Sound: 8.5
Graphics: 9
Gameplay: 9
Replay: 5
Multiplayer: No

Ubisoft has earned the respect of a lot of people over the past couple of years. Their biggest hits have arguably been a result of their partnership with Tom Clancy. They have awed gamers with intriguing storylines mixed with solid gameplay and amazing graphics, something that very few developers manage to do. Games such as Splinter Cell, Rainbow Six 3, and the Ghost Recon franchise have turned the heads of many people into Ubisoft's direction. Their upcoming games Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow and Ghost Recon: Jungle Storm are receiving a ton of hype. However, can Ubisoft pull it off without Tom Clancy's help?

If this isn't enough to prove Ubisoft can think up some great storylines, I don't know what is. This game draws you in right from the beginning and doesn't let go. By far the most impressive aspect of this game is the gameplay. You can interact with just about everything in the game and you have to in order to accomplish your objectives. Prince of Persia is quite different from the other Ubisoft games, however. It is a cross between the Myst series and Kingdom Hearts (a lot of games would fit this half, but this is the first one that popped into my mind). It involves a lot of puzzle solving and thinking but some pretty good hack and slash fighting as well.

Luckily, this game doesn't have too many downsides. I'm not sure if the problem with the sound is in my copy of the game or is in all of them, but a SERIOUS problem is that as soon as the main character starts talking in cutscenes I can barely hear a word they are saying without having to turn up the volume a lot. And then as soon as the action starts happening again, it is WAY too loud and I have to turn the volume back down. If this is a problem present in all the games then it really should have been worked out prior to release.

I don't have any complaints in the graphics or gameplay departments. They are both rock solid. Some people would probably complain about the difficulty of many parts of the game but really it just requires you to think and when executing certain moves it requires timing. Once you can do those two things (the first one may be hard for a lot of you) then this game becomes extremely enjoyable and you actually feel like you accomplished something (albeit something quite small, it's not a hair pulled like Maximo: Ghost to Glory).

The replay is definately disappointing. There is no reason to come back. No cooperative play (having the chick be controlled by a friend would have been a good addition), no characters to unlock, not much character upgrading, no places to "explore" as most of the levels are actually not very big, although they look it at first glance. The game is just a little straightforward and short. There is no announced content download (although it is possible for Xbox Live users if Ubisoft ever wants to). Really, new characters, clothes, weapons, unlockable levels, cooperative play, etc, would have added a lot of replay to this game. Once your done, your done.

Alright, now that the few downsides to this game were announced, let's move on to the good sides, and there is a lot of them. The sound is awesome. The voice casting is very good. The dialogue is excellent and the choices for the voices are very good. The sounds of shimmying up poles and running on walls makes you fell as if you are actually there. The grunts of failing a double jump (and if you're high up when you're doing it, the extreme loss of life) makes you really work. The music is decent, but nothing overly special. I have heard better in movies of similar genre and would have liked to have heard some better Arabian music in this game.

The graphics are gorgeous in this game. The characters are very detailed from facial features down to their clothing. Environments are well modelled. Rock shavings tear off as you jump off of walls or run accross them. Backgrounds look very good. The monsters and the lighting effects are solid in this game. When you stab the sand creatures with your dagger they will convincingly glow yellow. Motions are fluid, which is my favorite part of the graphics. No matter what the character is doing, hanging by his fingertips from a ledge, rolling under blades and coming within an inch of his life, etc, everything moves smoothly. It looks as if the character is actually doing it. Bodyparts don't go through walls and hands don't sink beneath the ledges. Very nice.

Gameplay is easily the best and most important aspect of this game. There are a TON of moves in your arsenal to complete your objective (however the problem is that their is still only one way to actually complete that objective and in most cases only one way to do anything right, which reminds me of Splinter Cell and how you HAVE to follow a specific path). From running thirty feet along a wall to avoid falling into a pit of spikes to running up a wall and then jumping off the side, reaching the wall across from it, and repeating until you feel like you are in a Jackie Chan movie, this game is deep in gameplay. You are forced into perform a specific series of these types of moves in order to reach the next area.

Combat in this game is under par, however. It really could have been a lot better. It gets boring as the game goes on because it is really just a matter of repeating most of the same moves over and over and over again. Flip over your opponent, stab him in the back, knock him on the ground, stab him with the dagger to absorb the Sands of Time. Repeat this process on the next character. Sure, you earn some moves as the game goes on but it essentially still boils down to the same thing. Absorbing the Sands of Time from every single monster you fight becomes a tedious process.

I don't even want to go into the replay again. I already explained how this game is SERIOUSLY lacking in this department. So, skipping it and avoiding flaming at this game any more, I will move on. This game is really not worth buying. No downloadable content, no multiplayer, no unlockables, nothing. Rent the game, beat it in a couple of days, and have fun doing it. This game is extremely fun while it lasts, but sadly, it doesn't last long enough.