Majestic Arabian palaces? Check. Bloom effects without being obnoxiously hazy and bright to give that storybook feel? Check. Clever puzzles? Check. Silky smooth animation and a vibrant, almost exotic colour palette? Check. This is purely aesthetic feedback, as I never actually beat the game myself. Rest assured though that the gameplay is just as compelling as the presentation (from what little I've played of it myself); but golly this is a pretty game.
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is a good looking game. It was released in 2003 and already Ubisoft has remade it (sort of) with the cel-shaded 'Prince of Persia' (2008) and the we're-not-a-movie-cash-in-really-we're-not 'Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands' (2010), which was kind of like a Sands of Time 1.5 ordeal. To quote Zero Punctuation's Ben Croshaw: "There are things in my fridge that are older than this game."
To put it bluntly, The Sands of Time does not need any kind of next-gen, HD remake. It looks just fine; kind of timeless, really. I remember being stunned by the aesthetic presentation of the game when I first booted it up with a puny GeForce 6200 the game shipped with. With aliasing options turned up and the aforementioned bloom enabled, the game is nothing short of visual wonder: from the way the Prince clambers effortlessly from ledge to perch; to the way the sand starts to get in your eyes; and to the sprawling ruins and soaring corridors you'll traverse, this is less a game and more an interactive fantasy (though it has very pronounced "gamey" mechanics at work--all brilliant).
So for what it's worth, my two cents is thus: if you're somehow prowling GOG with the intent to find a pretty game (not sure why you'd come here in the first place as few older games age gracefully in the looks department), then you need to add this to your collection, right next to the best of fantasy DVDs and novels.
