Prince of Persia The Sands of Time Torrent happens in a magical place in the Middle East, all glowing in soft, warm light and resembling something from a fairy tale. You control a young prince who is very good at sports and acrobatics. At the beginning of the game, the prince takes the time dagger, a valuable item from a rival country, as a gift for his father the king. But when his country’s treacherous advisor forces him to use the dagger to unlock another treasure, a big hourglass, everything goes wrong. The sand from the hourglass covers the kingdom and turns its soldiers and people into, well, “sand zombies.”
The prince’s new time dagger has other uses besides causing trouble. It helps defeat the evil in the palace and also makes the prince almost impossible to kill. Usually, if the prince falls or is killed by a sand creature or a trap, he can use the dagger to “rewind” time before the accident. Using this power costs a “sand tank,” which you earn more of as you progress in the game and regain by defeating sand creatures. You won’t run out of sand tanks often, but even if you do, you’ll restart the prince’s story from a recent spot.
The prince has many impressive moves at his disposal. Like a Middle Eastern Spider-Man, he can do amazing things like jumping from wall to wall, running sideways on vertical surfaces, balancing on narrow ledges, swinging from ropes or bars, jumping from pillar to pillar, and more. He’s the most agile character in a game yet, and performing his moves is easy and intuitive. The prince won’t accidentally fall; he’ll grab the ledge automatically if you walk him off one, and you can hang on as long as you need. You use a different button to pull yourself up instead of letting go, so you won’t drop accidentally even when it seems you’re holding on for dear life.
The gameplay comes down to two things: paying attention and timing. First, you need to figure out where you’re going, which is usually clear from the area previews, the “visions,” and markings in the levels showing switches to flip or buttons to press. Then, you have to get there by running along walls, avoiding traps, jumping over gaps, and more. The timing isn’t hard—there’s room for error—and pressing the “jump” button at the right time, to roll under a trap or jump at the right moment, usually works.
Prince of Persia The Sands of Time Torrent is an amazing game—a brilliant, masterful accomplishment. Like Super Mario 64 did with Nintendo’s classic series, it takes the 2D mechanics of the Persia world and puts them into 3D without losing anything, only making improvements. That’s quite impressive. With easy controls, a stunning atmosphere, and clever puzzles, it’s easily one of my favorite adventure games ever, despite the combat system being fun but a bit rough around the edges.
Prince of Persia The Sands of Time Torrent System Requirements
- OS: Windows 98/ME/2000/XP
- Processor: Intel Pentium III
- RAM: 256 MB
- Graphics Card: 64 MB DirectX 9.0c compatible
- DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c
- Hard Drive: 1.5 GB
