Though the M rating might be debatable) and is one at least worth renting.

My Rating: 6/10

Extra: Prince of Persia is briefly mentioned during Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory.