Prince of Persia 3: The Two Thrones (That's Hot)

"Sands of Time" was a story-based game, with puzzles broken up by occasional combat; "Warrior Within" was an action game with combat broken up by occasional puzzles. "Two Thrones" returns to the idea of a story. It's not a *great* story, but enough to drag the player through the game.

Combat: Like "Warrior Within", combat is a challenge rather than a diverting break. The introduction of stealth makes for a different kind of challenge, though raw aggression still works. The Prince's split personality (the Dark Prince) leaves me cold, but may appeal to others. The Prince's stylishness in combat from "Sands of Time", already diluted in "Warrior Within", has now been entirely abandoned: the Dark Prince in particular is gawky and graceless. We still have bad-ass moves achieved by random button-mashing; I wouldn't mind that if the combat actually looked good. It doesn't.

Story: "Two Thrones" takes on the thankless task of trying to patch up the mess left by "Warrior Within". They've done an *OK* job. Early on the Vizier from "Sands of Time" is reintroduced, as the events of that game have now been undone by the messing around with time in "Warrior Within". Various other attempts are made to tie up loose ends, and patch the three games together into a single story, but it is *very* patchy. The final result just sticks together, but is not tremendously satisfying.

Puzzles: more of the same. That's not a criticism: it's like chocolate. More is always good.

Overall: a decent action game. The story keeps you going but doesn't shine like "Sands of Time" did; the combat is better-handled and more balanced than "Warrior Within", but gawky -- this iteration relies solely on the environments for good looks. Three stars: the game is basically forgettable, but entertaining enough to justify its existence.