smadakcin's Full Review: Prince of Persia Collection for Windows
Back in the day I spent many an hour huddled over the PC, desperately trying to pull off the perfect series of runs and jumps, clearing pits of rusty spikes and exchanging blows with portly swordsmen. Detrimental to my health it may have been, but I'm sure it's had a profound affect on shaping the well-rounded individual I'd like to think I am today. Jordan Mechner's creations certainly gave me plenty of oppurtunities to exercise some choice expletives ...
Prince of Persia
Price of Persia is quite rightly regarded as a classic of its era, finding just the right blend of simplicity and addictiveness, not without a certain style to boot. In the original game, we join our hero's quest to escape from prison and battle his way through the Sultan's palace to reach the Princess and save her from the clutches of the evil Vizier, Jaffar.
Graphically, the game is neat, if nothing exceptional - the scenes are well presented, but become a little monotonous as the backdrop alternates between dank, grey Dungeon and polished (yet somehow quite eerie) Palace. The sounds that accompany the adventure are similarly functional, yet lend the affair a suitable atmosphere.
However, it is not here that the game excels. Rather, it is the actions of the Prince that make this game stand out as ahead of its time - indeed, it still bears favourable comparison today. The way our protaganist moves, running, jumping, edging out slowly onto outcrops - it all rings so true of human movement that it is easy to lose yourself to the grips of the game. Yet this is to go without mention of PoP's greatest boon; the fighting system. The Prince thrusts and parries with an irresistable fluency, and the system is sufficiently simple that any player can quickly master its basics, yet they will have to use the techniques with considerable skill to defeat the trickier opponents.
Unfortunately, such guards are few and far between; only three or four in the whole game should really test you, yet the superb design of the levels is such that the difficulties presented mask this shortcoming. The traps and puzzles are designed in such a way that the player has time to consider how they should be attempted, but when one does choose to engage them, they must act swiftly and confidently to pass - the game tests both skill and patience to the limit.
Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame
As for the sequel, Prince of Persia: The Shadow and the Flame, this game achieves everything a good follow-up should - it stays faithful to the original, employing the same successful system, but expands in all the right areas. Taking advantage of the increased technology of the early 90's, it is a much more varied adventure, featuring longer levels and more ambitious premises.
We re-join the Prince in Persia, where it seems an imposter, masquerading as our hero, has taken his place, and is intent on his destruction. Forced to flee, we immediately see one of the most overt improvements - the Prince escapes over the rooftops of the city and, pursued down a jetty, leaps to the safety of a departing ship. The increased variety, and visual quality, of settings continues into the game, as we go from beach to caves, onwards to a ruined fortress via a flight through the clouds. From here, we explore the innards of a sinster temple, before the delightfully surreal finale.
Suitably, the range of enemies is also increased, and with them, the techniques required to dispatch them to their end. This stops monotony from ever setting in, as our Prince must deal with immortal skeletons (push 'em in the lava), disembodied heads, unfriendly snakes and skillful bird-headed temple guards. Plus the obligatory slow, dim-witted humans, of course. The final showdown, too is one of the most ingenious culminations to a game I've seen.
Also up for expansion is the story in PoP2; no longer is this simply a boy-saves-girl affair, with an unshaven bad guy thrown in for good measure - the plot unfolds as the game progresses, taking in details of the Prince's family, plus of course the issue of who is trying to take out our man. A nice touch here is the way in which the story is woven into the gameplay itself - for instance, at one point the Prince does battle on a great wooden rope bridge suspended over a deep ravine, and loses his trusty sword in the process. He must cope without it, subsequently with an inferior model, until he can replace it, discovering some truths about his bloodline in the process. The links between levels are no longer as awkward any more - the player guides the Prince between settings by various means, rather than just seeing him walk into one door and appear from another elsewhere, adding nicely to the feeling of a continuous adventure.
The great basics of the original are retained, and played with nicely - the swordplay system comes into its own against more complicated opponents, and the level design is as challenging as ever. Finally, a number of "secrets" lurk within the game, some you must find, others optional. And 10 years on, I'm still looking for one. Maybe it never existed in the first place. Interestingly, the ending to the second game hinted at a third adventure, but this never came to pass - more's the pity.
The original Prince of Persia provided the framework for a classic adventure, and oozed playability, while the sequel took this on another level and made it into an awesome epic, which feels as polished today as ever. In this collection, both are presented to the player to digest - you may well want to do them in order, although it's not necessary, and I feel The Shadow and the Flame is certainly the better game. Purists may disagree, but either way, don't let the games' age put you off from two vital parts of gaming evolution.
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