Prince of Persia (1989)

Game: Prince of Persia
Developer: Brøderbund
Platform: PC
Release Year: 1989
Stephen's Rating: 5/10

Prince of Persia is one of the most iconic video game series in history, and it all started with this game.

Basic Plot

The Sultan of an ancient Persian kingdom is away and his vizier Jaffar has siezed power. Jaffar is forcing the Sultan's daughter to marry him. You play a nameless hero and lover of the Sultan's daughter. Your objective is to save the Sultan's daughter and defeat Jaffar.

An example of some of the gameplay - avoiding spikes and leaping over to the next ledge. This required careful timing and quick reflexes.

Gameplay

This was one of the first platform games to start using interesting mechanics. The game is part action and part puzzle. The player moves the protagonist through many environments which involve leaping and grabbing ledges, and avoiding traps by accurately timing his movements. It gave the player a sense of acrobatics not seen before in a video game. The animations were based off watching videos of real acrobatic activity.

Combat took place by the sword and involved carefully timing your sword strikes to interrupt your enemy.

Combat.

One important mechanic with the game is that you have one hour to escape the dungeon, get inside the tower, defeat Jaffar and rescue the princess. If you go over that time, you lose the game.

Positives

This game added an excellent mechanic to the tired and over-used platform game genre.

Negatives

Despite its originality I never found this game particularly gripping or replayable.

Memorable Moments

None.