The Sands of Time is one of my fav games of all time, while The Warrior Within I regard as one of the most annoying games ever. All this time I had read that The Two Thrones took the best from both of those games and therefore is the best in the trilogy. Finally I am playing it and what a disappointment it is.
Where do I start. The combat. I refuse to believe that the same people who made The Sands of Time designed this terrible melee system. The Sands of Time had only two combos - but they worked and were satisfying enough while being far from the highlights of that wonderful game. The Two Thrones has a TON of combos but they don't work half the time! Oh dear god how frustrating that is. For example, when the prince falls on the ground he WON'T get up for 2 or 3 seconds no matter what you do while the monsters keep chopping him. That is NOT how you design a fighting system - you can't let the player defenseless like that. Unfortunately there are a few more annoyances like that.
But now to the Dark Prince. It was a great idea but the execution only brings more frustration. The problem is that all the dark prince's sequences are timed and often I am standing or running around trying to figure out what I am supposed to do next while the time runs out. And it runs out and the prince dies. Repeat that for a few times and start getting concerned for your mental health. That's what this game mostly does - damages my nerves. I have to admit that overall it is less annoying than The Warrior Within but that doesn't help it much.