Prince of Persia (Special Edition)

Ubisoft rebooted the franchise with a painted world and a partner system that split opinions right down the middle, and the Prince of Persia Special Edition on Xbox 360 gave early adopters a reason to pick a side. This special package bundled a scratch card with a unique code unlocking two exclusive in-game skins, a 24-page comic book, and a bonus DVD packed with extras.

The skins are the collector's hook here. The Prince "Classic" skin reaches back to the original 2D platformer, wrapping your cel-shaded hero in retro royalty. The "Farah" skin for Elika calls back to The Sands of Time, connecting the reboot to the trilogy that put Prince of Persia on every "best of" list in the PS2/Xbox era. These aren't throwaway recolors. They're nods to franchise history that only Special Edition buyers got to wear. The 24-page comic book dives into the backstory of the Hunter, one of the game's key bosses, adding narrative depth that the main story only hints at. Comics as pack-ins were a 360-era staple, but one tied directly to a specific boss fight hits differently. The bonus DVD rounds things out with the soundtrack, behind-the-scenes videos, and digital extras that capture the ambition Ubisoft poured into this divisive reboot.

The 2008 Prince of Persia reboot was a bold swing. No Sands of Time mechanics, no time rewind safety net, just open-world platforming with an art style that looked like a painting come to life. The Special Edition preserved that creative risk in a package worth collecting. For 360 collectors who appreciate the era when publishers still took chances on reinvention, this one belongs on the shelf.