Reviews
78 MA XIMUMPC MARCH 2005
Prince of Persia: Warrior Within
He’s back, and he’s got a big-ass chip on his shoulder
I
n last year’s Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, the Prince was one
cool dude who kicked ass with style and grace in a resplendent 3D world
that brimmed with challenging environmental puzzles. It was a stunning,
rousing success... on the consoles, that is.
Sands of Time may have looked the best on a PC, which is to be expected,
but it played the worst—thanks to abysmal out-of-the-box gamepad support.
Sadly, controlling the Prince’s awesome array of acrobatic moves and zombie-
slicing skills was far too klunky a proposition for the keyboard and mouse.
In Warrior Within, we’re pleased to find that the gamepad oversight has
been rectified, as are most of our complaints about Sands of Time. Gone
are repetitive combat (enemies respawned when you re-entered a room),
an irritating save-point system (save points were few and far between and
would appear only after you cleared out waves of enemies from a room),
and brevity (about 10-12 hours to complete).
The biggest improvement is the new “button-mashing free” control scheme.
You can now execute precise combos on multiple enemies using any dual ana-
log controller. Enemies no longer respawn, save points are distributed more fre-
quently about the levels and don’t require room-clearing to activate, the game’s
a bit longer (15-20 hours), and the swooning camera issue is much less frequent.
Back all these improvements with an engaging story that has the Prince
going back in time in an effort to save his own life by circumventing everything
that happened in Sands of Time; toss in a much deeper combat system that
includes dozens of eye-popping combo attacks; sprinkle in some nifty new time-
manipulation effects; and you have a recipe for a sterling sequel that shines just
about everywhere you look.
The movie sequences do suffer from some audio-lag and stuttering, andsome fans of the POP franchise might not like the Prince’s new darker, grittier,
broodier look and personality,
but we’re big fans.
Other than these minor
issues, we’re fresh out of
complaints: Warrior Within is
one of the best action/adven-
ture games we’ve played on
the PC in years.
—STEVE KLETTThe Prince’s enemies are many and nimble, but now he’s got
the moves to send ‘em all to kingdom come.The Chronicles of Riddick:
Escape from Butcher Bay, Developer’s Cut
Escaping from prison has never been so much fun
T
here’s plenty to be suspicious of regarding Chronicles of Riddick: Escape
from Butcher Bay. Any game drawn from a recent action flick is cause
for concern. The same goes for any console FPS ported to the PC as a
special “Developer’s Cut.” But Riddick is a surprisingly enjoyable game that
mixes traditional stealth gameplay with RPG-like character interaction to cre-
ate a first-person experience that delivers equal amounts stealth and action.
Imprisoned in a super-penitentiary, Riddick must interact with the NPC
inmates and guards to procure items such as weapons, cigarettes, and
cash. Naturally, Riddick will frequently need to smash skulls, which an intui-
tive melee combat system makes easy. Some fights seemed too easy—early
enemies go down after a single hit—but the fights become much more chal-
lenging late in the game.
When Riddick sneaks out of the cell blocks, the game switches to
stealth mode. You’re able to creep past guards or stab them from behind.
The game makes it easy to know when you’re hidden. When you switch
into the stealth mode by ducking, your screen turns blue. The darker
the blue, the better hidden you are. After a little while, Riddick gains his
trademark night vision, opening new opportunities to wait in darkness for
guards to turn their backs.
Sneaking is never as fun as shooting though, and Riddick boasts
extremely solid first-person-shooter action. In comparison to other recent
shooters though, the enemy AI in Riddick is just plain dumb. Prison guards
fail to use cover effectively and exhibit an out-of-sight, out-of-mind men-
tality. As soon as you get 20 feet from a pursuer, he forgets you were everthere and goes back to his
business.
We dig the way Riddick
mixes disparate genres enough
to forgive its woefully short
12-hour playtime. However, we
must add that every moment of
those 12 hours is a treasure.
—MARK NOACKGreat character models and easy-to-learn game-
play. Bargain bin price!PITCH BLACKCHRONICLES OF RIDDICK
Occasional shadow-rendering problems and hit-
or-miss enemy behavior.
$30, http://www.vugames.comMA XIMUMPCVERDICT 9
He’s back, and he’s got a big-ass chip on his shoulder
Solid gamepad support, no more respawns, lots o’
new combat moves, and a gritty makeover.PRINCELYMinor audio and movie glitches, and the
camera still gets in the way occasionally.$40, http://www.princeofpersiagame.comMA XIMUMPCVERDICT 9
Occasionally you find yourself in a stand-up fight and you’re
usually outnumbered. Our advice: bring guns!