PC Sands of Time for ?10

The PC version of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time - quite possibly this writer's favourite multiformat game of the past half-decade - is set to be released on budget this Friday, 17th June, as part of a new line-up of Mastertronic "PC Gamer Presents..." games.

This means that PC owners who missed out on it the first time around will be able to pick it up for just £9.99. The game was widely discounted to similar price levels when it failed to take off commercially at the end of 2003, but now it's set in stone. There is no excuse.

And there really isn't, because The Sands of Time, whilst flawed in certain respects (most notably the frustrating combat), was one of the most engaging, fluid, well designed and shamelessly individual platform games of its generation - and arguably better than anything pumped out by platform holders and generic rivals.

It was also much better than its sequel Warrior Within which, while still enjoyable to a certain degree, seemed to miss the point about what made the first game so acclaimed and took it in a darker direction with a greater focus on combat - a directional shift largely slammed by critics.

So there you go. £9.99. And, speaking as somebody who finished both the PS2 and PC versions and recently bought the Xbox one, this writer can heartily recommend the beige box version - map the controls to a suitable pad and the experience is nigh on identical, except prettier.

Other games to be released on the PC Gamer Presents label this week include Neverwinter Nights and RollerCoaster Tycoon 2, both of which were widely acclaimed upon release.