Prince Of Persia Revelations review

To all intents and purposes, Prince Of Persia: Revelations is a straight port of PS2 title Warrior Within, a game which would require a masterclass in programming if it were to remain playable once sanded down to UMD size. As the intro fades and the opening beach scene pops up, you wonder, for the briefest of moments, if they've pulled it off. But, like so many of the leaps that are made in-game, Revelations' push for credibility leaves it clinging on by its fingertips.

Luckily, the game does the business on the pitch. Like the others in the series, it's primarily about two things: the excellent combat system (which actually benefits from being on the small screen; whereas before it felt unsubstantial, it feels meatier here) and exploration.

Revelations throws up one giant room after another, and once you've offed the murderous playmates within, the goal is to work out how to get from one end of the room to the tiny air vent at the top (or whatever).

The trick is in scanning the room and judging the best way from point A to B. This is where the potential potholes lie, but the PSP does a decent job of compensating. A problem however, is the difficulty in picking out the tiny ledges on the miniature handheld screen.

The main problem with Revelations is it offers too much. This game works the PSP harder than the Prince works his climbing gloves.

Prince Of Persia: Revelations is like an excitable puppy that clatters around for your attention until finally you let your guard down and acquiesce. As soon as you warm to its charms, it goes and lays a giant bumcake right on your lap.

Many of the issues are minor, such as the sound which sometimes stops completely, and the frame rate which is adequate at best.

But what kills Revelations completely is the loading. The monstrous entire-train-journey length loading times at the start aren't the half of it. The game loads in streams during play, but it seems Ubisoft have hired a team of Irritation Experts to place the loading times at the most inappropriate points possible. What's left is an impressive - but flawed - conversion of a game that no one particularly liked. Proceed with caution.