Wii Game Review: Prince of Persia-The Forgotten Sands

I've recently started playing through 'Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands' for the Nintendo Wii. First note, I have had absolutely zero play time with the 360 or PS3 ports of the game. This review is solely for the Wii version.  Nor have I played any of the Prince of Persia games since pretty much the original (years ago).

For starters, I was pretty impressed with this title.  Especially for a Wii game (which has taken some bad hits due to more mature audiences not finding many games to it's liking).  For me, I immediately found the game very immersing and fun.  The game starts off at a pretty fast pace, and throws you into the mix of combat and puzzle solving prettying quickly.



This game is not a movie-tie-in game.  Yes, the Prince resembles Jake Gyllenhall's portrayal of Prince Destin; however, the new version of the Prince also sports a pretty heavy duty gauntlet that kicks me back to the recent cell-shaded PoP game.  The story this time around hooks the Prince up with a genie (which looks like a pixie type creature that accompanies the Prince) that has agreed to give the Prince a kingdom and a princess.  The genie fails to mention that to get his wishes he has to follow through the sand and into a kingdom that time has long forgot.  The genie grants the Prince vision to see the Kingdom as it was, and from there you start to combat some plant like creatures and make your way through the mess and rumble and traps to rescue the Kingdom and the Princess.

Most of the puzzels (so far at least) pretty much involve you guiding the Prince to the exit of each room or area.  I like the ability to press the '-' key on the Wiimote to get a birds eye view on the room when you are trying to get to a particular goal.  It's nice to be able to just zoom out and see where to head next.

The controls are pretty similar to most action titles on the Wii.  Shaking the Wiimote and Nunchuck executes attacks, the Nunchuck is used for controlling the Prince and camera; meanwhile, the Wiimote is used to utilize your 'creation abilities' and enable magical hooks (hand holds for climbing) on power pads.  Other powers include making whirlwinds to shoot you up to the next hand hold (to name a few).  Controls at times can seem a little clunky; but fortunately, nothing that has hindered my gameplay.

The sound and music are great, the sound fits in with the setting having (like in the old Indiana Jones movies).  So far, I have completed the first boss fight (the temple Guardian) and that fight was pretty intense, and to my satisfaction took about 10 minutes and quite a bit of thinking to get past.  I like games that still make me think.

The graphics are pretty sweet.  For a Wii game I was pretty impressed.  I have become spoiled to playing games that 'look good'; but more often than not, those games don't offer the gameplay and satisfaction that other games afford.  This game, offers both. 

Overall, 'Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands' is a great game.  I highly recommend it to anyone who is a fan of adventure games.  If you own a Wii, be sure not to miss this one.