Back in the day, guys weren't beat up for their Nikes, they were beat up for their horn hats!

The award winning Sands of Time trilogy, a series previously available only to home console owners, now makes its first appearance on a handheld system, bringing it’s highly stylized action and puzzle gameplay to Sony’s PSP. Aside from the few sound bugs and other glitches, the second game in the trilogy is faithfully reproduced for the PSP with plenty of success.

Playing as the ubiquitous prince, you must again fight your way through hordes of sand enemies and make your way past numerous traps and devious puzzles as you search for the Empress of the Island of Time, and a way to change your future. With the prince’s astounding acrobatic abilities, such as the capability to run up and along walls, as well as climb and leap from ledges, beams and pillars, no obstacle is too much for you to overcome. Many traps will block your path, such as spiked floors, rotating bladed logs, and other sneaky devices. Thankfully the prince is imbued with the power to control time, either by slowing it down slightly or more often by simply “rewinding” the action as much as eight seconds. Using this power, you can often save yourself from almost certain death.

Revelations also includes the same powerful but simple combat system, based around the dual weapon system and a set of easy to execute combos. The prince is always equipped with his standard sword, but he can also pick up the weapons of vanquished enemies, such as axes, maces and daggers. Usable for a short time, the secondary weapons increase the Prince’s power, and help with defeating enemies more efficiently.

The graphics look fantastic on the PSP, with the beautiful environments, characters and effects displayed with as much detail as is found on the consoles. It’s remarkable how closely the game is reproduced on the less powerful system. The beauty does not come without a price however, as the load times are frequent and often tediously long. In addition to the standard long load times for the menu and when loading a new level, Revelations has introduced a new loading period, right in the middle of the action. When transitioning between rooms in a level, you are often treated with a frozen display and a rotating icon on the screen as new content is loaded. These loads take anywhere from 2-5 seconds and can occur at any time, even while navigating traps or during combat. Needless to say this draws you out of the game, and provides and unwanted and unnecessary distraction.

Many problems also plague the sound and music, such as improper volume levels and missing effects, or effects that drop out mid-way through playing. Occasionally the game will sound as you might expect, but more often than not, something is going wrong with the sound that will distract you from the game. When the sound is playing correctly however, the effects are crisp and clean and the music is suitable yet forgettable.

As a bonus and incentive for PSP owners, Revelations includes a few levels not found in the original Warrior Within, and they serve to increase the overall game length as well as increase the difficulty with some more intricate and devious sections. However for those that have already played this game on either your PS2 or XBOX, it is hard to recommend unless portability is a key factor. With its bugs and glitches Revelations does not provide a perfect Prince of Persia experience, yet comes close, and offers a great portable game for those seeking a little action.