The Forgotten Sands is a side-chapter that runs parallel to the Xbox 360/PlayStation 3 version, taking place after the events of 2003’s The Sands of time. The game opens on an incredibly high note, a wild escape from an enormous structure sinking into the sand. This is only a taste of things to come, as you are thrust into a flashback to before these events. In this tale, the Prince has befriended a devious genie who’s granted him immortality, his own kingdom, and a princess to love. In classic Arabian Tales fashion, there’s a hook to the genie’s reward: while the prince can now be magically revived after “death,” the kingdom he’s awarded is an ancient wreck: a land cursed by a mystical plant overrunning the castle. And the princess? She’s in peril and needs a bit of rescuing.

The story within The Forgotten Sands is filled with some clever twists and turns as it unfolds slowly but steadily through dialogue between the Prince and his genie…as well as comments from an unseen narrator. All this happens as the Prince (that’s you!) explores his palace and fends off the enemy infestation. In true Prince of Persia fashion, players can climb walls and ledges, run across walls, and spin off flagpoles to explore his surroundings. He’s also a powerful swordsman, so expect to get in a few scuffles along the way.

The fights do play second banana to the exploration and puzzle solving, and if you’re not big on controller waggling this game won’t change your mind. Using the right hand motion for sword swinging and left hand for punching is a capable fighting system. There are special moves and combos to pull off, but by the time you power up the prince you’ll probably just end up waggling both controllers together for the powerful “whirlwind” move.

The real hook in the Wii version is the addition of three unique powers. The first is the ability to conjure sand spires that send the Prince upwards, gaining him access to ledges that were out of reach from standard jumping and wall climbing abilities. The second is the ability to place magical hooks along the walls, turning pretty much any surface into a ledge you can grab. At first, these powers restrict their use to specific spots on the floors and walls, but deeper in the game you’ll actually be given the freedom to place hooks and sand spires on pretty much any wall or floor: simply point the Wii remote at where you want them, and click. Very late in the game you’ll earn the ability to cast a sphere around the Prince that will make him float in mid-air at the point you conjured it. This is a very handy power that gives players the ability to save the Prince from a punishing fall.

When you combine all three powers, you have the ability to create your own path — you’re no longer restricted to the specific line that’s been laid out by the level designers. If you can figure a way to get from Point A to Point B without going the way the developer intended, go right ahead. Granted, by the time you do get all three powers the level designs are still laid out in a specific way that requires the use of the hook, spire, and sphere one after another, but it at least feels like you’ve been given freedom to do what you want.

The game is deceptively extensive and the adventure just keeps going and going. When you think you’ve come to the end, another story arc appears and you’re exploring far more than you ever thought could be held inside an ancient kingdom. The storyline will take at least 12 to 15 hours the first run through, and that’s just going by the in-game clock that doesn’t take into account all the deaths and restarts that will inevitably happen. If you’re worried you’ll blow through this one the first time through in a day, forget it, It’s not going to happen.

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