Prince of Persia: Warrior Within Review (Kriken)
Considering you can get this game really cheap, I'm going to give this a tentative reccomend but the game does have its fair share its issues.
First of all, the positives: for the most part I would say the combat is improved. Bigger variety of combos, and different useable weapons. Some enemies are just not fun to fight though.
The level design is also shockingly really good in some places. There are some crazy sections you have to get through. But there is a fair bit of jank and moments of frustration.
The plot is kind of interesting. I like the angle of the prince being a more self-interested and selfish person given his circumstances. They are a bit over the top with the tone though - the prince's constant remarks about the enemies about to meet their demise and the generic henchman lines from the enemies. Along with the cheesy rock battle theme the game is just trying way too hard to be edgy and cool. At least it's got more personality than the half-baked retread of Two Thrones though.
Okay those are the (mostly) positives. Now for the bad stuff.
Touched on this already, but this game is pretty buggy. Along with some glitches that can get you killed for no good reason, there is one *really* bad game-breaking bug you can't really seem to plan for. And one that you shouldn't have to, really. For some reason, the portal to the last boss at the end of the game sometimes does not function and thus you can't beat the game. Reloading the save does not work. You might just be fucked.
My 'solution' was just to reload a much earlier save and play all the way through to the end and hope it was fixed on that attempt. Fortunately that worked but I lost a lot of progress. Apparently this issue is more likely to happen if you travel between the past and present a lot - so I guess try to limit the amount of times you do that. Try not to get too lost in this game - which may be difficult as the more open design of this game compared to the original may have you wandering around a lot without it being entirely clear where you need to go.
Also I have to say this game just hasn't aged as well graphically as the first game. I like the moody and dark aesthetic, but the first game has a more simple and cohesive graphical style.
So yeah, this is a game of high highs with some of the best platforming/parkour moments in the series, but it's also the jankiest of a fairly janky series. The more open design of the world compared to the others is cool, but it's a double-edged sword as you might end up a bit lost or worse - you might end up softlocking your save. So save as often as possible. Or be prepared to not finish the game at all.