WhatIfGaming Game Of The Year 2011 Awards

The highway of our heart never ceases to the speed limit. Constantly becoming variable throughout the year, the speed of the thrills in newer titles and greater sequels have kept us seeing the wonders of a road that seems to be endless. Once again the highway creates memories which leaves us alone at the passenger seat of life looking out at the night sky of remembrance. Some of us have conquered the hype of ordinary titles, the injustices of mediocre talent, and those games which have shown a devotion to game design which is more about marketing than true gameplay throughout the year. Alas in the confines of these terrible titles, there are those which reaffirm the very nature of recognition and praise, those which dare immensely and conquer the year with their prowess.

It is with pleasure that we provide the millions of anticipated readers what they have been waiting for since the dawn of 2011: the video game industry’s most exceptional and gratified WhatIfGaming 2011 Game Of The Year Awards ceremony, presenting its official Game Of The Year awards before anyone else with a collective decision from industry experts and WhatIfGaming editors worldwide through its defined rigorous selection process which focuses on industry and developer recognition. The moment you all have been waiting for is finally here. Similar to the previous years, WhatIfGaming is first to give out Game of the Year Awards this year. See the Worst Game Of The Year and laugh at its shortcoming or weep for it, ponder about the cohesiveness of Best Script, or play through a title again to experience Best Voice Acting gone unnoticed by some.

Happy Holidays and Happy New Years to our beloved millions of WhatIfGaming readers! See you all in 2012.

We have been receiving e-mails in the hundreds of thousands. Yes, we are at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2011, as we are every year, along with part of the staff doing coverage for our other network-owned publications. No we are not part of the GC panel this year. Yes, we have tons of crazy exclusives and interviews, but considering our entire staff is at E3 this year, there is no one in the Sacramento Headquarters. Videos are indeed upcoming after the post-process crawl.

Please be patient with us. Our goal is not to live-publish anything which is readily TV-ready. Our coverage is about succinct coverage with great people. The Microsoft Conference was extremely exclusive, with seats filled to the brim at the lovely Galen Center. We already guessed Halo 4 would indeed be coming moments before the actual conference went live, so that was exciting for us. Sony WOW-ed audiences and media alike  with a press conference with drinks, food, and after-show 120 kiosks. There is a level of professionalism that the  Sony Computer Entertainment team truly brings to a conference, not for a surreptitious concept, but to provide a sense of professionalism, claiming that customers are important while also giving the attendees equal respect. EA Conference was great, but nothing spectacular – while Ubisoft did display great visuals in Assassin’s Creed: Revelations (for which we have an exclusive interview and booth tour). Nintendo is tomorrow, and we expect a new Nintendo console (we heard on good word 2 days ago it is a handheld, so it is very shocking) and our guess is maybe even Super Mario Galaxy 3. There is more to come, but surely after E3 and moreover after we send out the votes to 1000+ contacts this year for the Best of E3 Awards spread.

WhatIfGaming - Game Of The Year 2010 Awards

Afresh another year has passed the highways of our hearts, and left us alone once more at the passenger seat of life looking out to the road of video games throughout the year in the night sky. We have suffered the medal of ordinary titles, an award received when a man, woman, or child has played more than one terrible title throughout this tough year of video game concepts and design. Alas, in the midst of these terrible titles, there were some mediocre and others which seized the occasion for themselves, making 2010 a year to remember.

It is with pleasure that we provide the millions of anticipated readers what they have been waiting for since the dawn of 2010: the video game industry’s most exceptional and gratified WhatIfGaming 2010 Game Of The Year Awards ceremony, presenting its official Game Of The Year awards before anyone else with titles specially chosen by us here. Similar to the previous years, WhatIfGaming is first to give out Game of the Year Awards this year. The bittersweet red carpet has rolled out for the WhatIfGaming’s Best of 2010: Game of the Year Awards, the next step in industry and developer recognition.

