Ubisoft struck what many believe to be ‘gaming gold’ with the release of ‘Prince of Persia: Sands of Time’. The title received plenty of accolades and critical acclaim but, to the puzzlement of many, failed to sell in large numbers. Never one to take things lying down, Ubisoft have bounced back with a sequel - ‘Prince of Persia: Warrior Within’.

We rejoin the Prince some years after his last adventure, only to find the world is now a very different place. It seems that his tinkering with time has upset the status quo, and anyone who's watched an episode of Star Trek will tell you that you can't play about with time without consequences. In this case it appears to have been the creation of an unstoppable, unearthly beast known as the Dahaka. This shadowy nemesis has only one thing on its mind - destroying the Prince and restoring the time-line.

Avoiding death at the hands of the Dahaka has clearly taken its toll on both the Prince and the tone of the game. Gone is the smooth-skinned, soft-voiced prince of the original, replaced with a stubble-spattered, scar-ravaged warrior. From early on everything points to the fact that this journey will be darker, in both ideas and setting, than before...

One of the key hooks of Sands Of Time was the ability to manipulate time in a number of ways. This concept is carried over to Warrior Within and once again the Prince can rewind, slow down and generally manipulate time, provided he has enough Sand in his ‘tanks’. This all comes in handy for reversing mistimed jumps, getting the upper hand on faster enemies, and creating devastating attacks that can dispose of multiple assailants with ease.

Combat is again plentiful and Ubisoft have added a whole slew of moves to the Prince's repertoire. In keeping with the darker, more adult tone, the Prince can now decapitate enemies or slice them clean in half with more than a fair mixture of the red stuff and sand being spilt. Other moves include being able to swing around pillars and poles to deal with attackers, sliding Errol Flynn-style down drapes and awnings as well as dual-wielding enemy weapons. At the press of a button, the Prince can scoop up axes, maces, daggers or any of his vanquished foes' previous armaments and use them to his advantage. These not only increase his attack power but also provide a handy way to disembowel enemies from a distance.

As in the first game, puzzles are plentiful and follow in the similar vein of pulling levers, swinging on bars and running across walls avoiding both buzz-saws and enemies. Very little has changed in respect of the acrobatic Prince’s visually impressive moves. The relatively unchanged control method will allow players of the first game to dive in with gusto: flipping off walls, scrambling onto ledges and making seemingly impossible leaps are immediately possible. All of these, mercifully, you can rewind and try again when you get them horribly wrong.

The graphics and environments are, once again, a visual treat. During the game, the Prince will need to use Time Portals to travel between the present and the past, the environment shifting in style as he does so. The present finds many of the grey halls and chambers the Prince traverses to be in ruin, complete with overgrown foliage, cracked and crumbling masonry and even booby traps that have malfunctioned and seized with the ravages of time. In contrast much of the past sees these same environments returned to their former glory, pristine and glistening with a much warmer palette.

Surely then, with plenty of action, excitement, intrigue and innovation (along with some gratuitous gore, bums, cleavage, and even a smattering of bad language thrown in for good measure), Warrior Within has all the ingredients of a great game...

Unfortunately, the answer is no.

While Sands Of Time was plagued with glitches and faults, Warrior Within shows signs of rushed development and a serious lack of final testing. One particular show-stopping bug occurs after a save game where the Prince attempts to retrace his immediate steps, only to fall straight through the level and become stuck in limbo. Similar glitches include being able to see the layout of the entire level when zooming the camera out to the fixed view.

The game's audio also suffers problems. Several cutscenes randomly drop all sound, completely crippling the imperative narrative for the next section of the game. Missing sounds and voices are also noticeable during game play, such as characters laughing heartily on screen but with no accompanying effect, or music not hitting its cues.

Collision detection can cause frustration in parts, with enemies scoring hits from impossible distances. The game's frame rate sometimes takes a visible bashing, especially when performing sweeping views of the environment. While this can be partly forgiven due to the quality of the visuals and the size of the levels on display, this ‘sweeping’ is used a number of times throughout the course of the game to guide the player, drawing attention to the lost frames.

Fleeing from the unstoppable Dahaka makes for some of the game's most memorable moments; however, these sections are also tinged with collision detection issues and bugs. This leads to a forced sense of urgency not from the chasing behemoth, but rather from the desire not to be suddenly grabbed without reason and sucked into oblivion.

The game also features some harsh and frustrating difficulty spikes, particularly during boss battles and whilst perched atop ledges with limited combat movement. Thankfully, save points are plentiful which means that, when death does occur, only small sections of the game need to be replayed.

Undoubtedly the change in tone may not be to everyone’s taste. The hazy, dreamlike appeal of the first has been replaced with a darker, almost brutal theme, complete with grinding rock soundtrack. Such a departure from the first will no doubt alienate those who fell captive to Sands Of Time's dreamy charm.

The concept of time travel is used well to enhance the storyline and, while interesting at first, it also lends itself to unwelcome backtracking. This sense of disjointed déjà vu also serves to confuse the player as to where they should be heading next.

Warrior Within is a largely missed opportunity. Those who loved the original for its setting and style will be disappointed and put off by the direction the series has taken. Those who struggle to look past the game's many faults (no doubt tinged with nostalgia of the Prince’s last escapade) will find an enjoyable adventure bubbling underneath. However, even they will eventually be left wondering what the game could have been had it received more care and attention in its closing stages.