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Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones

9.3 based on 34 reviews Read critic reviews How did we calculate this? based on 20 votes Read user comments Rate this game

GAMES:

• Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
• Prince of Persia: Warrior Within

• GameSpot Guide
• GameSpot Hints & Cheats

• Official Website

The Prince of Persia, a seasoned warrior, returns from the Island of Time to Babylon with his love, Kaileena. Instead of the peace that he longs for, he finds his homeland ravaged by war and the kingdom turned against him. The Prince is rapidly captured and Kaileena has no choice but to sacrifice herself and unleash the Sands of Time in order to save him. Now cast out on the streets and hunted as a fugitive, the Prince soon discovers that past battles have given rise to a deadly Dark Prince, whose spirit gradually possesses him. Play and master two distinct characters: Wield the powers and weapons of two master warriors with different combat styles, attitudes, and histories. Choose your way to fight: Master the expanded Free-Form Fighting system to destroy enemies in your own style; strangle enemies from afar with the deadly Daggertail; or surprise them with full-speed one-shot kills using a brand new stealth art. The choice is yours. Battle freely through Babylon: Dominate enemies on the perilous rooftops, dodge through chaotic streets, and ambush pursuers in dark, underground passageways. Immerse yourself in a dramatic story: Experience unparalleled depth in storytelling as you fight your way through a twisting tale filled with adrenaline, tension and discovery. Manipulate time to surprise enemies: Execute powerful attacks against entire armies by slowing down or rewinding time, or surprise them by using some all-new Sands of Time powers. Experience a masterful blend of gameplay: True to the Prince of Persia; franchise, the game provides a variety of action combat, agility and story-driven puzzles - all masterfully blended together into a rich gaming experience. [Ubisoft]

PUBLISHER:	Ubisoft
DEVELOPER:	Ubisoft Montreal
GENRE(S):	Third-Person Action, Adventure
PLAYERS:	1
ESRB RATING:	M (Mature)
RELEASE DATE:	December 6, 2005

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

96

Cheat Code Central

All of the game's elements mesh, from the music to the storyline, from the puzzles to the control system. I can't find anything nasty to say about this game. Ubisoft have certainly done their homework.

95

Stuff

This is easily best Prince of Persia game yet. The new moves, including those delicious stealth kills, work perfectly.

93

Game Informer

The delicious platforming is paired with great writing, nice art direction, and a story that you don't want me to spoil for you. [Jan 2006, p.134]

92

N-Insanity

Everything fans of the series would want after the disappointment from "Warrior Within."

91

The Onion (A.V. Club)

The nice thing about sequels to successful games is that all the rough edges are buffed out, and The Two Thrones honors its graceful hero with impeccable controls and design.

90

Games Radar

Whichever version you choose, though, the action is top-notch awesome. With the series' clever design and sense of humor fully restored, The Two Thrones is a stellar return to form forPrince of Persia .

90

Game Over Online

About as good as we could’ve wished for. It maintains the Prince of Persia feel of daring-do, while improving or adding variety in some areas, and discarding mistakes like excessive combat and marketing-spun attitude.

90

Nintendo Power

A triumphant ending to an extraordinary trilogy. [Feb 2006, p.98]

90

NintendoWorldReport

The Two Thrones aims to please fans of both previous episodes, and it does exactly that, without falling into the trap of being one big, compromised mess. Rather, it's a fun and satisfying adventure with the perfect balance of each style.

90

Play Magazine

The game neither holds players' hands or pushes them away with a series of jumps only an automaton with computerized coordination could make. [Jan 2006, p.39]

89

GameZone

Yet another great GameCube action game fans of the Prince will thoroughly enjoy from start to finish.

89

Nintendo Insider

It has a compelling and well written story line. Playing through it is truly a joy.

88

BonusStage

Two Thrones caps off the greatest gaming trilogy quite possibly ever released in grand fashion, and it will surely keep us busy until Ubisoft decides whether to carry the PoP label over to the next-generation.