Happy Holidays and Happy New Years to our beloved millions of WhatIfGaming readers! See you all in 2011.

War like this can be just as exciting as the other two times. Call of Duty: Black Ops heralds another energetically convincing warfare title by developers Treyarch to hardcore gaming enthusiasts worldwide. The storyline introduces us to characters that are unforgettable in the emblem of Call of Duty, and the sounds with the incredibly stunning visuals make Call of Duty: Black Ops one of the most realistic warfare titles of 2010. The action is thrilling, the pacing brings players to the edge of their seats, and the multiplayer makes for one of the most nostalgic and more refined online gameplay campaigns ever set in the Call of Duty realm. Call of Duty: Black Ops prodigiously fathers itself into the hall of family name that makes up the incredible Call of Duty series up to this inception.

Call of Duty: Black Ops brings the heart of reality to the Cold War from early 1961 to post-1968. The primary protagonist’s of the character arch resides with Alex Mason and the Central Intelligence Agency’s Jason Hudson, both very apt and experienced with their jobs: to finish what they start. As part of the Studies and Observations Group (SOG), Mason and Hudson have to deal with behind enemy lines dangers as part of their everyday routine. The Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, or USSR, is planning on an experimental weapon mysteriously called “Nova-6.” Following the dangerous path will be many enemies and allies, some new while other notables make a notable return from previous Treyarch titles, such as Viktor Reznov and World at War’s protagonist Dimitri Petrenko. Through vast environments through the rough Ural Mountains to restricted Cuba and even harsh-cited Vietnam, the Black Operations unit will counter any terrorist threat from reaching the home borders of the United States.  

The remarkable single-player campaign gameplay makes a welcome return in Call of Duty: Black Ops with thrilling first-person shooting mechanics, bringing a level of intense pacing and extreme operative action to players worldwide with their friends. The gameplay is fairly the same thing seen in the previous iterations of the series, notably from World at War and Modern Warfare. Within the single-player campaign, players can choose from a variety of over 30 different weapons to combat enemies and additional Soviet Forces. The use of initiating bullet-time is a newer feature with the campaign series which is part of the scripted cinematic moments. While scripted seems less ideal in most games, Call of Duty has always been able to make it work to its advantage. Sadly, replayability can suffer as a result of having a strictly linear campaign with scripted moments, which is a shame for a series which can easily make a free-roam type title while still giving a climatic storyline for players.

One of the most notable features of any title within the Call of Duty series, post-Modern Warfare by developers Infinity Ward, has been the engaging and breath-enticing online aspects of any first-person shooter to date. Online multiplayer modes return with four player cooperative gameplay online through “Combat Training” or the newer modes of competitive gameplay. Call of Duty: Black Ops provides a new and revitalized sense of customization and player personality. Experience points and the reward systems return. Players can utilize “Create-a-Class 2.0” which can modify appearance items as well perks themselves to have different types of attachments for weapons, personalized clan tag notation, and even different emblems to newer reticles. Face paints can terrify the opponents while Killstreak rewards bring back the classical helicopter attacks, guided missiles, and a newer explosive RC car and much more. To finally provide a sense of ingenuity and replayability to Call of Duty: Black Ops, players can now focus on their monetary values through a new Currency System, which allows an even balance between higher ranked players and lower ranked amateurs just starting out. Newer modes revolving around this currency system include a Wager Match playlist, where four types of modes are included for currency and experience points to the highest scorer. One disappointment only arises with anyone hoping for local cooperative play as local split-screen multiplayer has no progression system, an odd choice considering Combat Training has its own separate progression mechanic. Regardless, Call of Duty: Black Ops makes an attention to detail and finesse with what truly matters: close quarters action and finally giving players a personality in the multiplayer experience beyond a rank.

