by:	January 10, 2005

One can very easily start playing Prince of Persia: Warrior Within without playing any of the previous Prince of Persia games, including The Sands of Time, but in doing so will lose the magic of the story and the overall game. I would highly suggest that anyone wanting to play this should at least play Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time before hand, if you haven’t already. While Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and Prince of Persia: Warrior Within stories are intertwined, the mood and the atmosphere coming from them are completely different. The Sands of Time offers a storybook type feel to it with bright colors and peaceful environments, while Warrior Within completely abandons that setting and pulls everything into a much grimmer/darker surrounding. Fortunately for the series, it was a safe, successful move by Ubisoft.

Story
Prince of Persia: Warrior Within takes place a few years after the end of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time where the Prince has returned to his hometown of Babylon. The Prince intends on leading a normal life continuing with the events that occurred in The Sands of Time, but fate feels differently. The Prince is now being hunted by a mythical creature called The Dahaka bent on one purpose only, the Prince’s destruction. By saving the destruction of the Sultan’s palace in The Sands of Time, the Prince has created a rift in the Timeline, thus spawning the Dahaka who only intends on destroying the Prince, which would correct what was wronged in the Timeline. The Prince no longer wants this life on the run and constant fear of his impending doom. So he seeks guidance from a mystical Old Man who lives within Babylon. The Old Man explains the reason for the Dahaka to the Prince and warns the Prince of his inevitable death. The Prince however, is unwilling to accept this fact and now intends on changing his fate yet again. He believes that if he could travel into the past and stop the ultimate creation of the Sands of Time, then he would have yet again overruled his fate, which would cause the Dahaka to vanish. So the Prince’s journey begins here. The Prince immediately sets sail for the birthplace island of the Sands of Time with only one purpose and one intention, to travel to the past and stop the Sands of Time from ever being created.

Gameplay
The same gameplay that you loved from Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is back again, but slightly revamped and slightly different overall. The most noticeable change that everyone will like is the Prince being able to use two weapons at once, instead of just one as in the Sands of Time, one in each hand. Almost every enemy drops a weapon when you kill them and can be picked up by the Prince and used instantly. The secondary weapons you can pick up from dead enemies include rapiers, swords, maces, axes and daggers. When picking up a new weapon, your combat system is completely changed and altered from just one weapon. With two weapons the Prince can now combine a wide variety of new combos and finishing moves to kill your enemies. A lot of the combos used by two weapons will occasionally trigger a really cool slow motion camera as you perform spins and slices with both weapons flinging blood and bodies everywhere. Another option with a second weapon allows the Prince to throw the weapon at enemies nearby damaging only one. On very rare occasions this will also bring in a slow motion attack camera and on an even rarer occasion will the weapon cut off the enemies’ heads for an instant kill.



However, do not think that having two weapons in hand is always the best combat decision. With just his main weapon in hand, the Prince has many different options than he does with two weapons. The most widely used will be the Y button, which causes the Prince to vault over and land behind his enemies when no other buttons are combined after pressing Y, just leaving enemies open for back attacks. When Y is combined with another button such as X, B or Y again will do different attacks. Pressing X will bring the Prince down from the vault with a slashing attack into the enemies’ back, but also when pressed at a right time, on occasion the Prince will perfectly slice his blade into the enemies’ next and chop their head off with one swift movement. Pressing B afterwards will bring the Prince behind the enemy and will start a strangling attack. Keep tapping B over and over and the Prince will eventually choke the enemy to death. Also depending on what weapon the enemy has, when you press B and what directions and other button combinations you press, the Prince will sometimes steal the enemies weapon and attack them with it in the process. The most memorable, coolest and goriest is the Prince reaching in front of the enemy from behind, stealing his weapon and slicing the enemies’ head off with both weapons at the same time (blood squirts everywhere). Finally, tapping Y again will either kick the enemy forward at other enemies or throw the enemy behind you as you do a roll backwards, depending on how it is pressed.

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