Maybe you've never played a Prince of Persia game. Well, allow me to bring you up to speed: The Prince of Persia games tell the story of the titular Prince, taking you through his fall in the Sands of Time, his soul-searching in Warrior Within, and concluding with his attempt at redemption in Two Thrones. It's pretty heavy sounding stuff, I know, but it's charmingly written, at times touching, and always light-hearted. Sometimes the story falls a little flat, or comes across a little cheesy (especially in Warrior Within), but overall it's a satisfying yarn worth completing.
After booting up the Prince of Persia Trilogy you're given the option to jump into any of his older adventures. Once you've decided between The Sands of Time, Warrior Within, or The Two Thrones, you're launched into the HD remake of the selected game. Each has all the same menus and music as the originals, but this time around it's been made to look great on wide-screen TVs. Just don't expect to switch rapidly between the games, because it seems that once you make a selection you're stuck in that game until you quit to the main PS3 menu.
Along with the widescreen support, all three games are presented at a higher resolution. The resulting HD graphics aren't going to blow your mind (this is the same engine as the original games, after all), but they do hold up surprisingly well. The giant vistas and beautiful scenery of the Prince games still looks great all these years later. And, if you have a 3D TV, you can experience all of the Prince's adventures in the next dimension, as the entire franchise has been reworked to take advantage of the new 3D craze.
The story's worth paying attention to, but the main reason to play the Prince series is its fantastic platforming. The Prince is absurdly agile, capable of running along walls, jumping incredible distances, and doing gymnastic feats that would make an Olympian envious. Using his skills, you navigate a series of perilous environments, dodging traps and reaching spots that would be, for a lesser man, completely unreachable.
The Prince may be capable of amazing feats, but he's still human and will fail. And when the Prince fails he fails hard, often falling absurd distances or impaling himself on a spike. Not to worry, though, because in all three games he has the ability to rewind time. When you inevitably mortally wound the Prince in one of the more difficult platforming parts, you can, assuming you have some Sands of Time, go back a few moments and try again. It was a defining feature of the franchise all those years ago when it returned in 2003, and it still works well today. It makes the inexplicable moments where the Prince seems to ignore my commands and jump in the wrong direction more tolerable.
When the Prince isn't busy pulling off moves that would make Batman jealous, he's slashing apart enemies with a blade. Combat across all the Prince of Persia games is fun, challenging you to manipulate and control skirmishes with several enemies. Of course the Prince has a few advantages to help him, including his cat-like agility and ability to rewind time. The combat in the franchise has never been as good as some of its contemporaries like God of War, but it's still a fun break from the platforming.
Verdict
The Prince of Persia Trilogy is a great option for fans looking to play through the beloved franchise again, or for newcomers to check it out with a fresh coat of paint. Not all of the Prince of Persia games are created equal, and there will be times when the story will fall flat on its face, but ultimately all of these games are worth playing – especially at this price.