Call of Duty: Black Ops is also provided exclusively for PC enthusiasts via the Steam platform by Valve Software. While the graphics are clearly better than the consoles at Quad-Crossfire X capability (and also on NVIDIA SLI), there are clearly a few problems – multithreading is disabled, which limits the CPU threads used to process the bit headers from the graphics adaptor on the I/O Hub. This can show slight decreases in frame rate per second. Lastly, it is clear the title is not as optimized for usage with the multiplayer in terms of general frames per second on high-end systems, but it should be updated with a patch. Lastly, cheating is a big issue despite Valve VAC. A lot of people can headshot 2 people at once, but 8 people in a row and constant headshot kills are rather unbelievable to be accurate in any legitimate sense. For anyone that enjoys a great online experience – avoid the PC version of this title.

Call of Duty: Black Ops consorts a culmination of a title that is simply enthralling, and wonderful despite the small problems with restricted multiplayer offers through local cooperative gameplay. The formula has remained immutable, showing that there is an honorable level of immutability involved with any series of titles that have seen such success such as Call of Duty. Sometimes keeping the old formulas and improving them is exactly what gamers want and even sometimes demand to see the greater, more realistic canvas of a painting as recondite and unrestrained as Call of Duty: Black Ops.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Review – Matching Expectations

by Stuart Blair

Treyarch was always going to have a tough job on their hands to try and match the successes of both Modern Warfare and Modern Warfare 2 as their other successor titles (World At War) did not quite come up to par against Infinity Ward. Fortunately for the fans of Call of Duty, not only did Black Ops match the standards set by the Modern Warfare duo but it surpassed and greatly exceeded any of the experiences we have encountered before from a realistic first-person shooter title. The campaign is lively and exciting, despite a few problems in particular. Some niggling issues that are still present are the linearity and scripting that the campaign heavily relies on; although it does work to a certain extent, it would be really nice to see a bit more freedom when it comes to exploring levels with maybe a few different options of how to infiltrate buildings and take out targets. Multiplayer has again been brought up to the standards of Modern Warfare. The only downside is the ability to replay a map that has just been played which gets annoying after playing the same map 3 or 4 times in a row. The return of the zombies is another fun addition which again has been taken to another level with the player playing as the president defending the pentagon although it is much more fun playing with friends and is made really easy to do so. Call of Duty: Black Ops is a remarkable game nevertheless which keeps the player interested and intrigued throughout the whole campaign and then builds on that initial enjoyment by providing a fantastic domain for cooperative online multiplayer fun with zombies or combative multiplayer with the variety of online features it contains. Treyarch has truly learned from its mistakes in former titles and really gave everyone something to remember in keeping memories alive.

DJ Hero 2 brings the vividness and excitement that DJ Hero brought to DJ enthusiasts everywhere around the world. DJ Hero 2’s primary structure is found on a level of solidity and all-encompassing amount of fun through the online gameplay, and moreover the feel of Party Play with two turntables. Sadly, the microphone and the lack of a decent single-player campaign that truly make people feel like an incredible DJ is sorely missing. DJ Hero 2 attempts to create a terse and exiting musical reification through the new set list, but sadly a lack of real decent DJ songs and overcomplicated mash-ups between artists serves to downplay the experience heavily and leave the turntables in the dust.

Music games tend to reach a peak in terms of the core gameplay, and then continue to expand on the concepts in sequels, at least the successful ones. DJ Hero 2 brings extenuating gameplay through the different mix sections of scratching, and mixing, and finally manages to further develop the scratching on the turntables. Turntables do not feel difficult due to the bizarre layout of trying to press the 3 face buttons on the spin-box while trying to turn the table in an eerie way. The gameplay has become immensely improved other than the hardware combination aside. Crossfading has become less dull, and has managed to show the rhythms more strongly than interjecting with sound effects and what not. Empire Mode is the highlight of the single-player campaign, but sadly fails to deliver than anything beyond normal. Along with this core gameplay, the 83-track set list returns and highlights more recent artists, such as Eminem, Jay-Z, and all your other mainstream rappers. The only disappointing factor but the most reasonable factor comes with certain artists comprising of songs that simply do not mesh well with the beats of the DJ spin. Some songs that are more geared towards pop than anything electronic techno or technica. While the licensing for DJ Hero 2 is much stronger than the predecessor of the title, it still shows a necessitousness portrayal of original songs to suit up for the impressively improved game mechanic.

