Prince of Persia: Warrior Within Hands-On

The sequel to last year's most overlooked game hopefully won't go unnoticed this time. Updated hands-on impressions, all-new videos and new screens.

Christmas time is a nightmare for both publishers and gamers. Memories of the barren summer months are washed away by the inundation of games that precedes the festive season. Last year, though, there was an unfortunate casualty in this annual industry-wide loss of sensibility: Ubisoft's Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. The game scored well at most outlets but quickly faded without making more than a dent in sales charts on either side of the Atlantic. Now, the publisher's Montreal development team is back for another try, and this time there's something a bit more insidious about the Prince.

The demo for Prince of Persia: Warrior Within on the floor at Game Stars Live served up a hearty dose of swordplay, with little in the way off story divulgement. Starting off with a compulsory tutorial, the demo imparts the acrobatic thrill that has come to symbolize the current series.

Opening on the deck of an ornate galleon, you're taught how to perform several of the moves in the Prince's expansive repertoire of parries and ripostes. Pulling them off is easy enough, as most involve little more than a chain of face button presses. The skill lies in ingraining them to the point that you'll lunge from a wall with a darting attack when you mean to do it and not merely out of exasperated button bashing.

While the world in its predecessor was awash in hazy, white lights, Warrior Within (or at least the parts we've seen) is decidedly more brooding, infused with rich reds and choking blacks. It's not merely aesthetic though. These atmospheric traits are essential enrapturing elements that ease your immersion into the game world. And the quicker you're immersed the better you'll be able to tackle the constant stream of baddies.

Ubisoft was conveniently running the Xbox and PlayStation 2 versions side by side on the floor (the GameCube instalment was nowhere to be found), making qualitative assessment of the graphical differences that much easier. As could be imagined, the Xbox version looks better, with more-detailed textures and the assistance of anti-aliasing.

That said, the PlayStation 2 iteration delivers one of the best looking experiences on the aging console, and despite the obvious graphical downgrade, the experiences on both platforms are stunning to behold.

What is missing right now though is a solid yarn to weave the swashbuckling hijinks into a more cohesive whole. The demo contains a couple of challenging bosses to tackle -- a scantily clad, sword-wielding vixen and a gigantic hulk of a monster -- but precisely why they're there is a mystery.

Whether or not a story is required is very much a personal call, but hour after hour of relentless (though admittedly fulfilling) action has a tendency to wear on a person.

Ubisoft will be hoping for a lot more from Prince of Persia: Warrior Within than its predecessor ended up with. Currently, the game is set for release around the same time as last year, which could mean that another good title is about to be overlooked.

Prince of Persia: Warrior Within is scheduled for release on PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube and PC this November.

Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo Games