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Review
If you've played The Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones on other consoles then you'd be forgiven for being a bit annoyed at buying Rival Swords only to find it's essentially the same game - albeit with different controls. No doubt Ubisoft were trying to lure in a bigger market share by porting it to the Wii and changing the title.
This might go some way in explaining its somewhat negative reception, but taken on its own merit Rival Swords makes good use of its new Wii motion controls that allow you to run up walls, do gymnastics on conveniently placed poles and slash away at bad guys with your sword. If there was ever a game where you could take pleasure in waving your Wii wand about to wield your character's sword, Prince of Persia is it.
As with Two Thrones, Rival Swords' story begins just after the events of previous game Warrior Within, where the Prince killed the evil Dahaka. But because he messed about with time in POP: The Sands of Time, the Vizier was now never killed and the Prince returns home to find his beloved Babylon palace in ruins. His ship is destroyed and his sweetheart Kaileena kidnapped.
The majority of the game, for those unfamiliar, sees you take control of the Prince as he navigates the invaded palace. You scale rooftops, swing on poles to cross deadly drops, run along walls at forty-five-degree angles and use all your free-running abilities to get from A to B. Just don't mistime a jump or you'll fall to a crunchy bone-breaking death on the concrete below.
As well as climbing and problem solving, you have to deal with the Vizier's army who are terrorizing the civilians inside the palace. Sneaking up on them is the best way to kill them via a quick stab to the throat (just flick your remote at the right moments and they're history). If you're spotted you can throw a sword at them or simply fight the buggers by waving your remote and nunchuk like a mentalist. Combos are your bread and butter and will see you kill your enemy far more efficiently.