bit-tech Shopping: UbiSoft Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones (PS2)

Rating: 8

Time with product: 3 Weeks

Strengths: very similar to Prince of Persia Sands of Time

Weaknesses: very similar to Prince of Peria Sands of Time

Summary: When Sands of Time came out it blew me away. It was original and inventive. Two Thrones is a great game but I can't help but think that the developers are starting to run out of ideas to keep the series fresh.Additions: Speed Kills - now you can sneak up on enemies and attack them. To complete the surprise kill you have to time you're attacks (your dagger will shine for a brief moment and that's when you have to press the attack button). The speed kills aren't a given and actually require some skill. Unfortunately sometimes the camera angle or the bright lights will get in your way.Dark Prince - at some pre-determined sections the prince will turn into the dark prince. He's suppose to be stronger but actually is quite weak. The chain that he uses is slow (Kratos he is not). The Dark Prince doesn't really add anything substantial to the game.The game is very similar to Sands of Time so you can expect the same kind of puzzles, large, gorgeous levels/scenery. The character models however are showing their age and look quite blocky.

Rating: 8

Time with product:

Strengths: Excellent controls, good story, challenging puzzles

Weaknesses: Shorter than previous Persia games

Summary: The Two Thrones, the 3rd game in the Prince of Persia series, picks up right where The Warrior Within leaves off. The Prince returns to Babylon and must take back the throne. Like previous Prince of Persia games the control scheme is excellent--fighting and movements flow well and are easy to control. Puzzles are also quite fun and challenging. Unfortunately, The Two Thrones seems quite a bit shorter than previous Persia games, which is a bit of a letdown since this is supposedly the last installment of the series. Still, its an excellent game and worth playing.

Rating: 10

Time with product: 20 Days

Strengths: PRINCE+Decent graphics, good music and voice acting, new features, good story, fun as Hell!

Weaknesses: DARK PRINCE-Some glitches, seems too short compared to popww and popsot, gameplay with Dark Prince could have used some work, Farah's voice creeps me out, story may be a little confusing.

Summary: The Prince returns from the island of time to Babylon with the Empress of Time, Kaileena. This is where the story may get confusing. If you didn't get the alternate ending in popww, you might want to check that out. I had a lot of fun with this game, I just thought the others were better (then again popww was my fav. of the 3). The graphics in the game can sometimes get a little glitchy and wierd at moments. Otherwise, they're great. The music throughout the game was appropriate and similar to the music of popsot. The only problem with this was that Farah's vioce was very different from the first game, and the change displeased me.Otherwise, I loved the music and the voice acting. The new speed kill system put some exitment into the gameplay, but sometimes can get repetative, so I just went into the free-form fighting style, which really gave some variety to the combat gameplay, and the way you can exacute your enemies. Platforming is better than ever, with few slow, too confusing, and boring puzzles. Time travel is still avalible with more of the same from the other games. Boss battles are awesome, and much better than popww's and popsot's bosses. Some of the bosses used the new speed kill system, use of the enviroment around you, and time control abilities, which makes these new bosses better than ever! One problem I found in the game was the Dark Prince. He may be stronger than the Prince, but he doesn't seem strong enough. I would think if you were him, you could just instantly kill and be rid of enemies, and not have to constantly swing the daggertail around. Plus, as the Dark Prince your constantly loosing health, which can get annoying because it doesn't stop going down 'till your dead. The Dark Prince does add a lot of variety to the gameplay, but I don't think it's good variety. Another new feature is the choriot races. These are fun, challenging, and fast paced levels in which I think you'll enjoy. Overall, I would recomend this game to anyone who even has the smallest intrest about ant aspect of this game. I would give it a 9/10.