As the game begins, we find the Prince returning from his long voyage to Babylon to find his hometown in ruins and under attack. Before he can act, his ship is sunk, and his passenger, Kaileena, is captured by the attacking army. The story unravels from there as you progress through the streets and buildings of the Prince’s city to rescue the damsel in distress from the clutches of The Grand Vizier.

Rival Swords uses the nunchuck stick for movement and the Wiimote for controlling the camera. During fights, the Wiimote controls the Prince’s sword, with the nunchuck used for swinging the Prince’s secondary weapon. Although the control scheme works quite well, it is pretty much the only consideration the developers have made to the Wii conversion. There has been no effort to improve the visuals and it does look every inch a PS2 port.

Rival Swords captures the familiar Prince of Persia gameplay well, giving you a series of elaborate obstacle courses to negotiate with a variety of acrobatic (and frequently downright unfeasible) moves. Run up walls, leap from ropes, swing from bars; you name it, it's here, and although the levels present little in the way of depth or choice, the pleasure of stringing together the Prince's fluid motions into complex, elegant combinations is its own reward. Indeed, it is during the most convoluted of these sections that the game truly shines. Seeing what you need to do and doing it successfully are often poles apart and finally completing a particularly difficult section by stringing together a dozen or more chained moves is a joy to behold. It’s a pity that so much of the game is so straightforward and uninspiring in its execution.

Combat is simultaneously one of the game's biggest strengths and biggest weaknesses. The sheer number of moves the Prince can perform is staggering and almost on a par with many one-on-one fighting games. Seeing him despatch a group of bad guys with acrobatic nonchalance, complete with slow-mo close-ups, provides some of the games best moments. Unfortunately, the camera is often prone to hide behind scenery during fights or swing around more violently than a space hopper on a rollercoaster. Consequently, players can find themselves swinging their arms around manically at the unseen enemy; more akin to a drunk dad at a drum-and-bass party than a nimble swordsman. This rather negates the complexity of the combat scheme as it soon becomes clear that furious shaking of the controllers provides just as effective results as studied attacks. The one exception to this is the stealth kill: sneaking up on enemies from behind allows the Prince the opportunity to despatch them with a gloriously brutal attack, rendered in a viscerally satisfying super slow-mo close up.

The Prince also has the ability to transform into a dark alter ego at various scripted points throughout the game. He gains extra speed and power, but must constantly replenish his sand reserves to top-up his health and stay alive: wait too long and its game over. This constantly pushes the player forward, often at times when it would be more beneficial to stop and survey the surroundings. Consequently, there are many leaps of faith and untimely deaths. This problem is negated somewhat by the rewind feature: the ability to rewind time a few seconds to alter your course. Although the feature works well, it still feels like it merely covers up the developer’s short sightedness in many aspects of level design.

There are a small number of bosses to defeat; some puzzle elements to overcome and even a chariot race thrown in for good measure. However, the game ultimately stands or falls on its ability to remain fun and dynamic. For a two year old game, that to all intents and purposes feels like a poor man’s God Of war in places, it does still hold-up pretty well. There’s still little in other games to rival the enjoyment gleaned from running across walls and swinging from the rafters and that’s what the Prince Of Persia games have always delivered.