Prince of Persia: Warrior Within [PS2]

We called the original Prince of Persia. We said -- months prior to last year's E3 when all we saw were a smattering of screens, a vague description, and the promise that Ubi Montreal's PoP Team would do us right -- that it would rule. Well, it all kinds of ruled, but it also had a couple of problems.

Ubi's Montreal team went to work to rectify the few comparatively insignificant gripes associated with the original Prince by first listening to the complaints of critics and gamers alike. The first grievance, while debatable in the minds of many Prince fans, was that the game was too lighthearted to be an action title since the protagonist had such a heavy burden placed upon his shoulders. For Prince of Persia 2 (tentative title), Ubi is retooling the game to more prominently feature a darker theme -- one that envelopes the Prince, who is now on a quest to save his own life from preordained death. Word from the wise: don't screw around with a man that single-handedly destroyed and then saved the world unless you really, really want to die.

While we weren't afforded the chance to travel centuries into the past (a new feature of the game), and thus alter the game world in a more developed Soul Reaver-like fashion, we were able to experience a more polished form of the stellar controls found in the original.

All of the slick animations have returned, but atop them comes a new array of impressive acrobatic techniques, such as using a rope to aid in a wall run, and an even more impressive combat system. This revitalized brawling no longer halts the progression of the game to show the Prince pulling out his sword, only to have him put it away again as the action is completed. Instead, Prince will run over enemies as they come and will fight them where they are, and how he chooses. This more dynamic style of combat is being compared to something like Tony Hawk, which, while not all similar in play, also prides itself on allowing players the opportunity to string together a variety of vastly differing techniques, similar to what God of War does. This creates a more fluid, more engaging feel to the title. It's very impressive. More over, Prince will now have the ability to wield two blades at a time, find new weapons, and just plain kick the living s*** out of anyone stupid enough to stand in his way.

The darker theme makes it work. The slightly older, seriously tougher Prince isn't playing around anymore. When a villain (still not human, but also not the same sand creatures as before) gets brazen enough to step up to the champ, there's a very good chance he's going to get split in half, stabbed straight through the chest, decapitated, or f'ed up in a variety of other unpleasant but entirely cool ways. And when Prince is through with this chump, he'll move on to a boss. Yup, a real honest to goodness boss. We've seen our hero run up the back of a Minotaur and clang his sword against its hardened neck in vain until finally piercing the concrete epidermis and sending it to an immediate death.

Trust us, this game feels fantastic, looks fantastic, sounds fantastic, and has a 100% chance of becoming fantastic. The only caveat: Farah is no longer in it. Other than that, expect brilliance this holiday shopping season.

Please, check out our extensive collection of media for actual moving coolness, and add Prince to your watched list to receive the latest updates via email as they become available.

©2004, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved