One word describes Ubisoft Montreal's POP revival effort- magnificent.

User Rating: 9.4 | Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time PC
If you think Prince of Persia franchise was dead especially because of the ill-fated revivals, think again. This one isn't just another bad revival, this one is a unique, original masterpiece that combines style with state-of-the-art technology. Most notable (and convenient) is the rewind feature which saves you from repeating the whole level from the last save point as well as the great level design and big-scale buildings made possible by Ubisoft Shanghai's rendering engine. The lighting effects and colors make for a certain kind of storybook appeal and the prince just looks mature and edgy I guess.

The trademark acrobatic moves of the prince are very fluid (in the PC) and smooth. He swings like a gymnast and is definitely the fastest ladder climber I've played in my own life. Putting that aside, the voice work puts a lot of personality on the character and is very fitting for the prince. Speaking of audio, the sound effects are great as well as the BG, which is a great mix of hard rock and Middle-East influences... too bad the music only plays during fights and not during the puzzles part of the game which is by the way, maybe a bit challenging to others.

The game is pretty short with a duration of 8-10 hours but it still provides addictive gameplay and a great (I just keep saying it) story courtesy of Jordan Mechner (creator of the original) himself. Keyboard controls are of a style used in FPS's (keyboard-mouse coordination) and they actually work pretty good. The game is great enough to be played over and over again though if you want to go on with the story, try Warrior Within which they say, is a worthy successor to the great game. Too bad the bonuses Gamespot mentioned in their review doesn't appear here in the PC version.