Set lists unlock clothes, and accessories along with placing you to fight with other DJs in the single-player storyless campaign, players can take the DJing action through the multiplayer Battle Modes. The battle modes vary between six different types and feel well-developed which includes players having an online persona with a leveling system that is exciting and surprisingly more fun than the single-player campaign itself.

DJ Hero 2 has a lot to offer to the fanbase of DJ Hero, looking to get away from some of the light inadequacies of the title, and engage in a newer and stronger title. While the microphone is surely a dying idea while players are scratching for their lives, the title provides a new and refreshing take on the series which keeps the old formula while updating it just enough to be worthy of the sequel title.

Madden NFL 2011 bursts into the fields with an ultimate power that is insurmountable in terms of improvements in graphics, gameplay, announcer dialogue, incredible animations and most of all action and emotion. Madden NFL 2011 aims for what you see on Sunday, you see in Madden approach, and it is an approach that proves worthy to the confines of the gameplay and the action of the field calling plays. While Madden NFL 2011 has its fair share of issues which include Ultimate Team Mode as an unmemorable addition to the game while having issues of offensive linemen as being less responsive. Nevertheless, Madden NFL 2011 is one of the best titles of the game series to date and is sure to please footballers around the world.

Gameplay in the Madden NFL series has always focused on the informative quickplay books and trying to memorize dozens of plays like an actual NFL coach. EA Tiburon by default has decided to shift away from the complexity of memorizing multiple plays per scenario and introduces a revolutionary new engine feature eloquently dubbed “GameFlow.” GameFlow enables players to make calls within the press of a button for casual football players, but the option to have Conventional gameplay is still available. In terms of actual scenarios, GameFlow makes intuitive decisions to make plays based on distance and most importantly game situation. There are some issues present in terms of GameFlow and just how intuitive it can be. Draw moves and screens of certain areas are called frequently, thereby making it seem that the A.I. can easily figure out your gameplay moves. The variety is there, but the actual diversity is lacking in terms of the unpredictability of an actual Coach and his calls. Regardless, Madden NFL 2011’s GameFlow is an exciting addition that allows casual gamers to experience the game and the actual drama while still feeling like a part of the technical accomplishment of a play.

Game planning is definitely incredible from GameFlow and to further changes including A.I. and other changes that effect the action. A.I. is definitely more improved from previous titles, where certain cornerbacks could not follow slant routes properly. Increasing the difficulty leads to a very tough game that requires less big plays and more minute plays to increase the action and get that touchdown. The offensive linemen are more vigilant in terms of blocking runs during plays and making it easier for your linebacker to follow the play path to the goal. The only sad part about this newfound change in A.I. leads to a lot of technical issues. Linemen sometimes try to block any player that is too far to be a threat to you as a quarterback and are immobile sometime altogether. While linemen are realistic during every single play, there is also more of an issue with the technical bugs which can hopefully be patched later on.  Despite this, running mode is incredible and everyone feels like a part of the team.

Madden NFL 2011 takes notable improvements to the Franchise Mode, which was incredible in Madden NFL 2010 but needed minor improvements which should have been addressed through a patch, but have now just shown up in this new title release. There is a new Rookie Draft Class that reveals the classes have been recreated from scratch with 8000 new rookies. Contract Values were an issue to Franchise Mode players due to there being a gap between intermediate Role Players being more incrementally expensive compared to their average pass-catch ratio than someone who had incredible gameplay statistics and a lower ratio in comparison, something which ends up being inconsequential on the field.

