This game is truly legendary and for good reason. Without it and its sequels, the action-adventure genre would look completely different. We wouldn't have gotten the many masterpieces we've received and the spiritual successor to this franchise -- Assassin's Creed -- would not have even existed (for better or for worse).
In The Sands of Time, you play as the young, athletic titular Prince of Persia as he's thrust into a story centered around a relic that controls the flow of time. Right there, within the plot, is the root of what makes this game so unique. It's not the parkour (though that's a load of fun). It's not the combat. It's not even really the plot itself. No, it's all about the time travel mechanic. Ubisoft Montreal defied expectations by making this game completely different from its predecessors, opting for what boils down to a very stylish platformer with solid combat, enjoyable puzzles and a lot of ways to fail. Where this could have introduced immense frustration at best, or downright unfair difficulty at worst, the time travel mechanic balances it all out. No matter what happens -- you misjudge a jump, get wrecked by an enemy or just run into a bug -- you almost always have a second chance to retry that moment by rewinding time.
This is what makes the game so fun, unique and memorable. When you fail, the game quite literally encourages you to rewind and figure out where you went wrong. This creates a level of strategy and critical thinking that never fully takes you out of the moment or the action. This, combined with extremely solid gameplay, an intriguing plot and extremely atmospheric, dream-like world building to create a game that's not only a blast to play, but one that also still holds up extremely well today.
If you enjoy games of this sort, The Sands of Time is a must-play. It's worth a lot more than what you spend on it; plus, it's always affordable even at full price, just grab it now!
