[Module 1] Prince of Persia (1989) | Review
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| Prince of Persia main screen |
The acclaimed cinematic side platformer features the ancient Persia in a simple but strong plot. The adventure consists in a fast-paced run in the dungeons of Jaffar, the Sultan’s vizier, who imprisoned her daughter in order to claim the realm for himself. To rescue the princess from a terrible doom, the protagonist of the game must escape the underground prison and defeat the malicious wizard, becoming the new Prince of Persia.
The title was originally published in 1989 by Brøderbund for the Apple II, and was ported to many other platforms after its great success on the market, leading to many sequels and reboots. The unique visual features of its subgenre inspired many other games, such as Another World, Flashback and Tomb Raider.
History
Prince of Persia’s designer, Jordan Mechner, was inspired by many sources, in particular adventure movies like “Raiders of the Lost Ark”, and even using parts of the movie “The Adventures of Robin Hood” to create the sword fight scenes in the game.
The visuals are astonishingly fluid and realistic, thanks to the use of rotoscoping (a cinematic technique used by animators to create motion footage), which Mechner had already experimented on his previous game, “Karateka”.
Gameplay
After the first cutscene, it is known that the player has 60 minutes to rescue the princess or else the game has to be restarted, and the task is assigned to our unnamed hero, who needs to explore the dungeon in a highly acrobatic manner and fight enemies in complex duels with swords. The impression since the beginning is of an intense and hard game, where quick actions and jumping skills are necessary through all levels. The sixty-minute timer adds the tension needed, demanding extra concentration.
As if the pressure was not high already, the life pool of the character is very low and resources as life regeneration and extension and rare. If the hero reaches 0 life, he needs to restart from the beginning of the stage, and of course, the timer does not restart, so every time the character dies he loses time.
The beauty of the stunts cannot be noted enough, it is so satisfying to jump over the deep spike pits or slide through a door just before it closes, showcasing impressive ‘parkour’ animations to grab wall edges and climb over.
The stages are also filled with different obstacles that require timing coordination and are increasingly challenging as the protagonist advances through the levels: there are gates which are opened for a short time by stepping in plates, pieces of ground that collapse and deadly sharpened steel doors.
In addition to all the dynamic action involving the environment, there are enemies and monsters who duel the hero in blade fights, making timing and precision crucial to not die. The early fights are especially hard because it takes time to master all the moves, and it can be a little frustrating at the beginning. The environment is active during the encounters, so the enemies can be pushed into pits or crushed in the scissor doors, rewarding players who use the obstacles to their advantage.
The momentum on the controls is very fluid, resulting in a smooth gameplay with a strong focus on action. The precise and quick command response creates an intense atmosphere, rewarding skilled gamers with a nice interaction between the character and environment.
On a short note, there are only two scenarios available in the dungeon levels, and it is not such a problem to compromise the gameplay, but maybe if the backgrounds or architectural styles were more diverse, it would have made the overall experience more enjoyable.
Fortunately, the visual monotony of the levels is balanced with interesting features in the plot: the story elements are presented in a much related way to the gameplay, making the players actually want to finish the tale and grant the title of Prince of Persia. A particular event felt very unique, when just before the final encounter with Zaffar is about to occur, the hero must fight his own shadow. Learning that it would be impossible to beat the hero’s reflection, they merge into one and the adventure goes on.
By beating the villain, the princess and the hero finally will be able to be united in love, and thus ending the game. It is certainly a kind of story to be played at least once, or twice… or many times… In fact, the fast-paced platformer is a perfect candidate to accomplish ‘speedruns’, giving the game great longevity despite its relatively short gameplay, and keeping the competition for the fastest princess-saver alive.
Feelings. Probably the main reason why the game is so timeless, is because of its great visuals and the capability to make the player feel certain emotions: the plot is structured in a way that the princess actually matters and the use of colours to suggest dark moments or bright events is spot on.
The rotoscoping technique made the visuals appear so organic and fluid that the action seems uninterrupted, and mid-way through the levels, Prince of Persia does not even seem to be from 1989. The art design of the game slowly conquers the eyes, as it can divide the exotic and warm atmosphere related to the princess’ room, and the miserable and grim condition that the protagonist must go through to save her.
Audio wise, the levels are rich in sound effects and short backtracks where a fight will take place, but sadly there is no soundtrack to assist the gameplay, and it feels like a missed opportunity to make the levels even more tense and immersive. Despite the lack of soundtrack, the sword fights, jumps and obstacles have all realistic effects, delivering the adventurous ambience to back up the epic graphics.
Legacy
Prince of Persia was not an immediate success on the North America region, but when it was released a year later in Europe and Japan, it began to sell lots of copies, and so the whole world noticed the innovative graphics and exotic scenarios. The inspiration caused the game to generate many sequels across the decades (the SNES version is a notable one) and even a movie [1], written by Jordan Mechner himself.
Conclusion
Overall, Prince of Persia is a remarkable platformer and surely a masterpiece of animation, the clever level design with simple but challenging elements keeps on delivering stage after stage, and finally, the plot is surprisingly important as a whole, providing a powerful personality to the game. Needless to say, the faults in gameplay are not sufficient to keep Prince of Persia from being a 10/10 adventure.