The Madden NFL series has always found its birth in being the first realistic football simulation title that introduced the world to online gameplay with something as cultural as football. Madden NFL 2011 is all about the online gameplay and continues this exciting trend. Cooperative action gives players the ability to group with each other and control specific players or parts of the team. While this is complicated in essence, it is an easy and relatively fun concept for two minds to come together rather than it feeling like you have full control. In contrast to NFL Head Coach, Madden NFL 2011 cooperative online play allows players to share the calls, which in reality many plays are made through the coach and his advisors.  Further online game modes include the Madden NFL 2010 released Ultimate Team mode, a mode offered as DLC which allows players to create their own team and then receive random players to add to the roster. The goal is simple: make this team the ‘Ultimate Team’ of the playoffs. This mode, while interesting for the fantasy football roster, seems too artificial with the coins and this random collection of players seems too informal to even begin getting better players for the roster or unlock a new MVP.

Presentation within the gameplay is complemented with incredible sportscaster commentary that is improved and revitalized. Commentary is led by Gus Johnson and the exciting Cris Collinsworth has been refined and polished to call out run-blocks and incredible goals with excitement depending on the event, and even the type of weather difficulty on the field. The audio of the crowd has also been improved which includes team-specific chants and more Super Bowl energy. Visually, Madden NFL 2011 is the best looking game of all the titles in the series and one of the best looking football games on any console to date. The improved broadcast style animations make Madden NFL 2011 feel more dynamic and alive than ever before. Madden NFL 2011 has increased the amount of vibrance and sheer energy of the presentation that makes it one of the best finely refined football title to date.

Madden NFL 2011 is simply one of the best titles of the Madden NFL series, but might come off as geared to mainstream NFL fans than hardcore gaming veterans.  The action is lively, the voice dialogue is unforgettable, and the new GameFlow mode adds a necessary expansion into the action on the field than in the interface of playbooks. The commentary by Gus Johnsonn and Emmy winning Cris Collinsworth makes the presentation feel lively while the crowd has more purpose and feeling. Despite problems with the linemen at the call line and Ultimate Team mode as being a little difficult to handle with the coins system, Madden NFL 2011 has a lot of excitement that players around the world will be invested in. Mainstream NFL fans will love Madden NFL 2011 more so as a lot of the features seem geared to casual gamers, but hardcore fans will equally still enjoy it even though it might leave them wanting something more, as every year there always is something that can be improved. As 2011 begins, one thing is clear: Madden NFL 2011 is an incredible football experience with notable achievements in presentation, and style that players every year take for granted. Not this time.

E3 2010 was a spectacle, due to the opening of admissions to smaller retailers and media publications – with numbers nearing the similar peak. We were there to get every exciting moment: from Dead Rising 2, to KINECT and everything in between the PlayStation Move inundation. E3 2010 was marked through displays of motion and 3D, similar to our coverage of the 3DGS Convention. As always, it was certainly a great time, and now that time is over. It is time to look forward, ahead to newer and better releases, and to ennoble titles in this year’s WhatIfGaming’s Best Of E3 Awards 2010.

Criteria: The Best of E3 Awards, a subcategory for the WhatIfGaming Prizes, are given solely to those video games that demonstrate a pure excellence in the field for which they are not only nominated but also chosen. These awards only apply to playable games at E3 given a few exceptional categories.

Nomination & Selection Process: Compared with other site awards, the WhatIfGaming Prize nomination and selection process is long and extremely rigorous. This is the sole reason why WhatIfGaming Prizes have grown in importance over the years to become the most important prizes in their field. Forms, which amount to a personal and exclusive invitation, are sent to 150 (2010) selected individuals to invite them to submit nominations months in advance from the latest builds per video game. Self-nominations are disqualified. For WhatIfGaming Prizes, inquiries are sent to such people as developers, industry experts, analysts, among others. After our deadline passes, the nominations are chosen by permanent committee of 5 selected individuals from staff and only the final stage of nominees remain per category. From all of these, a winner is chosen.

