Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is somewhat of a spiritual sequel to that game.  The Disney license prevents Sega and any other developer from making another Aladdin game without paying a fee.  But no one can stop a developer (Jordan Mechner in this case) from taking what was great about Aladdin and adding to it.  Prince of Persia is not better than Aladdin, but it took me back to the joyous time of the early 90s, and prevented the GBA from leaving my hand until the game's end.

The game hits the player hard in the first level by making one thing clear: Prince of Persia is no pushover.  I couldn't tell you how difficult the PlayStation 2 version is, but the challenge here is akin to that of Donkey Kong Country.  The enemies aren't too difficult if you know how to kill them, but if taken by surprise they can be lethal.

Bow and arrow-toting enemies will boldly stand before you, firing one arrow at a time.  It's like they're saying, "You're not good enough to strike me down with your sword before my bow hits your chest."  In some situations they're right.  With some practice and some inherent (or previously earned) gaming skill, you won't be on the receiving end of death often enough to drive you mad.  You will still have to worry about falling though.  Hard landings will eat away at your health bar, and if you fall from a high platform, nothing can stop death from knocking on your door.

It's amazing that these simple little things (things that are easy to avoid in the third dimension) are so difficult here.  It must be because the game is presented in the classic side-scrolling form.  There's something about it that's just more challenging.  And a lot of fun.

Structurally, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is very good.  The levels are good, but the real kicker is how they're laid out.  The game avoids DSS (Dull Side-scroller Syndrome) by constantly changing the level structure.  You could be running forward, dodge a spinning-blade booby trap, climb a pillar, open a door, roll underneath a barrier, and deal with a few relentless foes all in a matter of minutes.  The game is good at defeating you (or maybe I'm just not good at defeating them), which extends its length.  It's not a long game by today's standards, where gamers expect no less than 10 hours from every title.  However, it has a lot of replay value, and while I do love lengthy games, you can't put a price on replayability.  This one will end quickly (if you're good enough), but you'll be back to play through it again.

Prince of Persia's graphics aren't going to win any awards, but they'll surely appease the eyes of Game Boy Advance players.  The animation immediately caught my eye.  The main character's animations are very fluid, just like Aladdin's were in his unforgettable title.  The backgrounds are pretty cool, with fountains, brick walls, large statues, and several subtle things like trees, windows and paintings.  When you attack with your sword it looks like it's on fire.  It's a simple cartoony effect, but how often do you see a Game Boy Advance game that utilizes its graphical capabilities?  They're limited, but more often than not they're under-utilized.

Game developers are intent on making time an important aspect of their titles.  All versions of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time will give players the chance to reverse time, slow time down, or stop it completely.  The time-altering effects are much less involved, but the concept is basically the same.  At one point everything might be great.  You're defeating every enemy with no hassle, avoiding traps, and making your through the game much faster than you ever thought possible.  Then you screw up and die.  If you die, you must re-start from the beginning of that level (I told you this game was tough!).

The way out of your deadly situation would be to alter time.  A boulder falls from above and hits you on the head – what do you do?  Reverse time and try not to let it happen again.

Game Boy Advance continues to surprise me.  Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is a must-play game.  This game isn't perfect, but I don't think anyone will be disappointed to find it in their stocking.  You'll probably love it in spite of its flaws, especially if you were one of the people who bought a Genesis to play Aladdin.  This is a really great game.  Even the music is good!

Gameplay: 8
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is one of the best side-scrollers of the season.  It moves at a quick, mostly-steady pace that never causes boredom.

The levels are good in size and are even better in structure.  There's a lot more here than running and jumping from one side of the screen to the next.  In Prince of Persia, you'll have to climb, swing and roll your way through traps in every level.

Gameplay is augmented by the controls, which are quick and responsive.  Jumps are a seamless transition from running – your character will not pause after landing (in many games your character will).

Needless to say, this is a really great update to the Prince of Persia series.

Graphics: 8
The character designs are good (the lead character looks great) and their animations are very fluid.  The backgrounds are also worth mentioning, giving the game a detailed, finished look.

Sound: 8
Keeping with the apparent mission to make Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time the unofficial sequel to Aladdin, THQ commissioned a composer who was proficient in creating that style of music. 

Difficulty: Medium/Hard
If video game characters didn't have an infinite amount of lives you wouldn't make it past the second level.

Concept: 8
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is the Aladdin sequel we never had.  The developers read my mind!  If they had come to me and said, "We want to know what you want from the GBA version," this would have been it.

Overall: 8