More than a year after the Prince of Persia trilogy wrapped with the awesome Two Thrones, the acrobatic adventure series has finally made its way to the Wii with Prince of Persia: Rival Swords. But while the title's new, don't be fooled - unlike the feature-rich PSP version, Rival Swords is just Two Thrones with fancy motion-sensitive controls.
That's a little disappointing, but it's not exactly bad. Repackaged or no, Rival Swords is still a kickass adventure from start to finish, and the Wii controls - while they can be hit or miss - definitely add to the experience. Think Zelda with an acrobatic twist, with the Nunchuk's thumbstick used to run around and shakes of the Wii remote used to attack.
It's a setup that works brilliantly for some things and horribly for others; for example, attacking by swinging the remote for the Prince's right hand or the Nunchuk for his left? Awesome. Running along walls by squeezing the remote's trigger? Great. Trying to dash up a wall and stab the Prince's dagger into a hole by shaking the remote? Not so much. Overall, though, the game adapts to the new controls better than you'd think, and if you never played Two Thrones, then Rival Swords deserves a look.
Like Two Thrones, Rival Swordsopens withthe Prince returning hometo Babylon to find it in flames. It seems that by mucking around with the past in PoP: Warrior Within, he's unwittingly resurrected one of his greatest enemies. Said enemy sacks Babylon and unleashes the deadly Sands of Time, turninghis soldiersinto monsters. Now Babylon is infested with sand zombies, the Prince is hunted through the streets and, worst of all, he’s lost his shirt again.
Despite the downer of an opening, Rival Swordsmarks a return to the lighter, more adventurous tone of The Sands of Time, as well as to the puzzles that made that game great. There are still plenty of enemies to fight, but now there’s a much greater focus on leaping, running and climbing your way through baroque deathtraps. These bits are challenging, but the solutions are usually obvious enough to not break your momentum as you hurtle through them. And if you screw up, the Prince can slow down or reversetime, letting you undo any boneheaded mistakes.
