Although it features a snazzy name, Ubisoft's upcoming Wii game, Prince of Persia: Rival Swords does not expand the critically acclaimed series. A port of the 2005 hit, The Two Thrones, it covers familiar territory. At the same time, however, the developers fused it with the system's remote and nunchuk, exploiting the machine's motion sensitive abilities to deliver a far more interactive adventure, one that'll have Prince of Persia fans and newcomers swinging their arms like crazy people.
Scarred by his battles on the Island of Time, the handsome Prince returns to Babylon, bringing with him the beautiful Empress of Time, Kaileena. Unfortunately, he discovers his home in ruins, and discovers that Kaileena was murdered. Pissed off and eager to slice a few thousand necks, the hero inserts himself into the conflict, lopping off heads and limbs while performing tons of acrobatic moves. At the same time, he must contend with the evil Dark Prince, a powerful force that possesses him as time goes on.
Similar to previous Prince of Persia games, players carve up enemies, solve puzzles and navigate ledges and chasms, except in this case, they use the Wii remote and nunchuk to get around instead of the standard control setup. The nunchuk's analog stick maneuvers the prince, while Z allows people to throw objects. C, on the other hand, slows down time, giving players the opportunity to correct mistakes.
As for the remote, gamers jump with A and run along walls with B. By stringing everything together, they'll dash, leap onto a wall, run along and then make a near impossible jump. Now add life like animation to the mix, and Rival Swords becomes one of the more thrilling action adventure games on the market.
While the game contains plenty of puzzles to solve, combat plays a huge role. To operate the Prince's two razor sharp swords players swing the remote to operate his right hand and the nunchuk to move his left. What ensues is fast-paced and lethal sword slashes, with heads flying off and blood spewing everywhere. They can also perform stealth kills, achieved by sneaking up behind an enemy, waiting for the screen to blur and then quickly bringing the nunchuk down. These executions present a more visceral, up close view of death, as the Prince skewers his foes and dismembers them. In addition, players will master the Dark Prince's moves, though it remains to be seen whether the same controls apply.
For those that played The Two Thrones, Rival Swords offers little to come back to, though newcomers should check the game out, as it provides plenty of action and impressive cut scenes. Look for it on April 3.
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