The Old Man said to the Prince, 'Your fate has been written. You will die.'
Enter the dark underworld of Prince Persia Of Forgotten Sands,
the sword-slashing sequel to the critically acclaimed the hero.
Hunted by Dahaka, an immortal incarnation of Fate seeking divine retribution,
the Princes embarks upon a path of both carnage and mystery to defy his preordained death.
His journey leads to the infernal core of a cursed island stronghold harboring mankind's greatest fears.
Only through grim resolve, bitter defiance and the mastery of deadly new combat arts can the Prince rise to a new level of warriorship --
and emerge from this ultimate trial with his life.
For a real tough luck blue-blood story though, meet the Prince Persia Of Forgotten Sands.
Once a dashing Persian buck in pastel pinks and blues,
his recent stint involving saving a royal palace by resorting to time travel has set a dark creature, known as the Dahaka, on his tail.
And the stress has transformed him into an unkempt extra from a heavy metal video.
Doomed to die, the Princes only hope is to destroy the Sands of Time that originally enabled his time-shifting antics.
The stage is thus set for action and adventure, and here all the world is a stage - well, almost.
Like many games, the basic gameplay consists of running about, jumping over obstacles, and whacking whatever gets in your way.
But 'running' and 'jumping' mean more here. You can run up walls as well as along paths and springboard off them to grab distant ledges.
You can shimmy up columns to execute aerial leaps towards just-in-reach flagpoles.
You can inch yourself by your fingertips past fallen obstacles, dangling over chasms.
Naturally, this freedom is ultimately an illusion: there are still paths to take, and finding them is the main attraction here.
Bar the fighting, playing Revelations consists of reaching a new environment, zooming out to get your head around the layout,
and then figuring out the right runs, jumps and drops to get from A-Z without falling to your death.
At its best, it's a fabulous combination of brain-teasing exploration and joyous platform action.
Turning to the fighting, you'll face everything from two-a-penny undead warriors to end-of-level boss characters.
Like many royals down the ages, the Prince is fairly handy in a scrap and is as acrobatic as he is when vaulting walls.