One of the biggest downpoints about Sands of Time was undoubtedly the short duration of the game. An experienced player could easily finish the game in under eight hours. Fortunately, Ubisoft paid close attention to their community and were able to lengthen this sequel with another twelve hours, which means it can take up to twenty hours to finish Prince of Persia: Warrior Within. Another downpoint to the game was the repetitive combat. Again, Ubisoft shows us that they know what they're doing. Not only did they create an improved system for onehanded combat, they also added twohanded combat. I don't suppose I have to explain how this tremendously raises the prince's coolness factor.

As you advance, more powerful and astonishing combos will become available. You will, among other things, be able to swing around a pillar with one sword and decapitate several enemies with the other. Or how about leaping off a wall and cutting the enemy in half. All this makes the game less suitable for the younger gamer and gives it a darker and more gruesome atmosphere in opposition to Sands of Time.

The game's great atmosphere is not only achieved through the spectacular (and somewhat weird) storyline and the even more spectacular combat sequences, but also through the exquisite graphics and unbelievably stunning lighteffects. Furthermore, the banging rocktunes and incredible soundeffects contribute on a large scale to this great experience. One minor downpoint maybe... The lipsync during cutscenes was not always topnotch and I found the prince's voice-acting to be a bit off aswell.

Warrior Within would not be an action-adventure title without the proper amount of puzzles. Just like in the original the game is packed with intuitive puzzles that will require some proper thinkingcapacity to solve them. During the game you will also be able to use your timepowers. These will without a doubt be helpful when solving puzzles or when cruising through a difficult level. They allow you to, for instance, turn back time or to attack your enemies in true bullettimestyle. On top of that they will also make it possible to go about killing the enemy with a few special and very destructive combos. Your timepowers are however limited and you will need to slay enemies to regain power.

Aside from the usual scum, you will sometimes have to face some levelbosses. They will look cool at first, but tend to get a little dull later on. Major downpoint with them is that they have the frustrating habit to block even the strongest combo. Most of the time you're just hacking into them with some simple combos to see their health decrease steadily but very, very slowly. On to the Dahaka himself! You know, that giant critter that would love eating our prince after his adventures in the Sands of Time. Well, the Dahaka will persue you through some levels and will eat you if you can't complete the course fast enough. It's in these levels that you will undoubtetly appreciate your timepowers.