Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones

• Platform: PC, Xbox, Playstation 2, GameCube
• Published by: Ubisoft
• Developed by: Ubisoft
• Release Date: Dec 1, 2005
• Genre: Action
• Multiplayer: No
• Online: No

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Trailers and Footage

 

Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones Preview Continued..

-- November 9, 2005 by: David Craddock

So two different characters means two different ways of playing, right? Yep. While the prince and DP share similar athletic and combat abilities, their game play differences are unique enough to complement each other rather well. Mattes says that "In terms of combat style, The Dark Prince is reckless and furious! He fights with the Daggertail, a powerful chain-like mid-range weapon with which he can to perform spectacular grabs, direct attacks and combos. He also uses the Dagger of Time for close combat, mostly as a mean to finish his enemies after a deadly Daggertail attack. He can also perform Speed Kills in a very brutal way which reflects his personality. He also uses his Daggertail to manoeuvre in his environment and access places the Prince cannot."

So how will you control the two different characters? The change occurs when specific scripted events occur within the game world. "In order to calm these moments of crises and return back to his "normal" self, the Prince will need to seek out the healing properties of the Water of Life, familiar to any fans of the previous Prince of Persia titles."

One question that has been on the mind of many Sands of Time devotees is, what about Farah? "Farah has indeed returned," Mattes confirms, "though not under the most pleasant of circumstance. Players will learn how and why she came to be in Babylon over the course of the game. Unfortunately, she remembers nothing of her previous interactions with our hero. Thanks to his meddling in Warrior Within, the entire adventure at Azad simply never happened – including the last little moments where he slips into Farah's bedroom, tells his tale, and confronts The Vizier."

One of my personal favorite aspects of Sands of Time was the awesome character interaction and development that Farah and the prince went through while they worked with one another. Their running commentary was insightful, very humorous, and showed that they were developing genuine feelings with one another. Even though the prince has screwed with time to the point that Farah has no recollection of him whatsoever does not mean the two won't tag-team again. They share a common enemy, and it is this that brings them together once again.

However, Farah is not the same woman the prince once knew. "Times have changed," Mattes says, "and she's seen her fair share of sadness and loss." Don't panic: she'll be different, but she won't turn into the punk rocker our prince devolved into between SoT and WW. She has matured due to what she has seen.

Despite the changes each characters have gone through, the development time has taken great strides to ensure that interactions between Farah and the prince are just as fun and clever as they were in SoT. "Over the course of the adventure The Prince and Farah will work together to track their enemy – and so they're sure to run into obstacles requiring their cooperation. The familiar and much-loved banter between the two has returned as well."

The Dark Prince will prove a variable in the relationship between Farah and our hero. Mattes elaborates: "As the game progresses, players will discover that Farah and the Dark Prince have very different views of our hero – how he should proceed and what it means to be a prince. This conflict will fuel both the game's story as well as The Prince's development as a hero." He will have to learn the value of compassion, sacrifice, and honor; traits which Farah values very much. Even harder will be the prince's struggle to contain his baser emotions such as revenge and empowerment, which will be manifested in the form of the Dark Prince.

The mysterious old man from Warrior Within makes a return as well. Since childhood, the prince has been in the care of the old man. His father, King Sharaman, was often busy waging wars and conquering cities, which doesn't leave much time to properly raise children. Sharaman sought the wisest man in his kingdom to look after his son, and ever since, the old man has remained loyal to the prince. Mattes says that in WW, the old man warned the prince that his quest—to change his fate—was impossible. As the prince returns to Babylon and beholds the devastation wracking his city, he wonders if what his mentor told him turned out to be true after all. Mattes also says that the old man will play a critical role this time around, but was rather shy about revealing specifics. (Meaning, he didn't tell me anything at all.)

Inevitably, the comparison between the well-received Sands of Time and not so well-received Warrior Within spring up, and to be fair, the comparison needs to be made. To many fans of the series, Sands of Time embodied the spirit of Prince of Persia: an epic, sprawling world; fun and intuitive acrobatic maneuvers; lots of combat (too much, in some cases); and often perplexing puzzles. Warrior Within shied away from this approach. The prince appeared like a Trent Reznor lookalike, ostensibly due to his ordeals during SoT. The music went from a beautiful "Arabian Nights" type of soundtrack to hard rock and heavy metal. Gamers rallied against the artistic direction of the game, many going so far as to say the series had sold out in order to sell more copies.

Will The Two Thrones be more like The Sands of Time, or will it be similar to Warrior Within? Actually, kind of a hybrid, but more akin to Sands of Time by far. Mattes explains that "For each POP, we want to make a game that looks and feels different. In POPT2T, the Prince will evolve in Babylon, a city between myth and reality. We have designed this place as one of strong contrasts: dark and light, roofs and caves, richness and misery. In the end, we think it's the most engrossing and beautiful universe we have ever created in the series. It's a very balanced mix between the maturity of Warrior Within and the more Persian atmosphere of Sands of Time."

Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones will be available for purchase on December 1st for PC, Xbox, PS2, and Gamecube.

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