Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

1001 Video Games

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Advertising

The Internet marketing for Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time was Ubisoft's most successful campaign so far. Ad agency Digital Outlook targeted 15-24-year-old males with ads featuring characters from the game and its "acrobatic action gameplay". A DHTML overlay showing the Prince slicing through the computer screen with his sword had a click-through rate of 26.1%. A streaming video ad, showing the gameplay, had a click-through rate of 23.43%. These rates were 4x higher than the host site's average.

Armitt, Claire. Prince of Persia: the Sands of Time. (Case Study)" New Media Age. May 6, 2004 p30.

Cover

The PlayStation 2 Greatest Hits budget release of the game confusingly uses the cover art of the 2010 game Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands.

Farah

Curious about how Farah feels about the Prince? Use the free-look button to look at her during the game to see how their relationship grows.

Murals

On the opening level, just after the room in which you first see the sands of time / giant hourglass, you find a water-filled passage that has 6 murals on the walls. The contents of the murals seem to describe the legendary history of the sands of time:

1. A blue god and winged goddess cradle the earth
2. A red demon kills the blue god as he sleeps
3. The red demon stalks the earth, eating humans
4. The blue god returns from the dead and strikes down the red demon with lightning
5. The blue god collects the sand from the red demon and pours it into an hourglass
6. The blue demon grow four arms - 2 sport the hourglass - 2 carry a sword and the severed head of the red demon. Humans worship at his feet.

Hidden games

The PlayStation 2 and Gamecube versions feature a hidden version of the original Prince of Persia, which once unlocked can be played at will.

The Xbox version of the game features the first Prince of Persia, but also features a hidden Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow & The Flame, which will also show up as unlocked content.

The Windows version of the game does not feature either game hidden anywhere.

Rustam

Several times the main characters mention the "legendary" Rustam in comparison to what the Prince is able to do. Rustam was a Persian hero noted for his great strength. Born with prematurely gray hair, Rustam slew a rampaging white elephant with a single blow at the age of ten.

More at "Rustam." Encyclopedia Mythica. 2004. Encyclopedia Mythica Online.

Awards

• 4Players
  • 2003 – Best Console Graphics of the Year (PlayStation 2)
• Computer Games Magazine
  • March 2004 - #7 Game of the Year 2003
• Computer Gaming World
  • March 2004 (Issue #236) – Action Game of the Year
  • March 2004 (Issue #236) – Weapon of the Year (for the Dagger of Time)
• EGM
  • February 2006 - #166 out of 200 of the "Greatest Games of Their Time"
• GameSpy
  • 2003 – #10 Game of the Year (together with SoulCalibur II)
  • 2003 – #4 Xbox Game of the Year
  • 2003 – #9 GameCube Game of the Year

Information also contributed by Big John WV, PCGamer77, Rupert Breheny, Sciere and WildKard.