88

IGN

Two Thrones is great. The story is cool, the heroes are likable, the weak are pitiable, the villains are bastards, the major plot points are exciting, the art is grand, the sound is wonderful...and then the gameplay comes.

87

Jolt Online Gaming UK

If you enjoyed either of the first two games, then know that while Two Thrones isn’t revolutionary, it does combine the best elements of both and is still a fitting and worthwhile conclusion to a superior trilogy.

87

Kombo

Things are not quite up to the standards of Sands of Time, but this is easily the second-best of the three next-gen Prince of Persias. Not bad. Not at all.

86

GameSpot

The Two Thrones provides a satisfying conclusion to the Sands of Time trilogy, with a lot of the same puzzle solving and gorgeous environments you remembered from the previous two games.

86

Nintendojo

While the wow-factor of the first game has dissipated, the tried-and-true platforming gameplay remains fun even after three games.

85

Electronic Gaming Monthly

This sequel makes it fun to be the Prince again.

80

G4 TV

Compelling visuals, competent acting, totally appropriate music, and amazing animation married to great controls make The Two Thrones a strong action game. It might not be the king of the genre, but this Prince deserves respect.

80

Times Online

The graphics are superb, especially on the Xbox, and if you can cope with the frustration of replaying tricky scenes again and again, this could be the game for you.

80

Armchair Empire

The designers have created exceptionally rewarding three dimensional puzzles.

80

Digital Entertainment News

This game should please fans of the series (especially those that disliked the changes made in the second game), but it won't thrill them.

80

Maxim Online

Thrones also gets points for cribbing Sam Fisher's stealth skills and using a whip-like weapon that will send "God of War" fans scurrying to gaming chat rooms to voice their displeasure with the similarities. Thankfully, the controversy is worth it for this energetic adventure.

80

1UP

Although some areas of the game were frustrating (beware the last boss), The Two Thrones features a classic interactive ending sequence and epilogue that nicely wraps up the whole trilogy and does the seemingly impossible -- that is, it makes you forgive and forget the lost years represented by The Warrior Within, and lets you to judge the trilogy on the whole.

80

GameSpy

Now that the prince is once again on firm footing, it'd be a crime not to let his adventures continue.

80

Total Video Games

The new abilities, and the introduction of the Speed Kill system, has meant that the title still feels fresh and exciting.

80

Sydney Morning Herald

One of the best new features is the Speed Kill, a stealth attack that requires timed button presses for successful take-downs - a brilliant addition to the already exhilarating game play.

80

games(TM)

New traps and techniques make for some spectacular exhibitions of skill, and with game being significantly larger than anything previous, there’s enough here to challenge even the most dedicated Prince Of Persia fan. [Christmas 2005, p.94]

75

Ferrago

The game play can be tedious to the point of frustration at times, but it is novel and interesting. The game fails to create a convincing, "hook-the-player" atmosphere and only those seasoned puzzle solvers out there will come back for more time and time again.

70

N-Europe

In its series, The Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones fits in perfectly. It’s up for you to decide if that’s a good or a bad thing.

70

Edge Magazine

This is easily the better sequel, a firm improvement on "Warrior Within." So why the long face? For the simple and saddest reason of all: ennui. [Christmas 2005, p.100]

67

Game Revolution

We're glad to see Ubisoft spare their Prince from becoming a pauper by ditching the dreary aesthetic, but the minor improvements along with too many familiar gripes keep this game from being king.

63

The New York Times

So I fought, each time sitting through an unskippable 30-second scene of the fight's start and then getting killed within a minute. I did this about 70 times. My body trembling from tension and exhaustion, I kept playing not because it was any fun but simply because it was my job, and when after three hours I finally won I experienced not victorious joy but simply relief that it was over. I felt all the considerable pleasure the game had given me had been taken back.

