Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time looks good, sounds great and does everything in between just right. Although the game shares its graphical engine (or at least pieces of it) with Splinter Cell, PoPtakes a less realistic approach in its graphical style. Character designs, which admittedly get a little repetitive after seeing your 10th sand warrior in a row, look great. Animation is also top notch, especially when the prince begins to break out his acrobatic moves. The prince can run up walls, jump, dive and twist in nearly any direction, as well as sword fight with the best of them. If you thought Dante was the king of slick moves, you'd better look again. Where Prince of Persia really shows its graphical prowess is in the special effects department. Neat lighting and particle effects dot every nook and cranny of the palace and set up a great atmosphere. Then, of course, there's always the amazingly realistic fabric.

The visuals are matched only by the sound. Music comes at a premium in the game and kicks in only during the intense moments of the game such as combat or major plot developments. The music you do hear is a mix of Arabian-theme sand guitar riffs that fit with the game's stylish moves. Other sound effects, like sword swooshes and clangs work, but aren't anything overly special. Lastly, the voice acting is well done. Some of the little quips during the game are really worth listening for, such as when Farrah experiences deja vu after the prince uses the Dagger of Time.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time takes the action game approach to story and doesn't bog you down with too many details. There are no lengthy cut scenes or journeys into the dark, 'my mother didn't hug me' psyche of the prince. Instead, you're told right off the bat that the prince wants revenge on the vizier for tricking him into unleashing the Sands of Time, thus turning everyone into sand zombies and unleashing chaos. There are a few intricacies that are thrown in as the game progresses, but the core focus on the game is the gameplay. The major focus of the game is the prince's abilities to walk on walls, jump super long distances and pull off all kinds of acrobatic feats. Think Spider-man without the tights and web shooters and you've got a good idea of what this guy can do.

Unlike most action games, a big part of PoP is comprised of puzzle solving, but these aren't puzzles in the traditional sense. Each level is basically a large puzzle where you have to get the prince from point A to point B. This is easier said then done since the distance between the two points is far from a straight line and littered with all kinds of traps, collapsing floors, spike pits and other fun tricks. Combat pops up about as much as the music (as it should since music only really pops up during combat) and does not play that big of a role in the overall scheme of things. When you do encounter combat situations (which is usually the first time you enter a room and only then), they are pretty intense and showcase just as much fluidity and style as the puzzles elements. The overall combat system is surprisingly deep for a platformer, but we'll get to this later.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is a different kind of beast, making the difficulty gauge pretty, well... difficult. Part of the initial challenge is getting used to the game's way of handling things. This is certainly a trap I fell into numerous times where I would sit for hours experimenting with numerous jumps and double-jumps trying to get across a gap when all I really had to do was wall-run. Needless to say, this leads to many instances where you feel pretty stupid for not seeing the plain-as-day answer.

Solving puzzles and navigating levels involves a lot of timing and trial-and-error gameplay, meaning you'll lose more than a few lives in the process. Although this usually spells out doom for most games, it is more than manageable in PoP thanks to the inclusion of the Sands of Time. In addition to turning everyone into sand zombies, the Sands of Time also allow the wielder of the Dagger of Time to manipulate time. This allows you to rewind time a few seconds, thus allowing you to fix a mistake. So if you time a jump wrong or fall in combat, you'll be able to reverse it. The dagger also grants you the ability to stop time, locking an enemy in a sort of stasis; fast-forward time, allowing you to take out multiple enemies quickly; or slow time, allowing you more time to think when multiple enemies are attacking you. This power is, of course, limited in its use (you need to collect sand to make it work), adding one more layer of challenge to the game.

As a bit of a side note, a young girl named Farrah accompanies the prince in his journey. While her presence helps to facilitate the story and certain puzzles, I found her to be more of a liability than anything else. Farrah is armed with a bow that she will use, but only when being threatened. I found myself having to defend her more times than she seemed to make a real contribution to combat.

The controls do a great job of making you look good while not having to memorize pages of combos and moves. Getting into the swing of combat is very easy and shouldn't prove too much of a hassle, thanks to the context sensitive action buttons. Pressing X or R1 in different areas will produce different results. For example, pressing R1 when running towards a wall will make the prince run up it. When the same button is pressed while in combat, it causes him to block. The system does come with a hang up or two, such as when the prince may accidentally run up a wall in combat when you want him to block the guy to the left of you. This doesn't happen too often though. The X button also produces the same effects and allows to you jump and roll depending on what you're trying to do at that moment.

Getting back the combat system (all the way from two sections ago), taking care of multiple enemies is stylish, but can also be one of the more frustrating aspects of the game. Overall, the combat system is built to take on multiple enemies, but the timing can feel a little off at times. For example, after being knocked on the ground, it's not uncommon for enemies to kick you while you're down. This isn't too much of a problem since you can block while lying on the ground, but I ran into a few instances where the enemy would knock me to the ground and another would hit me right after that -- giving me no chance to block. Considering how much damage enemies do, this will lead to some deaths that even the Dagger of Time can't prevent. Pressing X in combat allows the prince to run over and flip behind enemies -- granting him a considerable edge. Other edges can be gained depending on where you're standing. Pressing some simple button combos (never said there weren't any) allow the prince to pull off moves such as counter-attacks and launching himself off walls into attackers.

Manipulating time is easy, but can get confusing if you don't pull things off just right. Holding down the L1 button will reverse time while tapping it will slow time. There were times where I would reverse time when I meant to slow it, so you have to keep you head in things. When enemies are trapped in a stasis (which is performed by pressing the triangle button), pressing square twice allows you to unleash a combo that instantly kills them. Entering the fast-forward mode is a little more complicated, and requires you to hit both shoulder buttons, as well as targeting enemies with the analog stick and hitting square twice. This sounds more complicated than it actually is and can be pulled off rather easily once you get the hang of it.

By all accounts, I should not like Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Although I love platformers to death, I despise overly complicated jumping puzzles and bottomless pits. Hell, I don't think I've even met anyone who likes those things. Yet, these are the core gameplay elements that make up PoP and I could really care less. Odd how things work out, huh? Highly recommended.