What do I want from a Prince of Persia game? That's the question I came up with from playing the two latest games, Prince of Persia and Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, back to back over the last week.

I've been a fan of the franchise since Sands of Time. I've played and beaten each game in that first trilogy – Sands of Time, Warrior Within and The Two Thrones – twice. I love the thrill of seeing the Prince string together long chains of perfectly timed movements from platform to platform with each move more daring than the last. Even the combat, the often problematic portion of each game, is something I have come to enjoy. But after finishing Prince of Persia and starting The Forgotten Sands, I realized it might be time to turn in my membership to that fan club.

Their stories suck. It might just because I’ve gotten used to stronger narratives and more engaging stories, but I found the character arcs in Prince of Persia to be practically non-existent and the story so far in The Forgotten Sands to be, well… forgettable.

After playing through Prince of Persia again, I think I have a good idea what exactly is going on but that does not mean I understand it. Although I will not spoil it here, the Prince and Elika’s journey comes to an end in a way I found both narratively confusing and with conclusions to character arcs that frustrated me. Their actions do not make sense. Beating the game for a second time a few days ago left me annoyed yet hopeful for the future of the series. Then I started playing The Forgotten Sands.

I’m several hours into the game and by all accounts halfway through the story, yet I have very little idea why the enemies are fighting me. As the Prince, I understand I’m fighting for my own survival, but the motives of all the other characters are left a mystery. Why is Malik, the brother of the Prince, even part of the story? Why is the medallion, a central item to the plot, always conveniently where it needs to be? Even with a story involving Djinn and Ifrit, basically demons from Arabic folklore, story events seem increasingly unbelievable to me.

I’ve often thought of the story in most games to be the tendons that holds the player, the muscle, to the game, the bone. The player does all the moving and shaking but is anchored to the game via the tough threads of the story. However, what if the story was removed completely? Wouldn’t that allow total freedom of movement? Wouldn’t that be better?

Mirror’s Edge did it. DICE, the developers of Mirror’s Edge created some DLC, "Time Trial Map Pack", that was levels consisting of just abstract geometric shapes floating in the air. There was no story, just pure gameplay. As Faith, you could run and jump as much as you wanted without worrying about whatever story point or fight was next. Your goal was just getting to the next area as fast as possible.

I want that for Prince of Persia. I want the purity of going from wall to wall and platform to platform to be the same thrill I get from the DLC of Mirror’s Edge. I come to games in the Prince of Persia franchise for the kinesis, not the fighting. I stay with the games because I like the addition of more and more complex maneuvers, not because I care about how the story will turn out.

The Forgotten Sands has finally gotten me to admit something I secretly knew but, before now, was unwilling to voice: the stories are bad. Maybe it’s time for the Prince of Persia franchise to cut away what is holding it down, the story, and concentrate more what has brought me and many others back again and again: the simple joy of running, jumping and climbing.