Gamers who still have their fully operational DOS engines may snarl at yet another 3D incarnation of the classic gaming franchise Prince of Persia, a series older than many of the players who will get their first crack at the exotic adventure with the newest outing. What’s the point of 3D for a game that originally defined the pitfalls of the standard 2D platformer? With more and more older franchises unable to resist the temptation of polygons, the move originally made several years ago with Prince of Persia 3D wasn’t a surprising one. But instead of mourning the loss of the roots, why not simply enjoy the GameBoy Advance edition of the newest title, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time? Designed as a fluid blend of old school Prince of Persia with new platform innovations, The Sands of Time is guaranteed to hit the right notes with both classicist snobs and GBA owners looking for a good time—just bring your patience and dedication along for the ride.

The series has always been about adventure, and the royal Prince of Persia has plenty more fun and excitement than Prince Charles, or even the King of Persia for that matter. Sands of Time, as the name implies, switches things all up in the Prince of Persia universe. I’m not sure whether the cue came from Clockstoppers, the Matrix movies or UbiSoft’s own imagination, but the big gimmick this time around is the player’s ability to reverse time’s flow. When the prince first sets off the Sands of Time at the beginning of the game (further installing the lesson of never listening to an evil-looking court wizard), disaster strikes and further destruction must be averted. Even though the Prince has the power to control the Sands of Time, allowing him access to some inter-dimensional rift of time and space, the rest of civilization is not so lucky. If he doesn’t stop the evil scheme in progress by using the Dagger of Time with a famed artifact, the Hourglass, the future is history. I think I ripped that off the awful trailer for the movie Timeline…

In this regard, he gets a little help from a friend. Farah—completely unrelated to Charlie’s Angels alumni Ms. Fawcett—joins him on the quest, bringing a separate set of skills that becomes crucial in all the levels. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time brings back that old-fashioned emphasis on puzzle solving over action, requiring brain-twisting solutions to some fiendish riddles. Pressing the Select Button changes your character between the Prince and Farah, forcing players to progress through the game with both characters. It’s not an instantaneous tag-team, either; half the battle is simply lugging around that extra character, switching every now and then in order to bring the crew together in a single place. This can definitely be annoying, but since these quests are the backbone of puzzles, the dual-teammate aspect is acceptable. Farah can’t get everywhere the Prince can, so she must find a new path, or the Prince must continue on to find some switch.

Most impressive is simply how fluid everything works. Maybe it’s because my last few portable gaming experiences have been with beat-em-ups or poor quality knockoffs, but the amazing idea of all the controls being executed correctly and quickly just blew my mind. Having such properly speedy reactions is key when Sands of Time decides to kick up the difficulty around five minutes into the game. The smooth way the Prince and Farah maneuver through the levels harkens back to the truly well designed SNES games of yore, with one major addition: the Rewind ability. By pressing the L Button, if you have Sands of Time to spend, time will reverse and your actions will also reverse. Mostly this is useful when you realize a jump leads to death—hold the L Button, and whoosh, you’re eventually right back on the platform before the jump. Several puzzles also require the Rewind ability, and so do most bosses. Other then this really inventive twists, players shimmy ropes, hop on platforms, climb ledges and perform gymnastics on poles as usual. The sheer amount of activities combined so smoothly is astounding. This is the real reason the game is just so darned fun to play, because just moving the Prince and Farah around is a treat, and the Rewind feature is an excellent gimmick with a high ‘cool factor’.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time gets a large amount of things right, but like any extension of an older famous franchise, trips up a few spots in the process. First is, of course, the legendary difficulty. I’m not one to cry home to mama when Contra refuses to adjust the learning curve, and The Sands of Time having a difficulty somewhere around ‘extremely, supremely hard’ doesn’t deter from enjoyment. The game will sucker punch you in the face, but you’ll keep returning because the gameplay doesn’t feel like it’s taking short cuts. Unlike previous games, you at least have a health bar here, so death is no longer instantaneous. One unwelcome exception remained, and that’s the omnipresent fear of heights; even a medium fall has the power to kill, and the architects who built the worlds the Prince travels through seem to have a spiked floor fetish. Fall off one of the many platforms, and you’re dead fast. This is fine in moderation, but too often the puzzles are of the ‘try and see’ variety. Any veteran gamer can tell you pits of death and a puzzle system based on experimentation go hand in hand like young children and scorpions. Frustration aside, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time has no trouble conjuring up those hazy, sentimental feelings. Funny thing is, the gameplay here is smoother and tighter than any of the past Prince of Persia titles, so if you’re a fan of the old platform genre and aren’t scared by rough difficulty and levels that occasionally leave you stranded and clueless, this game belongs in your library.

If there’s one thing everyone can agree on, it’s that Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time looks gorgeous. I have never seen such fluid animation on the handheld system, and as inferred from above, there are numerous actions to animate. They flow wonderfully together, and the large character sprites look excellent running around the dungeons and castle levels. Detail on the 2D backgrounds is rich, and the Rewind feature is just amazing to see executed on something like the GBA. The only trouble is the occasionally monotonous enemy design, but you’ll hardly have time to notice such things. The rest of the game is a work of art, and even those jaded souls who are used to getting the best on the GameBoy Advance will be suitably taken aback.

The soundtrack consists of the Mediterranean influences expected, a mix of exotic synthesized tracks and the standard platformer beats. Sound effects are few in number, mostly consisting of grunts, whoosh sounds for weapons and various grinding noises for doors and switches. No one would claim the sound is anywhere near as pleasing as the visuals, but The Sands of Time is decent enough in this department. At least players won’t be reaching for the volume control at any time.

With only a single player game, those who haven’t played Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time might make the very wrong assumption that the game gets over too quickly. On the contrary, the difficulty level is so high that you’ll spend numerous hours just on a certain puzzle or level, unless you wimp out and use an FAQ. If you do use such a crutch, the replay value shoots down and the game can be beaten in a single day. Although the temptation for an easy fix gets unbearable, the strong suggestion is not to cave in. Beyond the high difficulty, plenty of things to gather and alternate paths to try might lead to second and third times through. The game also unlocks content in the GameCube version of Prince of Persia, but since we haven’t got our mitts on that version yet, this remains an interesting but unexplored avenue.

Prince of Persia is quite difficult, but would gamers who remember the original franchise have it any other way? The gameplay mechanics are in place and polished to a smooth experience, and the game belongs in some handheld art museum. Simply gorgeous. Even if the fun eventually has to end, every GBA owner should own this. The Mario Advance games may be excellent platform games, but they are more for nostalgia than any new challenge. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time delivers an original adventure with plenty of innovation, and ends up being worthy of the Prince of Persia name.