The Sands of Time trilogy has been a pretty good return to form for the Prince, after he was effectively thrown into the realm of characters maligned beyond hope with the abomination that was Prince of Persia 3D. And I’m glad to say that The Two Thrones wraps up the series with quite a flourish.

The plot continues from the ‘alternate’ ending of Warrior Within, with the Prince returning to his city of Babylon with Kaileena, the Empress of Time, in tow. However, his homecoming does not go as planned, as the city is under attack from an old foe, and our man is put to the test once again.

Babylon is a twisted maze, and the game will have you running through alleys, rooftops, caverns, huge gardens, palatial residences and high towers. Gravity-defying acrobatics have been the main point of this series, and the prince is no slouch in this regard, swinging and jumping around as if he’d never heard of evolution. There are a few more additions here, leading to some fantastic “Ooohh!” moments, like the ability to jump diagonally off shutters and using your dagger to hang from wall vents. These are intuitively implemented and you pick up the knack of pulling it off with ease in no time. It’s only when they’re combined with other perils, like time-based sequences or lethal traps in between that nervous mistakes usually start happening.

And combat is nice and beefy here as well; the double-handed weapon system imported from Warrior Within keeps plenty of options open during combat. And you’ll need them to come out winning; taking on multiple foes head-on is not as much a cakewalk as it was in the last two games. Fortunately, there’s usually an alternative; if you can position the Prince in an advantageous position to get the drop on an unsuspecting enemy, you get the chance to pull off a Stealth/Speed kill, which guarantees a quick kill as long as you get your timing right. Needless to say, it’s very satisfying. By the way, that Sandmaster guy moans like a big sissy when he’s getting his ass kicked.

The major change in the game, however, is the introduction of the Dark Prince. Just to let you know they mean it, he’s actually dark. I mean, black all over. Except for his glowing golden tattoos. You can tell this guy means business. So, after the Prince gets corrupted by the Sands of Time (oh yeah, they’re released once again – surprise!), every once in a while, the Dark Prince takes over and possesses him. This has several consequences – one, he’s near unstoppable in combat, with a bladed-whip weapon called the Daggertail that rips through sand fiends like paper and can also help in some in some Indiana Jones inspired swinging about. Another factor is that his life is directly linked to the sand he has, and is constantly dropping. So playing with him usually involves running around looking for fights and the next sand ‘fix’. Some of the later parts can get frustrating as hell, but it’s mostly a great rush playing the badass.

Another great advantage of having the Dark Prince is, as the protagonist is effectively alone for most of the game, it’s a great way to open up some dialog options without making him look like too much of a kook. After all, talking to yourself comes across better than…talking to yourself? Anyway, there’s some fun squabbling between the two avatars of the Prince, especially after a former ally enters the picture.

Another new addition comes in the form of racing events – twice in the game, you’ll board a horse chariot (and another time, something a bit larger) and go hurtling through the streets of Babylon, steering the bulky vehicle through tight passageways, jostling with other chariots and swatting off hangers-on. It’s pretty intense at first but if you don’t have enough sand tanks stored before the event, you’ll probably find yourself having it to redo it quite a few times and realise with increasing frustration that a memorisation of where to go at the key junctures is all that is called for. And there’s no way to pull a “whoa there!” and slow down the crazy beasts, either.

At a few points in the game, the Prince runs into some particularly nasty specimens and the life bar at the bottom of the screen lets you know you’re officially in a boss battle. Some of these showdowns are fantastic, one of them like a scaled-down version of a fight in Shadow of the Colossus. Others are not quite as inspired, but still manage to be exciting enough to pass muster.

At the end of the day, I found it a brilliantly addictive game that I managed to finish in two long sittings. Like most single players, there isn’t that much replayability since it’s essentially a single player romp, but there’s still the urge to redo it as a better player and ace the earlier levels. Anyway, I’d say this was the best of the lot from the new PoP series, and well worth it. The PC version uses Starforce, though – so if you’ve got a grudge with that company, that’s bad luck.

Developer: Ubisoft Montreal

Publisher: Ubisoft

Platforms: PS2, Xbox, Gamecube, PC, Wii, PSP.