It's been a long road for the Prince of Persia. Coming from out of nowhere to score a smash reinvention after years of lying fallow, the masterful Sands of Time was both a surprise and a pleasure. The sophomore followup, Warrior Within, was an effort that was structurally admirable, but left many cold with darker aesthetics and harsher tone. Unlike some developers, Ubisoft must have been paying attention to the unhappy comments because this third iteration, The Two Thrones, is a solid return to the form and style that made so many sit up and take notice.

I'll have to admit that I approached Warrior Within with a great degree of hesitancy. I was absolutely head-over-heels in love with the first game, and I still view it as one of the greatest revivals of the current (and soon-to-be-over) era.

The game industry continues to labor under the deluded notion that sex, scantily-clad women, and lots of blood and guts equates with being mature. It doesn't—anyone with an actual ounce of genuine maturity knows this—but that doesn't stop developers from taking a fine franchise and "tawdrying it up" in the process.