Prince of Persia is still a great experience after all these years. Released in 1992, the game's animation and playability still hold up. This is a testament to the care with which creator Jordan Mechner assembled it.
With only an hour of game time allotted to you, your objective is to traverse the dangerous dungeons underneath the Grand Vizier Jaffar's castle in order to reach the princess, who must decide by the end of that time whether she will marry him or face death. She'd prefer you, of course, so you better get moving.
This game is a lot of fun and very challenging. More complex games may have been developed since its inception, but sometimes older, simpler games are more enjoyable. My only gripe is that the controls, whether you're using the keyboard or a joystick, aren't as responsive as they should be, which can result in a lot of hasty deaths requiring you to start all over. Jumping a wide chasm, for example, requires you to move the joystick to the right or left to run and then move it to the upper right or left just before you are about to go over the edge. Sometimes, unfortunately, the game doesn't register your move quickly enough and you'll find yourself impaled on some nasty spikes far below.
But otherwise, Prince of Persia is worth playing. Besides the simply physical dexterity you'll need to play it, you'll also need some basic puzzle-solving skills. For example, some floor plates cause gates to close and open, but not necessarily the same gates which are on the same screen as you, so you'll need to do some experimenting to figure it out.
You'll also need to find the sword and practice the basics of swordfighting if you want to get very far, because the swordsmen in the dungeon start out tough and only get harder to beat as the game wears on. It's worth it, though, for the sweet reward which waits for you far above.
Graphics: fluid, lifelike animation
Sound: good enough
Enjoyment: lots of fun
Replay Value: takes a while to beat, but once you do that's it
While the Sultan of Persia is fighting a war in a foreign country, his Grand Vizier Jaffar orchestrates a coup d'état. His way to the throne lies through the Sultan's lovely daughter. Jaffar kidnaps her and threatens to kill her if she refuses to marry him. Meanwhile, the man the Princess loves is thrown into the dungeon. He has only one hour to escape from his prison, defeat the guards on his way, and stop Jaffar before the terrible marriage takes place.
Prince of Persia is a 2D platformer that is commonly regarded as a progenitor of the cinematic platform genre. Rather than following the more common jump-and-run mechanics, it focuses on careful advancement through fairly complex levels, emphasizing the protagonist's vulnerability and survival aspect. Rotoscoping technique is used to give more realism to the animation of the characters' movements.
The protagonist must avoid deadly traps, solve some simple jumping and environmental puzzles (such as stepping on pressure plates to raise portcullis), and engage in sword fights with the guards. The player character has an infinite amount of lives, but has to restart at the beginning of a level each time he dies, and must complete the game within an hour. The hero starts with three units of health, which can be replenished with small health potions or permanently increased with large jars.
The Game Boy Color and SNES versions of the game feature additional levels and new enemies. The Genesis version has a new intro, an altered set of graphics and four new levels.
Prince of Persia offers a great action game and many features not seen in many other games. The overall gameplay is very unique and has since only been seen in a game like Zorro but still a more special game.
The character animation is simply excellent in this game and you didn't see any other games with the same high quality in this period. Even some of today's games don't have the same high quality as Prince of Persia has. The game is divided up into different levels and on your way through each level you have to avoid different traps, some more difficult than others, and also enemy fighters that you have to fight against with your sword. Most of them are fairly but there are certain ones that can cause quite some problems. The traps you will meet on your way can be everything from spikes, loose floors and different machine-like traps.
Prince of Persia is a must game for all fans of the genre. The reason is that while it does quite simple gameplay at times many new things are included and is a great challenge to anyone. Good detailed, but simple, graphics are included while the little sound could have been better, especially because only very little has been made for the game. A recommended game for everyone as long as you are willing to start the game over and over because of the many tiles your character dies.
Nice game. Over millions copied sold. This game wich was released in 1989 and where now the third version: Prince of Persia 3D is one of the best games ever. You can get a sword and fight other arabian guys.
Nice Action-Jump 'n Run - not bad, but somehow I never got into it much. Anyway - someone requested it from me and so I digged it up again. Let's say the game got potential and some people might actually like it. Technically everything is ok, no downpoints there. The atmosphere isn't what it could be... somehow I would have expected more from the name and the title-screen, but after that the graphics get a bit boring.
How to run this game on modern Windows PC?
People who downloaded Prince of Persia have also downloaded:
Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame, 4D Prince of Persia, Prince of Persia, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones, Wolfenstein 3D, Prince of Persia 3D, Prince of Persia: Warrior Within
©2024 San Pedro Software. Contact: 
, done in 0.001 seconds.