Prince of Persia (1989)

"A timeless classic which started one of the greatest series ever."

Ah, Prince of Persia. Many of you might be reading this review after playing the latest The Sands of Time, Warrior Within and The Two Thrones trilogy of games for current-gen systems; and while those games are among the best action games I have ever played, it is the original Prince of Persia that I find myself going back to, even after all these years. Why, you ask? Because even though the graphics are far outdated and the gameplay is quite simple, fighting your way through the castle's dungeons while trying to beat your own time record is fun as hell.

Now, on to the main part of the review.

Story: 8/10

Well, not much to say here. As with most of the games from back then, Prince of Persia lacks a real story, and instead gives you a "setting": when the Sultan leaves his homeland to fight in some war, the vizier Jaffar (yes, that is actually his name) stays to rule Persia in his name. As expected, Jaffar turns out to be an evil bastard, who forces the Princess to marry him and locks away her young lover(you) in the castle's dungeon. When the Princess refuses to marry him, he gives her a 60 minute time limit to change her mind, otherwise she dies. It is your job as the Prince to escape the dungeons and make your way to the Princess's room while avoiding getting killed by all the traps and guards within the castle... in less than 60 minutes.

Gameplay: 10/10

As I mentioned before, you have a 60 minutes time limit to finish the game, otherwise the Princess dies and you get the "bad" ending. You have an unlimited number of lives, though when you die you start back at the beginning of the level (save for a few extremely rare checkpoints). The clock never stops ticking, so every time you die you waste precious minutes by making your way through the stage again. If you are unexperienced with this game, you might get quite nervous in the later stages when you only have 10 or so minutes left and yet those stupid traps and pitfalls keep killing you over and over... well, at least I was.

The game has 12 stages, so that gives you five minutes/stage. The first stages are fairly simple, but once the multiple cutters, loose tiles, and hidden door-closing switches show up it requires an above-average level of skill. At the end of each level, there is a door you need to take to proceed; however those doors are always closed, so you need to find the switch to open it (which is sometimes right next to it). You can also save your game from stage 3 onwards, which is quite useful so you can navigate through stages to find the right path without worrying about time, and later load your game and proceed through that path as fast as you can.

About the enemies and traps, there isn't much variety. All the enemies look the same(only the color changes), except for a few bosses who aren't that much different. The traps include cutters(double-bladed things that slice you in half if you walk through them while they are closing), loose tiles(usually just above spikes or a pitfall), and spikes which activate if you get near them.

As for the controls themselves, they are fairly simple. When you're walking, the directional arrows move you left and right, down makes you crouch, and up makes you hop. To jump across pits, you press up arrow+left/right arrow. Holding Shift while moving around allows you to walk slowly, one step at a time. This is useful because the Prince will always stop right before a pit or cutter if you're walking, enabling you to time your moves carefully. Walking also allows you to walk safely through spikes. You also use Shift to pick up objects you find in the floor.

The battle controls are also fairly simple; the Prince automatically draws his sword when there is an enemy nearby, which makes you enter the battle mode. While in battle, press Shift to attack with your sword, up to parry, and down to put down your sword. The battles are usually a succession of parrying, attacking, parrying, attacking, etc. until either you or the enemy goes down. There are, of course, a few techniques that you can master to make your quest easier, such as switching sides with the enemy and pushing him towards a cutter or pit. You start the game with three health points, though you can increase that value by drinking special potions(usually hidden). Each strike you take will remove one point, and each strike you deliver will remove one point from the enemy. Falling two storeys at once or having a loose tile fall on top of you will also remove one point, and falling from three storeys at once, being hit while unarmed or falling for a cutter/spike will kill you.

Graphics: 10/10
As mentioned, the graphics for this game are really outdated, thought they are great for an 8-bit game. The character's moves look extremely vivid and smooth, especially while in a battle. The stages and background are also beautiful; this game has two stage "themes", castle and dungeon, and each has it's own tiles, background and features such as candles lit in the background in dungeon levels. Overall, the graphics do a great job in capturing the partially arabic, partially medieval feeling of the game.

Sound: 10/10
The first thing you will notice is that there is no music in the stages, only short themes that play in certain occasions. Those themes really manage to make the little plot in the game more interesting and dramatic. The sound effects are also well-done: from the relaxing sound of a potion going down your throat to the horrifying sound of a cutter continually slicing some poor guard's dead corpse, everything adds to the feeling of urgency and danger.

Conclusion: 10/10
This game is truly a classic that should be played by all newcomers to the Prince of Persia series, as well as anyone looking for a fun game. If you like this game, also check out the SNES version, which has more stages, more enemies, more traps, and double the time limit, as well as updated graphics.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 10/02/06, Updated 04/04/07