Prince Of Persia The Two Thorne

When Ubisoft released Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, it was one of those beautifully extraordinary games that was swallowed whole in a sea of commercialized games both good and bad. Yet the game was able to develop quite a following and why not? It brought back the PC classic and reintroduced it with better visuals, a solid story and great combat. Then came Prince of
Persia: Warrior Within, a darker game but with even better fighting mechanics. Now Ubisoft has spawned a new chapter - one that might not be very different from last year but boy does it offer quite a ride. In Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones we just don’t get one Prince but we get two of them.
Sailing home at last with the Empress Kaileena with him, the Prince returns to Babylon only to be brutally ambushed and left for dead by the remains of his ship. When the Prince wakes up he sees his great city in flames, his people being slaughtered and Kaileena snatched up and taken away. What’s a good Prince to do but rise up and fight back the only way he knows how … with plenty of bloodletting and his acrobatic skills. Yet as he sets out to discover the identity of those who have taken control of his city, the Prince discovers another part of himself - a darker self - that threatens to overtake him and turn him into a far more dangerous threat.

Armed with his usual choice of bladed weapons, the Prince can double-wield two blades and is armed with a number of free-form moves and Speed Kills. The screen blurs when a Speed Kill can be performed and hitting the enemy at the right moment is necessary to pull off a Speed Kill successfully. The free form fighting has been tightened as well but it still allows you to pull off combos and other slick moves anyway you want to so you can be as creative as you want in battle. You can even pick up a sword and throw it at an enemy. The Time Powers are back and they’re helpful in avoiding dangerous traps.

On the graphics front, The Two Thrones looks great on the GameCube. It doesn’t look as amazing as the Xbox version but it still looks so good. The soft lighting from past games makes a return in this game and the slow motion moves look just as amazing. While the cut scenes can look a bit murky on the Cube, the game’s environments and characters look more than decent.

The game’s sound is once again a series highlight with its excellent voice acting that brings each character to life. It’s great to hear the Empress of Time narrate the tale, injecting interesting comments between breaks or when you push the pause button or save the game. The sound effects are also nicely detailed to the point that you’ll hear the wind pass through open shutters or water trickling from a nearby fountain. The game’s score is also a real treat and no different from past games in the series so if you loved it the first time around you’ll love it again.


Without deviating from its familiar free form-fighting and acrobatic style, Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones is still one satisfying and action-packed GameCube game. It’s a bit on the short side, yes, but with a great tale filled with twists and turns and battles aplenty, you won’t help but be drawn into a game that’s well worth the price of admission. If you’re a long-time fan of the series you can’t go wrong with this on..........................................