First of, I'd like to say that it's a rare treat to see such smooth and
simple controls incorperated into a game. The ease at which you perform
the dazzling moves, and death-defying leaps is incredible. Whether
you're wall-running or fighting a hord of sand creatures, you'll never
end up feeling like you have to twist your fingers in a knot to make it
work. Ever wanted to play acrobat? Well, you'll be doing plenty of
acrobatics in this game - and it's a whole lot saver to do too. If more
developers out there took a hint from PoP:SoT, the frustration that
comes with bad control schemes would be a thing of the - bad, ugly -
past.
Unfortunately, though, there are some flaws with the gameplay. Most of
them are minor, and therefore easily overlooked; but some of them are a
little more obviously present. A good example of this would be the
camera: You can move it around freely, but it has a tendency of doing
its own thing when you need control of it the most. This flaw is mostly
present during fights in which the camera, at times, gets stuck behind
an object making it nigh-impossible to see a sand creature's incoming
blade. Luckily, this issue doesn't arise too often, and is ussualy
easily remedied by moving the prince, or by manually adjusting the
camera angle a bit.
The fighting, likewise, has its good and bad points. The ease at which
you perform your attacks, wall-jumps, blocks, etc. is mind-boggling. If
there's an enemy about to attack you from behind, simpy leap over him
with the press of a button, and drive your sword down its back with
another press of the same button. It's so simple, you could probably
perform most moves with your big toe. And what's even better, is that
this simplicity doesn't make the game a boring trial; instead, it seems
to fit in so nicely into the overall game, that it makes it all the
more fun.
However, as fun as it might be to do some sand-whoopin' in PoP:SoT, the
fighting does become tedious after a while. Most enemies you face don't
have any real variety, and they all seem to fight according to a
certain pattern. After a couple of fights, you'll know almost
everyone's weak points, and, as such, will dispatch of your foes all
too easily. Sure, certain moves won't work on certain enemies; but this
small challenge is somewhat easily overcome by simply performing
another move that does always work against that type of enemy. It would
have been nice to see if Ubisoft had added some more variation, and
made the fights less predictable.
And then there's the acrobatics. Those death-defying, heart-stopping,
stunts that make you go 'oooh' and 'aaah' more than once. This is
absolutely the best feature in the entire game. And again, the
simplicity of it all makes it all the more enjoyable. There's been a
few games before which incorperated wall-running, but none of them have
done it so elegantly as PoP:SoT does. The only - possible - flaw here
might, again, be the camera, which sometimes is sitting at angle that
makes it just a bit too hard to properly judge distance or the
direction you need to jump to. But I have to admit that I can count the
ammount of times that that's been an actual problem on one hand (even
if that hand was missing three fingers due to some freak fire-cracker
accident).
Overall, the gameplay is extremely well done. There are a few minor
issues (or flaws, whatever you want to call it), here and there, but
none of those take away the awe-inspiring simplicity of it all.
Both the graphics and the sound are extremely well done. Throughout the
entire game you never get a feeling of ‘been-there-done-that’. Each
level is incredibly detailed – from the rippling in the water, to the
puff of dust when you kill an enemy. It’s all done in such a way that
you really feel as if you’re in an Arabian-like place, only heard of in
legends and old tales.
Sound, too, manages to pull you in the way the graphics do. The music
is absolutely gorgeous and fits the whole PoP:SoT theme perfectly,
while still managing to get you adrenaline pumping thanks its great mix
of different styles of music. Never, in any way, does the music get
tedious or annoying; instead it does exactly what it’s supposed to do:
make you believe the world around you even more.
Unfortunately, the same can not be said for the voices. Don’t get me
wrong, the voice acting is great, and each emotion is conveyed
perfectly in the dialog. However, as you play the game, you’ll notice
that at times the voice of your partner is barely audible, as if she’s
whispering from a great distance. This will, at times, be reason for
some serious frustration as it can sometimes be near-impossible to hear
what she’s saying. Of course, turning up the volume remedies this
problem, but it also increases the volume of all other effects, which,
in turn, is not what one would want in most cases.
PoP:SoT is an very well thought-out game, and it’s obvious that the
developers have gone all-out to preserve what made the original such a
great hit. And, despite it’s minor flaws, it even manages to transcend
it in many ways – especially by perfectly adding a whole new dimension
of 3d to it.
Story-wise the game will leave you wanting more with each step, pulling
you further in with each minute, and it won’t let go of you until you
reach the end. And even then, it will still linger in your mind for
days after.
