Great Franchise, Great Series, Good Game.
You may notice from my title that I hold The Prince of Persia franchise and The Sands of Time series in high regard. That being said, this game does not quite live up to that. In the first game of the series, The Sands of Time, Ubisoft introduced you to the ability to control time and the epic platforming that ensued. Then, in The Warrior Within, they sacrificed a good chunk of the time spent platforming to add a vastly superior fighting system. What each game lacked in one place it more than made up from in another. The same can not be said this third installment, The Two Thrones. Neither the platforming nor the combat were bad except that were simply not as good as they had been.
The Sands of Time was challenging when it came to platforming, but relieved the player of the stress of trying to be perfect by giving them the sand. This allowed you to complete a section by a little trial and error. It also would taunt you with mind bending puzzles. And even though these puzzles got frustrating at times they were ultimately very rewarding when you figured out the solution. Unfortunately, in The Two Thrones, the platforming was relatively simple and, except for a couple sections, the puzzles were not as hard. In spite of this the game was still a good puzzle-platformer. I think the biggest reason why this game isn't better is because of the large expectation placed on it by its predecessors.
The combat system in The Sands of Time left something to be desired as it was relatively simple. However, this was remedied in The Warrior Within, which took a much darker approach to the series. The Warrior Within gave the player the feeling of being a very skilled swordsman who could always use his environment to his advantage. This was achieved with a heavy combo system and the ability to use walls and polls as props as you obliterated your dazed and confused enemies. Simply put, this was fun. Swinging around a poll decapitating sand creatures never really gets old. The Two Thrones tries to duplicate this system but it comes up short. It doesn't have nearly as many combos and you don't seem nearly as powerful. This may be because enemies take longer to kill or maybe it is just because the combos don't look as cool. Combat as the Dark Prince is a little bit more satisfying, as you are able to do some pretty powerful moves with your chain, but the times you get to fight as him are too few to scratch that itch.
There is one important element in this series that I have not yet covered, the story. This is were the first two games give a little back to The Two Thrones from what they have taken away. The games starts off on a depressing note and things keep getting worse. This is fitting to the rest of the series since the Prince is always getting himself into trouble, and this game does not take nearly as gloomy an outlook on the events as The Warrior Within did. The Dark Prince often gives comic relief and later in the game becomes an appropriate villain. Each game in the series challenges the player with a bigger adversary and this is one place where The Two Thrones does not disappoint. In The Sands of Time you fight an evil sorcerer with immense power imbued on his by the sands. Then, in The Warrior Within you are force to defeat Fate himself to survive. The Two Thrones gives you the task of defeating a god, and once you have done that you must fight the only thing that can do more harm than any foe you have faced before, Yourself. The final level of the game pits you in a battle against the corruption inside you. You finally find out the only way to win is to deny yourself the battle and walk away. The Prince finally learns his lesson that he can't always run from the consequences of his actions and must face the death of those he cared so much about. His emotional maturing is probably the best ending they could have written to that game, and it is the closest to a happy ending you can have in a game with that much tragedy.
All in all I can say that it is a very enjoyable experience and an appropriate ending to a great series of games. I give this game 4/5 Stars and heavy recommendation that you play it.
