In the 80's, back in the day when the Apple II was the machine of choice for PC gaming, Jordan Mechner introduced a classic adventure game called Prince of Persia, which gained great critical accolades and managed to keep gamers excited because of its sense of adventure. Showing that you can improve upon a good thing, Ubisoft released Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time last year with an improved control mechanism, beautiful graphics, and fantastic level design. So where to go from here, after producing a game of the year candidate? Simple- a little bit deeper.

That's where Prince of Persia: Warrior Within comes into play. The game takes place years after the events of Sands of Time, and the Prince has seen better days. Following the completion of the first adventure, the Prince remains haunted by his releasing of the Sands of Time. He still holds the powers of time itself, and that makes him a marked man. He's been constantly hunted by a time demon known as Dahaka, eager to end his plight of the Sands of Time and terminate his life (thus the whole "his fate is sealed" thing in the ads). The Prince, desperate to survive the nearly indestructible beast, decides that the only way to stop him is to make sure the Sands of Time never existed, and to travel back in time and eliminate the Empress of Time, a woman who's got more up her sleeve than he thinks.

Most of the game takes place in the Empress' fortress, where the Prince must navigate his way through trickily-designed rooms in the past and the present in order to proceed. Warrior Within introduces a neat little time travel gimmick that allows you to go back and forth through different areas, and you can see the effects that change with each travel. This extends the game length greatly, as it'll take 15+ hours to complete. The levels themselves can be rather tricky to navigate, as platforms appear to be out of reach, and switches have to be hit to activate something that's only got so much time before it slams shut. Fortunately, the Prince still has plenty of moves like the wall run (where he scampers along the side of a wall to reach an otherwise inaccessible area) and the ability to hang from poles and ledges. He can also slide down tapestries and curtains, a neat little feature that allows him to access deeper areas without falling to his doom.

The time features also return, with the Prince being able to "rewind time" to avoid a fatal mistake that would cost his precious life bar. He can also slow down time during combat and to escape certain parts of an area that would pretty much finish him off at normal speed. Speaking of combat, the Prince manages to have some new moves, whether he's wielding one sword or packing two blades for his pleasure. The one-sword gameplay is pretty sweet, allowing our hero to choke and throw enemies while jumping and slicing as before. But the dual-weapon fighting is excellent, allowing for some deeper combos and some sick, bloody decapitations and precision cuts that make defeating the enemy that much more satisfying. The game also contains some chase sequences, where the Prince must escape the deadly grasp of the Dahaka before it sucks him away. And lest we forget the boss fights, including an impressive battle with an armored ape that forces you to attack him on his head while he tries to shrug you off. Overall, I was pleased with the gameplay, and how the great stuff from the first game merged with some new additions.

One thing that was really great when Sands of Time came out was the excellent graphic presentation, and how deep and complex some of the level designs got. Well, multiply that by two with Warrior Within, as the levels are even bigger this time around and take a bit more figuring out. The presentation is still absolutely fantastic, with some great animation on the Prince and his enemies and a frame rate that remains pretty steady, for the most part. The in-game cut sequences look fine and boost along the story, and some of the puzzles in the later part of the game really tax the brain, making you work on how to proceed. Granted, the new darker look of the game may not be for everyone, as the adventurous spirit of the first game takes a turn because of this. But those who are familiar with the series should easily adjust.

The Xbox edition of Warrior Within also contains some Xbox Live support. While the game doesn't contain full-on online play, it does contain a couple of arena and obstacle course challenges where you can show off your scores to other players and see who's the best warrior out there. It's not the most manic of competitions, but it's still a nice touch.

So is Warrior Within perfect? Not really. First off, the challenge may be a bit much for some players to overcome, and the Mature rating of the game shut out some of the younger players who easily got into Sands of Time. Plus, the Prince himself seems like a changed man, a bit more arrogant and not as heroic as before. Some people may have a hard time to accept that, especially when you consider his origins from the Jordan Mechner product of the past. Furthermore, the audio needs a bit more work. Some of the voice work is great, but the dialogue gets downright cheesy. I also didn't like the soundtrack that much, loaded with some hard rock tunes instead of the typical adventure themes. I guess Ubisoft Montreal was trying to go for a more heavy-metal like approach to the Prince's new appearance, but, to me, it doesn't work.

That's not to say that Prince of Persia: Warrior Within is a bad game, because it certainly isn't. The adventure is a well-made one with a great story with a couple of nice twists, killer visual presentation, and some gameplay factors that make the game enjoyable to come back to, even for something as simple as a few head loppings. But with more focus on the audio and character development, this could've been an instant classic, just like Sands of Time was.