Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones

Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones concludes the Sands of Time trilogy and combines acrobatic movement across architecture with fast-paced combat. The Prince returns to Babylon, which has since been seized by a treacherous vizier, and must confront the dark entity he has carried within him since the events of Warrior Within — the more he draws on it for stronger attacks during the game, the more his appearance changes and the narrator's tone shifts, forcing the player to choose between power and holding on to the character's humanity. A new addition to the series is the Speed Kills system, where sneaking up on a weakened enemy triggers a contextual animation of a lightning-fast finishing blow, giving combat cinematic fluidity and quickening the pace compared to the slower fights of Warrior Within. Chariot-riding chase sequences through the city streets were also added, alternating with classic platforming across ledges, ladders, and walls, giving the game a more pronounced action tempo that makes this entry feel more dynamic than the previous two.

The Xbox version was released simultaneously with the PlayStation 2 release at the end of 2005 and is content-wise completely identical — the same levels, the same cutscenes, the same amount of side content, and the same length. The differences were purely technical: thanks to more powerful hardware, the Xbox ran the game with somewhat more stable framerates and shorter loading times between areas than the PS2, while textures and character models stayed practically the same. The Xbox version also benefited from a sharper picture output on contemporary TVs supporting progressive scan, and some reflections and lighting looked a bit cleaner. For players who could choose the platform, Xbox thus offered a somewhat smoother but content-wise entirely identical experience, with no additions or cuts compared to the PS2 original, with which it shared its release date and all bonus content. The choice between the two consoles essentially came down to which one the player already owned at home, not what either version offered on top.

Why play it: Anyone who could choose between the consoles got a game on Xbox that was content-identical to the PS2 version, just with somewhat smoother framerates and shorter loading times thanks to the more powerful hardware.