For the first time in a while, I’ve played a game to the end. In a library filled with racing games with none of that story malarky or fixed end state (complete with uninterruptible credits), I’ve forgotten the last game I actually finished.

It was probably GTA IV.

Anyway, it’s safe to say that Prince of Persia: Sands of Time was safely in my top 10 PS2 games. It had a nice story, reasonably believable characters, the rewind mechanic and combat that wasn’t too hard, but still satisfying and very acrobatic.

I missed out on the following games, being put off by the response which was generally “more of the same, emo prince, harder combat”, but at some point last year I picked up the subtitleless PoP.

Like the old game, it features a mix of platforming and fighting, only this time there’s no rewind mode and I found it extremely frustrating. Whereas before you had a bunch of enemies to tackle at once, now you have a single monster to dispatch - assuming you can get a hit in. The other notable new thing is the lack of a health bar, but at some point you’ll have to do a quick time event to not die. Dying results in the enemy’s health (they do get one) partially restoring. Maybe I’m just rubbish, but I found the whole thing annoying and unrewarding.

The running/jumping/climbing trees sections are a lot better, with an Assassin’s Creed semi-automated feeling and a real sense of the Prince’s athleticism as he runs up and along walls, ceilings and the like. These sections are broken up by occasional puzzles, most commonly moving chunks of the landscape about to reveal the correct route.

The story ends on something of a cliff-hanger, and helpfully welcomes you to shell out £7.99 to continue. I’d rather check Youtube for the story elements and call it a day.