Game: "Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones"

Console: PlayStation 2 (also on GameCube, Xbox)

Developer/publisher: Ubisoft

Genre: Action

Number of players: 1

ESRB rating: M, for mature

The premise: On his way home to Babylon, the prince of Persia finds his city under siege and ravaged by destruction. Setting out to restore peace to his land, the prince is torn in two by the effects of the Sands of Time, giving rise to the Dark Prince within him.

Game play: Solving environ-mental puzzles and navigating through the sprawling surround-ings in acrobatic fashion have always been the mainstays of the Prince of Persia series. And as in the previous two games, the prince can take command of time itself, slowing down and even rewinding to cancel any mistakes or missed oppor-tunities. Free-form fighting allows players to create custom combo chains throughout the fight, as well as take advantage of the prince's agility and environment to gain the upper hand on enemies.

But those who don't have the time for a long battle will love the introduction of the Speed Kill system. This allows the prince to perform dynamic attacks that take down one or several enemies in a single shot with well-timed button presses. The difficult part is not only to put yourself into the right position, but also to be precise on the timing of the hits, otherwise the enemy will block your attack and you'll have to continue the fight in the normal fashion. Periodically the prince will transform into his "dark" persona, giving him new abilities and his share of challenges as well, as he must constantly replenish his depleting health.

The good/bad: With some overpowered enemies and a frenetic, occasionally erratic combat system, gamers should welcome and definitely try to master the Speed Kill system. The sand powers help alleviate mistakes, but fail to survive and you'll be subject to a poor checkpoint system where you'll most likely restart from a checkpoint you passed a long time.

This, however, won't take away from the fun of the gymnastic showcase of the agile prince. Players will at times find themselves "in the zone," maneuvering the prince with poetic precision through perilous environments, running on walls, jumping between columns, swinging on poles — never has getting from point A to point B been this exciting.

My take: As a solid conclusion to the Prince of Persia trilogy, "The Two Thrones" definitely is worth playing, offering a nice balance between action and acrobatics. But after a challenging and rewarding adventure, there's not much to do after beating it, so a rental might be the way to go.

Julius Pecson, a longtime gamer, reviews games on various consoles, including Xbox, GameCube, PlayStation 2 and Game Boy Advance, for The Advertiser.