It's strange that there are no reviews for part 1. Perhaps many, like me, got acquainted with part 1 much later, after parts 2 and 3, and therefore the game seemed “childish”.
But. Considering the entire PP franchise, it was the Sands of Time that made the biggest leap in progress, thereby becoming almost an independent genre, giving rise to the now hit Assassins.
Fabulous atmosphere, soulful music (even though I'm a metalhead), unique chemistry between the characters, interesting plot, exciting fights... children's toy, lullabies along with music, boring combat system, a lot of "climbing"...
Yes , there are both pros and cons (IMHO there are very few cons), the internet is full of them.
I'll tell you my comments.
- Personally, for the first time I saw the ideal option of returning to the place of death by simply rewinding time. Those. The game can have a blast, because the player makes mini checkpoints for himself. If you were mostly killed by enemies, I think this gag would not be so effective. But given all the acrobatics in the game, death can overtake you when running along a wall or jumping onto a column. This feature is good and there is no need to start from the save location after each unsuccessful attempt.
- Unlike parts 2 and 3, the game has an NPC supporter - Farah, with whom battles take place side by side. The funny thing is that the details are followed, such as accidentally injuring her, getting change for it, accidentally grabbing her from her, talking to her while staring at her for a long time. This is far from an innovation, but a good feature that will later appear only in the 2008 game (or as Zero is also called).
- Unlike part 2, only the dagger rewinds time (it’s either an amulet or local swords, the logic breaks a little), and unlike part 3 it is not used as the main weapon (it’s still a dagger, but not a sword, but that doesn’t bother the hero). It was correct to make the dagger secondary and use it for its intended purpose.
- Animation and picture. The faces of the characters, the movements of hair, clothes, elements of nature look much better in part 1 than in part 2 (maybe it’s a matter of taste, but sometimes it was hard to watch part 2, knowing that part 1 was better). Part 3 is already closer, but in an attempt to leave many elements of Part 2, they made it in the same style.
In general, it is difficult to compare old games with new ones, but the indicator has always been box office receipts, which Sands of Time did much better than anyone else.