With a remake of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time releasing in 2021, the Prince of Persia series looks set to fire itself back into the attention of the gaming industry. The rise of remakes and remasters has provided hope for fans of left-behind series, as games like Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time, shows that forgotten franchises can make a comeback.
The Prince of Persia IP is currently owned by industry giant Ubisoft. Following the gaming industry’s shift away from platforming mascots and more towards realistic action titles in the early 2000s, Ubisoft saw the Prince of Persia series as a perfect halfway point between their platforming mascot Rayman and action-pacts series like Rainbow Six and created numerous excellent titles that blended the two vastly differing genres.
11 Prince of Persia 3D
As the title suggests, Prince of Persia 3D was Red Ord Entertainment’s attempt at taking the 2D side-scrolling series to the new world of 3D gaming.
Unfortunately, as far as series making the transition to 3D goes, Prince of Persia 3D is closer to the Bubsy 3D end of the spectrum than the Super Mario 64 one.
10 Prince of Persia: The Fallen King
Making an action-adventure game on the Nintendo DS is always going to be a tough ask, and sadly, Prince of Persia: The Fallen King doesn’t buck the trend. The game scored a lackluster with 64 on Metacritic, with criticism predominantly being directed towards the game’s poor controls.
2020 looking set to conclude with Prince of Persia: The Fallen King having a higher Metascore than the console iteration of Cyberpunk 2077 is a fittingly unexpected end to this year.
9 Battles of Prince of Persia
From one Nintendo DS game to another, Ubisoft took the handheld console’s limitations into account with 2005’s Battles of Prince of Persia and opted to have a crack at the turn-based tactics genre.
Interestingly, Battles of Prince of Persia has the same Metascore as Prince of Persia: The Fallen King. The game deservedly has a considerably higher User Score though, as the game feels far better suited for the DS.
8 Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands
Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, which is the latest Prince of Persia game, sees this list take a significant jump in quality. Ubisoft opted against continuing the story from the series’ 2008 reboot and instead took players back to the narrative of the PlayStation 2 trilogy.
Ubisoft made the ambitious decision of offering different storylines and gameplay mechanics throughout some of the game’s releases. The gamble seemingly didn’t pay off, as the IP has fallen out of favor with Ubisoft since and the Sands of Time remake may be the franchise’s last chance at a rejuvenation.
7 Prince of Persia Classic
A remake of the game that started it all, Prince of Persia Classic took players back to its side-scrolling roots with a reimagining of Broderbund’s Prince of Persia (1989).
The game scored a very respectable 82 on Metacritic, which is especially impressive when taking into account that remakes were still largely looked down upon as cash-grabs in 2007.
6 Prince of Persia (2008)
In 2008, Ubisoft decided it was time to reinvent their Prince of Persia series with a reboot. Prince of Persia (2008) saw a drastic shift in art style and was a pioneer in the modern trend of removing any form of game over functionality.
Ubisoft decided not to return to the art style of Prince of Persia (2008) with Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, which is a shame as the game won the Outstanding Achievement in Animation award at the AIAS Annual Awards.
5 Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones
Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones capped off the PlayStation 2’s Sand of Time trilogy in style with the series’ most brutal hack and slash entry yet.
As would be expected in the final entry to a trilogy, The Two Thrones is of one the franchise’s most story-driven titles; as players learn the ramifications of the Prince’s actions in Warrior Within.
4 Prince of Persia: Warrior Within
Speaking of Warrior Within, it’s safe to say the sequel to Sands of Time had some fairly lofty expectations of its shoulder before its 2004 release.
Warrior Within may not have reached the heights of its predecessor, but it still provided one of the most memorable action-adventure experiences of the PlayStation 2 generation. In keeping with the times, Warrior Within leaned more towards its hack and slash elements by letting players wield an extra weapon.
3 Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame
Much like Warrior Within, Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame had the pressure of competing with its critically acclaimed predecessor, and although it didn’t reach quite reach those heights, it certainly didn’t disappoint.
Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame is predominantly a platformer, though it does have more combat than its predecessor. This is evidenced by the fact that only one enemy would ever confront the player at a time in 1989’s Prince of Persia, whereas Prince of Perisa 2 would often see the player being swarmed if they weren’t careful.
2 Prince of Persia (1989)
The one that started it all; Prince of Persia was certainly a product of its time as not only is the gameplay the most platforming centric of the franchise, but it’s also brutally difficult.
Although it may not seem like anything special today, the game’s graphics, aesthetics, and sound design were incredible for the time. The game is considered to be the first cinematic platformer ever released, and it was considered one of the best platformers of all time when it first hit shelves.
1 Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
As alluded to before, Ubisoft’s first Prince of Perisa game Sands of Time wonderfully balanced a combination of the platforming gameplay that had dominated the industry during the 90s and the action-heavy style that began taking over the gaming industry with the release of the PlayStation 2.
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is one of the PlayStation 2 generation’s most critically acclaimed games ever, exemplified by its whopping 92 Metascore. If the upcoming Sand of Time remake can recapture the magic of its source material, the Prince of Persia franchise could be set for a return to the top tier of the gaming industry.
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