Yahtzee: The one thing I hate about Sands of Time is that the combat is repetitive and boring. The weird foible of the series is that it's always brushing up against perfection, but for every step towards it, they take another step back. The sequel, Warrior Within, had vastly improved combat, but unfortunately, everything else had been beaten with the angsty stick and forced to write poetry with a pen full of black eyeliner. It seems that Ubisoft decided that emo culture was "in," so they went around the office one morning and fired everyone who was smiling. The Prince was suddenly staring out from under a black Robert Smith fringe and growling angry threats at supercilious badass action girls showing off more flesh than a surgeon's convention. The tonal shift was so unnecessary and contemptible that a critical paddling session followed, which was a shame because the environments were still nice and the gameplay was better than ever. It just goes to show: never stick your dick in a pudding. It might still be good pudding, and you can spend all afternoon explaining that, but no one's gonna eat it because you stuck your dick in it!