Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands
Tags: violence

Plot synopsis:
=== Setting ===
The Forgotten Sands returns to the storyline established by Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, and concluded by Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones. On December 14, 2009, Ubisoft UK released the first details of the story on their official video portal.
The game takes place in the seven-year gap between Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and Prince of Persia: Warrior Within. The Prince character is supposed to be a cross between the character models in these two games. He is again voiced by Yuri Lowenthal.
=== Plot ===
Note: This plot is the one found in the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC versions of the game.
The Prince is riding through a desert on his horse, on a quest to see his brother, Malik, and learn about leadership from him. When the Prince arrives at Malik's kingdom, he finds it under attack by an army which is attempting to breach the treasure vaults for a great power known as "Solomon's Army". The Prince charges in to the city, and tracks Malik to the treasure vaults. Here, Malik says that he is fighting a losing battle and proposes to rely on a last resort or be forced to retreat. The Prince strongly objects, but Malik releases Solomon's Army using a magical seal. Solomon's Army is an assortment of different creatures, all made of sand. The Prince and Malik both manage to obtain halves of the seal used to keep the army contained, protecting them from being turned into sand statues, which is the fate of the rest of the kingdom.
Malik is separated from the Prince, who finds a portal to the domain of Razia, a Djinn of the Marid race. Razia tells the Prince that the only way to re-imprison Solomon's Army is to reunite both halves of the seal. Razia gives the Prince special powers and sends him to find Malik, and the other half of the seal. When the Prince finds Malik, he is not interested in stopping Solomon's Army, but instead wants to destroy it and use its power to become a more powerful leader. This is explained by Razia: whereas the Prince is using the power gifted to him by Razia, Malik is using power taken directly from those he defeats. The Army's sand is gradually affecting his mind, making him susceptible to Ratash's influence. The Prince again sets out to find Malik, but this time to forcibly take his half of the seal. When he finds him, Malik is stronger and manages to escape. Pursuing Malik again, the Prince finds Ratash, Ifrit leader of the Army, searching for the seal. After the Prince outruns him, he concludes Ratash must now be chasing Malik, and so sets out to aid him. The Prince arrives in the throne room to find Malik and Ratash fighting, and he aids Malik. The Prince and Malik seem to kill Ratash, and Malik absorbs his power, shattering his half of the seal. Malik then runs off, seemingly in a hysterical fit, using some of Ratash's powers to escape.
The Prince pursues him, and again finds Razia. Razia explains that Ratash cannot be killed by any ordinary sword, and that what actually happened was quite different from what the Prince saw: Ratash has actually killed Malik, and possessed his body. The Prince doesn't believe this, and sets out to find the Djinn Sword, hidden in the ancient city of Rekem, which Razia says can kill Ratash. Along the way, the Prince chases Malik, now being used by Ratash to retake the Ifrit's original form. The Prince loses a battle to Ratash and, convinced his brother is truly dead, finds the Djinn Sword. Razia soon bonds with the sword, giving it the power needed to destroy Ratash. The Prince again searches for Ratash. When he finds him, Ratash is now gigantic, literally fed by the sandstorm which has come over the palace. The Prince uses the sword to kill Ratash, and, when the sandstorm subsides, he finds Malik dying. Malik says to tell their father that Prince will be as mighty a leader as Solomon, then dies. In an epilogue, the Prince tells of how he took the sword back to Rekem, where he thought Razia would want to rest, and how he must now set out to inform his father of Malik's death.