The names of the nominees are not publicly announced, and neither are they told that they have been considered for the WhatIfGaming Prize. Some are announced publicly by practice. Nomination records are revealed approximately 2 years after each respective award year.

As racing games go, they all  follow the same basic concept of  drive fast and win. Very few actually differ in levels of realism and skill they strive to achieve with a passion.  Luckily, Split Second takes the task of start to finish and makes it revitalizing, new, and an overall decent title to play that provides a sense of experience and realism. Split Second pushes for an added new dimension to the basic structure by allowing players to affect the racing environment by blowing up boats, cars, trains, and basically anything that litters the side of the course, allowing for more tactics to come into play. The game can turn from boring, to unexpected and for everything that goes right on a track, things can go wrong. This aspect can both be beneficial and a hindrance when it comes to enjoyment and frustration and it lets the game down to a point. Regardless, the title is some fun as long as it lasts through core gameplay in singleplay and finally the multiplayer aspect that transitions this into the real world scenario.

Blackrock Studios has tried to add as much of a story as they can to a genre of game which is notorious for having worthless stories, but unfortunately the idea of being in a reality TV show where cars race to move onto bigger, more elite events seems to lack any plausibility and reminds us of Jason Statham’s Death Race, but nonetheless it was a worthy attempt to try and crowbar a story in no matter how ridiculous or implausible.

The gameplay for Split Second is where the meat of the game is and as far as arcade racers go, it is up there with the best in terms of simplicity. The driving itself feels realistic giving leeway for slight crashes into barriers and other obstacles, while also being generous for cornering walls.  The game adds the challenge further to the total damage system as your car does total if it hits any solid object with too much force, which evens out the playing field with even more tactics coming into play.  The A.I. directly affects the experience and the action with opponent cars both blocking you and applying the same destructive options that the player can apply to them. There is no infamous car-rubberbanding as seen on such titles as Need for Speed: Undercover, a similar game that lacked in everything excluding boredom. While Split Second is different in terms of gameplay to some levels, it is just a pity that there are limited tracks to compete on and once you have seen all the explosions and track changes that can be activated on each course, the game becomes a bit stale and boredom soon sets in when the game is reaching its peak.Another annoyance comes in the form of opponents activating an obstacle to wreck your car just as you are near the finishing line and ends up with you placing second or third which, although part of the game, really frustrates the player as it shows that luck is more of a fact than skill.

Playing with friends or strangers is where Split Second shines and although the single player is decent it needs the audacity and guile of human players to really make it worthwhile. The split screen option where you can play alongside one of your friends has all the necessary options needed to make a couch rivalry really build up and the gameplay allows this excellently. As with the split screen, online is played out beautifully with the gameplay in place and lets even novice drivers compete with more experienced ones and gives them a chance both with driving ability and status of their car. Unfortunately, this is a major let down by the fact that the player has to unlock the better cars through the less intense season mode or pay a premium to unlock every vehicle, an unrealistic aspect of the game that leads to major disappointment considering the better cars should be able to be unlocked through skill online aswell. This is the only thing that lets down an otherwise strong online game but it is a big downside and should definitely be looked at for consumer considerations.

As an arcade-racing game with a twist, Split Second: Velocity has all the bits and pieces needed to make it a quality title with decent single player and excellent online capabilities but certain features like frustrating outcomes after being wrecked and the need to unlock better cars through single player need to be adjusted to make it a proper standout title. Blackrock Studios has definitely done a good job trying to think up a change to a stale genre of game but major tweaks were needed to make it thrilling to a point beyond the simlistic racing style and the dreams to try something different.

