JadeDragon's
reviews and playing tips: mobile phone games
Prince of Persia: Warrior Within Reviewed April, 2005 By Tony Peak
Developer/Publisher: Gameloft
Platform: J2ME
Single/Multiplayer: Single
Handset Used for the Review: Motorola V300
Price: $5.99
The Prince of Persia returns once again in Warrior Within,
and Gameloft proves there's still plenty of life left in
this series. Like Sands of Time and Harlem Adventures, Warrior
Within is still a side scrolling action game with deadly
puzzles and traps mixed in. This time around however, there's
an increased focus on combat as well including a very challenging
15 level 'survival mode' style arena.
Like the Prince's other adventures, you'll spend much of
your time avoiding pits, spikes, blades, and other staples
of the Prince of Persia universe with leaps and switches.
The Prince has matured in this adventure however, and is
now noticeably more acrobatic and combat ready. Wall running,
freezing time, finishing moves and counter attacks are all
a part of your arsenal now, and you'll need every move. Thankfully
controls are still very simple, one handed button combos
such as down, attack (2, 5) or forward, attack, forward (6,
5, 6). Wall running is a simple as holding down jump, and
thanks to the well choreographic fighting moves, even taking
on multiple enemies from both sides at once is a snap.
The graphics in Warrior Within are easily the best of the
series yet, which is no small task considering Sands of Time
already looked very, very good. Both the sprites and the
environment are very detailed, sharp, and richly textured.
All of the Prince's combat moves animate smoothly, the enemies
react convincingly, and the finishing moves show a lot of
style to boot. The game's 10 levels are spread over a variety
of environments, from a pirate ship to outside garden type
structures, and of course ancient palaces. Each carries with
it the same detailed, handcrafted feeling that is sure to
turn heads. A surprising amount of detail has been packed
into this tiny screen. There's not much audio to speak of,
the game is mostly silent, but the little intro tune and
opening music to each try feels very in sync with the rest
of the game. Most of the sounds are instead handled by vibration,
such as swords clashing and stone traps falling.
Prince of Persia: Warrior Within is without
doubt a solid, lengthy, thoroughly enjoyable adventure that
fans of the series will certainly enjoy. The campaign should
clock in at a few solid hours of gameplay or more depending
on how many retries it takes. It took me several sessions
of 30-45 minutes to finally complete. The arena will take
quite a bit of practice to survive, and easily extends the
play time much further as well as offering very quick entertainment.
I would have liked to seen more use of the time element,
but all in all it's hard to find fault with Warrior Within.
Playing Hints and Tips
- In the arena, Payback and Blade Dervish will be your best
moves. Knock the enemies down as quickly as possible, then
finish them with a stab to the ground. Don't bother trying
to whittle away their life. The heart stab attack works as
well, but it's rather slow and not guaranteed to work in
a time limited battle.
- Try breaking barrels and other objects around the map
for health potions and other hidden items. Careful though,
many are trapped with hidden enemies.
- To get a highscore, it's important to move fast for a
time bonus and to avoid retries as much as possible, each
one takes a pretty big penalty from your score.
Screen Shots
Ratings (scale of 1 to 5):
Graphics
Detailed, varied, and incredibly rich,
Gameloft shows they really know how to pack a lot of punch
into both a small screen and a small space. Warrior Within
really looks incredible, and shows just how far Mobile games
have come.
Sound
Not much sound to speak of, but the few
tunes and menu effects are fine. Vibration is well timed to
the events on screen, so it doesn't feel lacking.
Fun Meter
The adventure will have you swinging
from chains, fighting invisible enemies, learning new combat
moves, and outsmarting trap after trap. Still the classic Prince
of Persia gameplay that has worked so well, but beefier than
ever.
Addictivity
The long campaign will have you playing
for several sessions, and the new moves and new environments
will keep you coming back. The arena mode takes a lot of practice
to win, even after successfully finishing the title. Seeing
as it's a linear game with a start and finish, there is a limit
to the replay value, but its well worth your time and money.