=== Characters ===
The Prince: Fresh from his adventures in Azad, the prince is now stuck in a new epic adventure
Malik: The Prince's older brother, who unwisely releases the Sand army to save his kingdom
Razia: A mysterious woman and queen of the Marid, who endows the prince with control over water and time
King Solomon: The ruler of the whole empire, and ally to Razia
Ratash: The main antagonist, an Ifrit who attacks Malik's Kingdom

Review: Wait, what is this grainy stuff I'm walking on, again?. At some point(I have no idea where this fits into the Sands of Time trilogy, since it has none of the titular time powers, but it must be after the first and before the second, and that makes no sense as there's no mention of the Dahaka... anyway, it's the same dude), the Prince(who's back to incessantly whining) goes out in search of a kingdom to call home. He's led to the cursed ruins(complete with a trapped princess) of one(that he has to clean up before he could possibly claim it... I guess because otherwise, there'd be no game) by the genie(or djann... a female djinn; and no, I hadn't heard that word, either; no three wishes thing though, she's just his sidekick throughout, granting him magic powers that I'll describe later) Zahra(who a friend of yours can join in for co-op to play as... then again, it's really "meh" what they'll get to do, so you may not be doing it much), who enjoys long walks along lethal areas, being called by her name and going into stone statues and asking Prince to kiss her(I guess making up for the fact that her lips never move... she also badly needs to start paying her hairdresses to get those scissors out, she's liable to slip in it... or would be, if she weren't flying all the time). The theme this time around is plants, and it's just as lame as it sounds. This has by far the least memorable enemies(and little versatility), though the scenery sometimes makes up for it with breathtaking scope(and outer space! Sort of). You'll go through some areas more than once, similar to Warrior Within. Thankfully the level design is reasonable(so it isn't too bad), if there are few challenging spots, especially early on, and the puzzles don't get tough until late. This has an appropriate length, around the same as the other recent ones. The visual FX are pretty simple(a *lot* of glowy crap, it seems like they went through the entire color pallet on that one), and this even cannibalizes the "eerie life-up" area of SoT, and it's far less effective here. This has about the same game-play as worked in the others(one great thing is that we get a white trailing line showing if you can make a manoeuvre and the like... they should have implemented this way sooner; they do streamline the crap out of this, and it takes away a lot of danger), if the fighting(with only one sword at a time now... and he holds it backhandedly, I guess to show off) is slower(...why? It's also less like a speedy chess match now... and awkward, for no reason; you do still "enter" combat, and the amount is appropriate; they also seem to eliminate a lot of moves; and the Gauntlet punching(from the '08 one that I have not tried yet), for breaking the opponent's block, is largely useless), they try to epic the heck out of the usual jumps(that you can do all the time(and it now doubles as special action)... the roll got its own key, a hard to reach one) and such(slow-motion? In fantasy?). What adds to it, and makes the acrobatic aspect that is key to these seem fresh anew(quite an accomplishment) is the Creation Powers. Pointing the Wii-Mote(note that this console version appears to be completely different from the one for the others) at a wall and you can create a hook to grab and climb by or at the floor and you can create a tornado to hurl you upwards, and if you press the button mid-air, you can create a sphere to float in. They won't move from where you activate them, and you can only do one of each at a time, so you still have to use the path they want you to... if you can occasionally customize the exact approach. This does get to be fun, exciting and intense, and all in all, if you enjoy these(I can't get enough of them), you'll want to get this one, too. There's a hint system that can come in handy(some are really "duh"). The camera can really screw you over, you can partially turn and then it'll reset it automatically, and it'd be nice if it showed you if you'd die from going over a ledge or if there's something down there for you. Panoramic view is excessively distant. There's a retro 2D portion(also one map(there are a handful, they vary in quality) that is kind of cool, one of the surprisingly few and unremarkable unlockables... only four videos, and all about animation?), it's nowhere near as good as the experience in the old and feels thrown in. This comes with either the original '89 one or the '92 re-release(the cover and the disc disagree on the matter, and I haven't gotten access to it yet). There are a couple of bosses and you tend to go up against them at least twice, and you dodge a bunch then slash, rinse and repeat. The final one is the easiest since the one from the '03 one, and I honestly wonder if there was some last minute change or decision(there's only one difficulty setting, further lowering the replayability). This only has one "push this, gesture this way at this time" bit, reminding us how awesome those are(well, this one is no big deal to complete... at least they learned their lesson from Rival Swords) and making us wish it wasn't the only one in this. You can "cheat" your way past some traps. There are bugs in this, if they tend to be minor. AI is poor(I've seen them kill themselves on "death zones"). The ending is... strange, if OK enough of a conclusion(the twist is obvious right off the bat). There is disturbing content and mild violence(no blood, I think) in this. I recommend this to anyone who loves these(if you don't, you may be disappointed), if it could be a bit better. 7/10