There was some criticism of the radical changes to art direction, story and play mechanics, in particular the reduction of difficulty, the removal of “death,” and the semi-automated acrobatic process. In large part, Forgotten Sands feels like a paranoid rebuttal to the tepid response both gamers and critics gave to the 2008 Prince of Persia game. Time, and the sound effects, while appropriate, don’t add much punch or exercise a surround sound system. The music makes a return to the more orchestrated, fairy-tale and ethnic qualities of Sands of Lowenthal is still comfortable with this role and it shows in dialogue. The happy-go-lucky, “good ol’ boy” delivery has been restored to a more sophisticated tone.

The same goes for the audio of the game, with Nolan North, aka Nathan Drake of Uncharted fame, not reprising his previous role, and the return of Yuri Lowenthal, who voiced the original Prince in Sands of Time and The Two Thrones. It’s almost as if Ubisoft simply returned to the initial concepts and designs of Sands of Time and redid them for the current generation. The environments have obviously been slapped with a shiny new coat of high definition paint, but a certain familiarity for fans of the series begins to set in when yet another bath house level is revealed, or the tower clambering level, or hazardous halls of traps level. Like so many things about Forgotten Sands, the story and the graphics fall “somewhere in between.” Multi-platform games such as Capcom’s Resident Evil 5 have proven that games that aren’t exclusive to a console can still boast breathtaking graphics, but Forgotten Sands, while by no means an ugly game, shows a solid competency in both technical proficiency and art direction that never quite reaches truly inspired heights.

Prince of persia old