The average user rating for this game is 9.3 (out of 10) based on 20 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Kavika C. gave it a7:
First off, some of the previous comments about this game being glitch free are highly overrated. I've had a soft-lock in the first 20 minutues of play (the game ran, but wouldn't listen to my controls until I reset), I've found multiple camera glitches, several physics glitches, w/ monsters popping out above me during combat, retarded AI (where they'll just stand and look at you if you hang off an edge next to them during combat), and multiple sound cutout/screwy music glitches. Besides these, the voice acting is 50% exceptionally good, 50% deadpan awful, though a lot of the fault exists with the script writers. Half the levels are drop dead awesome works of artistic brilliance, the other half are so monotonous, you'd A) think they're from a playstation 1 game, graphically/environmentally B) play them on "auto-pilot", the first time through, without consulting the camera controls, since the jumping puzzles in said levels are _that_ predictable. The enemy design is generally uninspired, and the battle system is TOO hard with the "light" prince, and too easy with the dark prince. The auto-kill is a pretty neat feature in concept, but the flaky control left me frustrated. You'll get quite annoyed when playing as the dark prince, since he loses health constantly, even when you're trying to sit there and figure out a jumping puzzle. Worst of all in this game is the SEVERE inconsistancy of save points. Sometimes there's 5 when you only needed 1 or 2, and other times, you go HALF THE LEVEL without seeing a save point; get through a jumping puzzle after the third time dying, then get through a fast-kill sequence after the third time dying, through a dark prince segment, through a "hunter hound" (?) battle sequence, only to find our there's YET ANOTHER jumping puzzle before you find a save point. They got so lazy at times, they stopped even requiring the level designers to put in a fountain to save, as they claim they'll do in the beginning of the game, and instead just inserted a save dialog where they'd normally have a death reload type checkpoint. Overall, this game COULD be a timeless classic, along w/, say, Metroid Prime, or Radiant SIlvergun (yes, that much potential!) if Ubisoft took another year to iron out all the bugs, throw out half the monotonous levels, polish the battle system to make it a bit less "sheer death/sheer boredom", get rid of the dark prince health loss, and hire on a writer again to bang on the script. As it is, the game is a cliche of every problem that has plauged 3D platform games since day 1, and is not one I would even recommend playing.

Vivek K. gave it a10:
Extremely super story and excellent music and graphics. The dark prince is really awesome. I wish they make a pop movie.

Zift K. gave it a9:
Simply fantastic.

Ryan M. gave it a10:
There is absolutely no glitches of any sort, frame rate problems, and/or collision detection. this game has the highest level of presentation I have witnessed of all last year. to be blunt, the presentation is perfect. this includes the absolutely outstanding sound design, where they dropped the heavy metal music from Warrior Within, and added perfectly fitting and blissful orchestarted music. Where WW was too long, sands of time too short, this game is perfect in length, not excelling anything over 15 hours. this game never falls into the pit of being repetitve, nor is the battle system confusing and unnecessary like the last title in the trilogy. All in all, The Two Thrones is a perfect game; for what it is. the developers set out to revive the highly bashed warrior within, and bring life into a franchise that needed a tad of it. the Prince of Persia series is nearly flawless, and I rarely ever say this towards a game. Any criticism towards this game, comes from people and their sour attitude from the lackuster Warrior Within. You may even be considered to play through The Two Thrones again. Verdict: a flawless adventure romp. My first 10 out of 10 on metacritc as well., and I am proud to offer it up.

Kevin R. gave it a9:
Great game, giving a very satisfying conclusion to the series. The only issue, in fact, is that there are several very bad frame rate and collision detection occurences around the middle of the game.

Kikokú gave it an8:
Excellent graphics, gameplay, storyline and music, when I first played it I was really amazed with the quality of this game. Why not a 10? Because the excitement is too short. I can't believe i finished this game in 2 days starting in the normal mode. There are some parts that can become a bit repetitive, it could be not important if they were just a complement but it matters when you discover that it's an important part of the whole little game. I'd give 10 if it has been double sized. maybe it is better get it just for rent.

Gail N. gave it a10:
Graphics? Awesome. Gameplay? Awesome? Story? Awesome. What more could you ask for?

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