This game is not easy to like, as it tries hard to make the gameplay as unpleasant an experience as possible: Stupid camera that doesn't allow you to tilt the angle to see more than 20 meters ahead? Check. Combat UI where clicking an enemy (if he just moves a bit and is no longer highlighted in orange) makes you run towards him instead of attacking? Check Hordes of enemies with virtually no tutorial on the fighting mechaincs? Check Atrocious voice acting? Check. If you can forgive those things, you can get between 8-15 hours of fun from the game. The 1st Chapter consists of playing a couple levels for the shotgun wielding Forcer (moderately fun), then the dual axe wielding Smashfist (frustrating against long range foes) and ultimately the team of those two, where you get the hang of tactical pause to evaluate the battlefield and plan your attack (putting Smashfist on aggressive stance to shield Forcer from the swarm you can use him to deal with the big boss). If you do persevere to the 2nd Chapter, you'll get to play as Shadow - the stealth operative armed with a bow for long distance kills and a pair of kinves for the close work - whether for a backstab on an unsuspecting enemy or a cutthroat during a teleport (unlockable upgrade). If this sounds like fun for you then this is where the game truly shines (although it does not stop to be frustratingly difficult). Once all 3 dwarfs reunite, you can command them as an effective brute force team, but I found it more fun to play with Smashfist and Forcer in hiding and letting Shadow take down all enemies one by one, typically avoiding an alarm completely (stealth is really forced in three levels only). Boss fights require you to fight with all dwarves and you'll be pausing every two seconds to coordinate the attacks, which is frustrating, but oddly satisfying once you get the hang of it. The real problem is, that there is no 3rd Chapter, even though the story is far from finished. It simply says "to be continued".
As some of the reviewers mentioned, this game is different in style than Sands Of Time or the Two Thrones. I couldn't tell, because the Warior Within was the first game I played from the resurrected franchise and boy, what an experience it has been. The story is quite simple - the prince messed with the timeline (in the SOT) and now a mystical monster "Dahaka - the guardian of the timeline" is after him. Dahaka is unbeatable and unstoppable so even a swift, agile and ever-so-cunning prince can't hope to manage running away forever. So he decides to beat his pursuer the way he got into this mess... to go back in time and prevent the sands of time from ever being created. To stay with the theme, the artwork matches the dark atmosphere, you as the prince must overcome dark and gloomy ruins on your way to your goal. The landscapes are rather dark and the background music (although sounding more like electro-industrial than the persian ethno one might have expected) just stress the pressure that is exerted on the prince to stay alive. The backdrop is not dark and desolate all the time, though. To proceed further in the story and get to otherwise unreachable areas, you alternate between the present ruins and the lush gardens (and a pretty intricate mechanical tower) that are filled with sand monsters and booby traps - obviously noone wants the prince to mess with the Island of time. The combat system is excellent, whether you are yielding one sword or also a secondary weapon (that decays with each hit), slashes, grabs, jumps can be connected to nice combos and the surroundings work to the prince's avantage - rebounding of the walls or revolving around columns to perform another fine slash to decapitate your enemies, or simply throwing your secondary wepon at those nasty ninja-women on the beams to bring them down to the abyss... In the last case, you won't get the sand slot refilled (all monsters leave sands of time that get stored in your medailon), but you can pass the beam without getting slashed yourself. Whenever you find yourself on the losing side, you can use the sands of time to rewind (last cca 10seconds) so you can correct your mistakes. Or you can slow the time down (later in the game) or perform a powerful attack (yet later) to gain the upper hand. As mentioned, there is one enemy you can't win against - the Dahaka (he gets his hands - umm, nasty tentacles? - on the prince and it's game over, man!), so as The Doors sing "there's nothing left to do, but run, Run, RUN!" Running from the Dahaka make up for the best part of the game, where your free running skills are put to test. It's pure adrenaline rush, where you really feel that you gotta get away to a safe place (behind the water - the Dahaka, badass as he is, is afraid of the H2O). You might not be able to make it the first or second time, but the difficulty is not so bad - you should be able to find the corerct route and improve your speed on the third or fourth attempt :o). There are some "puzzles" along the way, but nothing difficult, it's rather of the "see that lever? turn it and run back through the door before it closes" variety. More challenging is the climbing of the area to get where you need to - again only thanks to the princes amazing free running skills. Mastering them wil take a little time, but unless you're a complete moron, you'd be swinging on the rods, running along the walls and sliding down the gobelings in no time... The only tricky part is timing the wall-jumps correctly. Unfortunately, there are several narrow halls you have to climb by jumping wall to wall several times and a missed timing results in a long fall (and a quick rewind only to fall again). To sum this long babbling up - this game is a masterpiece that draws you in for an ultimate gaming experience. I have to admit, the first time I played it it was a cracked version and I felt so guilty to enjoy it so much for free (it wasn't in stores in my country at that time). I simply had to buy this title now, just to pay my debt! And for $9.99, you gotta be kidding me... If you read this far, the only thing to do is to add this title to your basket too! :o)