The Prince will never be in the forgotten realms of every gamer that has encountered him. The Prince returns in Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands and this time the mood is entirely different from Prince of Persia 4, the storybook equivalent that focused more on the inveterate storybook version as the original and truly defined a new height for the series with humor, and action combined into one. Thankfully, the new title pushes the series back into its former Sands of Time inception and critical storyline atmosphere with a central but memorable antagonist, and a tale of vengeance and time packed into one. Newer abilities and an upgraded combat system with smoother mechanics without a companion makes the Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands truly refreshing. Even though the gameplay does not  live up to the same standards in relation to mission structure and design by the original title, Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands feels nostalgic regardless. With a detailed storyline, splendid graphics, and moreover the ability to finally rewind time – the Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands truly feels like a decent sequel to The Sands of Time, but nostalgia can only go so far.

Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands takes the fan hearkened and desired The Sands of Time universe and reignites this iteration of Prince of Persia to provide a storybook rooted version of the tale as the previous title as just the first step into recreating the nostalgia and prestige of the original.  Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands begins with the Prince on a visit to his brother Malik’s kingdom, following his adventure in Azad, to learn how to become a true leader as ordained by his father to carry on the rule. As original of the series in the past, the Prince always manages to arrive at the right place at an all too wrong time.  The visit has unfortunately coincided with an attack on his brother’s royal palace by an unnamed army set on destruction and and incipient corruption of the foundations of the kingdom. When the decision is placed to use the ancient powers of the Sand in a lackluster gamble to save the kingdom from annihilation, the Prince is the one who has to stop the danger that is unleashed. Through the large sets of enemies encountered, and the fate of his people laying in the balance, the Prince will learn to bear the burden of true leadership, and discover that great power often comes with a great cost.

A story can only go so far in aiding a form of gameplay that uses a similar structure to a previous title. While using same formulas is fine, the gameplay is not as detailed or powerful to be interesting in a storyline that can only do so much to outline the need from jumping columns to columns in a platform game. The storyline gives players the inherent need to engage in a weak effort to create a purpose for swinging from well placed poles and columns throughout the palace, but there are certainly notable and enjoyable moments despite the repetitive gameplay design.

The heart of the game mechanics lies is in the acrobatic gameplay, the notable ability to rewind time, and finally the abilities system planted in nature.  The ability to rewind time  makes a consequential return yet keeps the challenge as there is only a limited time interval that can be used for rewinding a certain scenario.  The new abilities create the majority of the gameplay mechanics, and are very strongly implemented if sometimes feeling a bit overused. The abilities are meant to reveal how the Prince can wield powers of nature and time, and can this unparalleled mastery over his environment and his enemies. The Prince discovers that the harnessing forces of nature itself prove to be the only companion needed to his ability to rewind time, than an actual companion and no ability to rewind time out of the Sands of Time universe, as the last title used Elika in a major pendulum support for the gameplay interaction.  The ability to solidify water for a short period of time is the feature that is used the most and is also used in the obstacles to progress gameplay which is initially enjoyable,  but when you reach the fifth or sixth area in the palace that has a water theme it starts to feel a bit tacked on. Another ability is  rushing towards an enemy in mid-flight to jump wider gaps, although well implemented,  starts to become overused and rather blasé. There are also four powers you can upgrade to:  trail of fire, stone armour, whirlwind and  ice blast, but all seem quite weak and unessential to any combat to be rather meaningful. The combat itself is again flawed with the same enemies cropping up time and time again and giving ample warning to avoid their attacks which provides a detriment to any meaningful challenges throughout the game.

The Forgotten Sands is still an excellent addition to the Prince of Persia series but does not match up to the standards set by Prince of Persia: Sands of Time. While the previous Prince of Persia title did not have the significant ability to rewind time, it did have something more meaningful: better gameplay, and a great atmosphere with a humorous mood all set in a brilliant storybook setting and blue overtone that earned it our highly prestigious WhatIfGaming Prize: Editor’s Choice. For all the things Prince of Persia: Forgotten Sands does correctly to reach a nostalgic existence in the Sands of Time universe, it reveals major problems in terms of the rest of the gameplay that make this nostalgia all too forgettable.