
	Platform Wii Genre Action Publisher Ubisoft Developer Ubisoft Montreal ESRB T (Teen) Released March 2007

- Good combination of action and platforming - Environmental puzzles - It can be fun to swing the swords - The Prince's "Hyde" persona

- Not entirely convinced that the motion sensitive moves always work - Series treads much ground that the previous titles already have - Looks about as good as a PSP game

Review: Prince of Persia: Two Thrones (GC) Review: Prince of Persia: Warrior Within (XB) Review: The Godfather: Black Hand Edition (Wii)
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Prince of Persia: Rival Swords

Score: 7.0 / 10

Prince of Persia : Rival Swords continues the Prince’s epic journey toward redemption and/or the complete disruption of the space-time continuum. The games leading up to the Prince’s current predicament – Babylon in flames, the vizier doing all sorts of nasty – are recapped in a barrage of apparent non-sequiters about fate, time, and destiny. All of which should hit the wall above your head. Really, none of it matters unless you’ve been following the story from its beginning in The Sands of Time. Fans of the series should be able to appreciate the continuation of the story but the action treads ground the series has covered many times before.

The actual game does not include the massive Wii demonstrations of the control.

The environments are alive with linear solutions the many physical puzzles; deadly missteps can be rewound; stealth kills; acrobatic antics include spinning off walls and grabbing at ting ledges; and the Prince’s scowl all return.

As a platformer, I’ve always thought highly of the series – being able to jump, flip, run along walls, and spin toward enemies with a surprise attack have always been solid. The action side leans toward a slightly more hack ‘n’ slash approach,

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though there is still room for more measured and timed attacks. It’s a balancing act between the two and it’s in fine form here.

Oddly enough this dichotomy is explored further in the Prince’s evil alter ego.

After an early plot point in the game, at scripted marks in the game the Prince turns into “Hyde” a being who can only

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be kept alive by collecting “sands of time.” Besides a sword in his right hand he has a chain sword in his left, which can be used to attack and to latch on to objects. Hyde’s sections are distinctly more intense because his store of sand is continually depleted – you need to fight and figure out the environmental puzzles quickly.

The Wii controls seem like a natural method of replicating the Prince’s dual-wielding swordplay. Whipping the Wii-mote and/or Nunchuk around translates to the Prince waving his swords around, but it could have been done with a button press. Move the Wii-mote down, up or sideways and the results are all pretty much the same. It gets your arms moving but by the end of the game I remained firmly unconvinced that my specific slashes were being reproduced, though it didn’t dissuade me from waving my arms around. (A cross slash three times will net the same kind of combo if you’re just wildly waving the Wii-mote.)

With save points laid at logical points throughout, there’s little chance you’ll be frustrated with some of the more difficult puzzles or encounters in Rival Swords, making it a great entry point for newcomers to the series – even if the story will likely seem convoluted.

- Omni

(May 11, 2007)


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