Review by Arthur Fostier - 10 November 2017
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| The wizard Zaffar forces the princess to marry him within one hour or she will die |
The title was originally published in 1989 by Brøderbund for the Apple II, and was ported to many other platforms after its great success on the market, leading to many sequels and reboots. The unique visual features of its subgenre inspired many other games, such as Another World, Flashback and Tomb Raider.
History
Prince of Persia’s designer, Jordan Mechner, was inspired by many sources, in particular adventure movies like “Raiders of the Lost Ark”, and even using parts of the movie “The Adventures of Robin Hood” to create the sword fight scenes in the game.
 |
| The start of the very first stage |
The visuals are astonishingly fluid and realistic, thanks to the use of rotoscoping (a cinematic technique used by animators to create motion footage), which Mechner had already experimented on his previous game, “Karateka”.
Gameplay
After the first cutscene, it is known that the player has 60 minutes to rescue the princess or else the game has to be restarted, and the task is assigned to our unnamed hero, who needs to explore the dungeon in a highly acrobatic manner and fight enemies in complex duels with swords. The impression since the beginning is of an intense and hard game, where quick actions and jumping skills are necessary through all levels. The sixty-minute timer adds the tension needed, demanding extra concentration.
As if the pressure was not high already, the life pool of the character is very low and resources as life regeneration and extension and rare. If the hero reaches 0 life, he needs to restart from the beginning of the stage, and of course, the timer does not restart, so every time the character dies he loses time.
The beauty of the stunts cannot be noted enough, it is so satisfying to jump over the deep spike pits or slide through a door just before it closes, showcasing impressive ‘parkour’ animations to grab wall edges and climb over.
 |
| Demonstration of acrobatic stunts (click for GIF) |
The stages are also filled with different obstacles that require timing coordination and are increasingly challenging as the protagonist advances through the levels: there are gates which are opened for a short time by stepping in plates, pieces of ground that collapse and deadly sharpened steel doors.
In addition to all the dynamic action involving the environment, there are enemies and monsters who duel the hero in blade fights, making timing and precision crucial to not die. The early fights are especially hard because it takes time to master all the moves, and it can be a little frustrating at the beginning. The environment is active during the encounters, so the enemies can be pushed into pits or crushed in the scissor doors, rewarding players who use the obstacles to their advantage.
 |
| The fighting techniques are strongly inspired from movie choreographies |
The momentum on the controls is very fluid, resulting in a smooth gameplay with a strong focus on action. The precise and quick command response creates an intense atmosphere, rewarding skilled gamers with a nice interaction between the character and environment.
On a short note, there are only two scenarios available in the dungeon levels, and it is not such a problem to compromise the gameplay, but maybe if the backgrounds or architectural styles were more diverse, it would have made the overall experience more enjoyable.
 |
| An enchanted mirror creates the doppelganger who will later challenge the protagonist to a duel |
Fortunately, the visual monotony of the levels is balanced with interesting features in the plot: the story elements are presented in a much related way to the gameplay, making the players actually want to finish the tale and grant the title of Prince of Persia. A particular event felt very unique, when just before the final encounter with Zaffar is about to occur, the hero must fight his own shadow. Learning that it would be impossible to beat the hero’s reflection, they merge into one and the adventure goes on.
By beating the villain, the princess and the hero finally will be able to be united in love, and thus ending the game. It is certainly a kind of story to be played at least once, or twice… or many times… In fact, the fast-paced platformer is a perfect candidate to accomplish ‘speedruns’, giving the game great longevity despite its relatively short gameplay, and keeping the competition for the fastest princess-saver alive.
Aesthetics
 |
| Prince of Persia’s ending cutscene: the princess runs to the hero and the scene closes with a kiss |
Feelings. Probably the main reason why the game is so timeless, is because of its great visuals and the capability to make the player feel certain emotions: the plot is structured in a way that the princess actually matters and the use of colours to suggest dark moments or bright events is spot on.
The rotoscoping technique made the visuals appear so organic and fluid that the action seems uninterrupted, and mid-way through the levels, Prince of Persia does not even seem to be from 1989. The art design of the game slowly conquers the eyes, as it can divide the exotic and warm atmosphere related to the princess’ room, and the miserable and grim condition that the protagonist must go through to save her.
Audio wise, the levels are rich in sound effects and short backtracks where a fight will take place, but sadly there is no soundtrack to assist the gameplay, and it feels like a missed opportunity to make the levels even more tense and immersive. Despite the lack of soundtrack, the sword fights, jumps and obstacles have all realistic effects, delivering the adventurous ambience to back up the epic graphics.
Legacy
Prince of Persia was not an immediate success on the North America region, but when it was released a year later in Europe and Japan, it began to sell lots of copies, and so the whole world noticed the innovative graphics and exotic scenarios. The inspiration caused the game to generate many sequels across the decades (the SNES version is a notable one) and even a movie [1], written by Jordan Mechner himself.
Conclusion
Overall, Prince of Persia is a remarkable platformer and surely a masterpiece of animation, the clever level design with simple but challenging elements keeps on delivering stage after stage, and finally, the plot is surprisingly important as a whole, providing a powerful personality to the game. Needless to say, the faults in gameplay are not sufficient to keep Prince of Persia from being a 10/10 adventure.
[1] Prince
of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010), Disney
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