Prince of Persia: Warrior Within Review

Review for Seasoned Gamers

So, you're a console gamer who has heard about Gameloft's ambitious effort to port the second Prince of Persia game, Warriror Within, to the iPhone. While you're eager to see a console game done right on the iPhone, you're also worried that Ubisoft will be willing to slap their awesome brand on any mediocre marketing tie-in with the new movie. Should you, the gamer and fan, invest your time and money into this new iteration of the Prince of Persia series?

Short answer: yes. While Prince of Persia: Warrior Within suffers a little in its journey to the iPhone, it is still very much the same quality game you played in your living room.

In look, style, levels, and action, this is the console game wrought small on your iOS screen. Every jump, ledge, enemy, and cutscene from the console has been ported over, and Gameloft appears to have striven to make as few changes as possible. It's a lengthy, satisfying action/adventure game with plenty of challenges.

Limitations of the mobile form do hinder the game a bit, however. Faced with the nigh impossible task of translating a complete console controller's worth of actions to a virtual touchscreen, Gameloft came up with a contectual system that is a little clunky

and chunky, especially if you're more comfortable with a full console controller in your hands. If you can adjust yourself to it and forgive the intermittent load lag, you'll find yourself having a singular console experience on the iPhone.

Review for Casual Gamers

From Doodle Jump to Pocket God, you've learned to love playing games on your iPhone. You may even have enjoyed more robust game like NOVA or Brothers in Arms. So, do you take the plunge into Prince of Persia: Warrior Within?

Short answer: yes, but with caution. Take everything I said to stalwart gamers above to heart, and then add this: Prince of Persia: Warrior Within is a game on a different level than any other you've played on your iPhone.

For one thing, it's longer, tougher, and meaner than you're probably used to, and certainly not a game for playing while standing in line. Save points are uncommon and there's no such thing as an autosave. If you're halfway through a level and close out the app, you've just lost all of your hard-earned progress.

Secondly, there's a steep learning curve here. The entire first level of the game--and it's a long one--is designed primarily to let you practice the jumping, tumbling, wall-running antics you'll need to master to complete the game. You will probably die a lot, and even the Prince's time-rewinding trick won't stop you from playing the same rooms over and over again. The control issues, mentioned above, don't help.

If you're willing to tough it out, though, and if you want a deeper, more satisfying gaming experience than the next Doodle app, then you should play Prince of Persia: Warrior Within. It just might make a gamer out of you.

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