Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown (Review)

Developer: Ubisoft Montpellier
Publisher: Ubisoft
Available On: PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S
Reviewed on PlayStation 5

Much like the sands of time flow from past to future, playing Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown was like traveling backward and forward through time. While the earliest installments on the likes of Apple II, DOS, and Windows eluded me as a child, the 2003 reboot titled “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time” is a game I’ve held near and dear to my heart ever since I unwrapped it alongside an original Xbox that same year. The daring and precise platforming, time manipulation powers, and mindboggling story captured my imagination at a young age, and although I didn’t play many of the following games (except for 2010’s The Forgotten Sands), Prince of Persia is a franchise I’ve always cheered for over the years. Hell, I even went and saw the movie adaptation (also 2010) which was… less than stellar. However, after playing through my first Prince of Persia game in over a decade, my love has been rekindled as I experienced a new game that’s unafraid to show its nostalgic roots while also taking the series in a bold new direction.

SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake (Review)

Developer: Purple Lamp
Publisher: THQ Nordic
Available On: PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One
PS4 version reviewed on PS5

The story behind SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake is one of my favorite industry stories of the past few years. The developers at Purple Lamp were responsible for the 2020 remake of SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom, a 3D action platformer from 2003. While their remake received mixed reviews from critics, the general audience loved it and it became a commercial success that sold over 2 million copies. Purple Lamp was then given the opportunity to make their own SpongeBob game to act as a spiritual successor to Battle for Bikini Bottom, taking everything they learned from working on the remake to craft a brand new adventure. As it turns out, the team at Purple Lamp is more than capable of creating their own game, resulting in an experience that’s brimming with nostalgia and feels like it was directly pulled from the early 2000s era of licensed platformers.