Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow & The Flame

The Good
He could have been off so well: in the first part of the game, the prince rescues a lovely princess, marries her and enjoys his life. Until he arrives in the throne room one morning to learn that another, identically looking man has taken his place. And is dedicated to kill him. It is an interesting story line for a platform game - much more in depth than the average Commander Keen saga. The animations were incredibly smooth for that time, the scenery diverse and the intro even featured speech.

The Bad
Ever seen a guy that bit his keyboard in frustration? If not, no one played Prince of Persia 2 while you were around. You can only return to certain save points, usually one per level. The traps have become much more diverse than in the first part of the game which makes it really difficult to get through.

The Bottom Line
It is a platform game with beautiful graphics (for its time) and a very intriguing atmosphere. Since the story is rather interesting even adventure players might find Prince of Persia 2 worth checking out. You should take your time, however. It won't be easy to go through. (Unless you get back to cheating, of course).

The Good
Graphics The graphics were better, although I liked the more simple ones of the previous P.O.P. But the prince was still the price, dispite having a new look. The locations were drawn wonderfuly with lots to explore and do. The characters are well animated, as are the rather sick death throes in lava.

Gameplay The game was very hard, a lot of it included jumping, much more that the other version. One level even has you doing split second jumping across loose floors to get to a horse. Traps have been made more deadlyer. Ranging from the old favroite spikes to the wall mounted swing blades that took of your head. Trip darts and blocks that crush are inculded as well as many more. New features also had tunnels for you to crawl through and interesting ways to kill enemys, such as knocking a Skeleton into the lava to defeat it. Other foes are, guards, heads, snakes and shadows just to name few. The game also has the shadow, this means you turn left and right untill you crumple to the ground and leave a ghost, this means you can run around the level without getting killed. The flame also makes an interesting weapon, torch from afar. Although getting it is hard. Speaking of weapons you go through about four swords, starting with your normal sword you spend about three levels attacking with a broken sword. This makes the game much harder as you have to watch your timing or miss and get hurt.

Sound The music is better, although it can be out of theme every now and then. The usal from the first is there : Footsteps, screams, "OW!" and more.

The Bad
The annoying save problem still exists. You can only save at certain points or at the start of a level. The enemy difficulty increases each time you fight, so if you die you then have to fight harder enemys than before. The puzzles are harder and there seems to be too much jumping than before.

The Bottom Line
Very good game, a must for people who are willing to spend all night playing it.

The Good
The graphics are much more varied than the previous game and there are also new traps and enemies. There is now background music (even if its not very good) and a better storyline.

The Bad

This is one of the most difficult games I've ever played. The new puzzles and enemies are much tougher. To rub this in the save points are frequently a long way apart. Add onto this that you frequently have to use trial and error to find out what you are supposed to do and you have a recipe for the most frustrating game since Another World. After spending about 2 hours repeatedly trying to complete a small section in level 10 my keyboard was in severe danger of being thrown against the wall!

When I finally got there I found out that the last level is nearly impossible unless you have collected enough of the greater health potions in the earlier levels. There was no way I was playing through all those levels again so I gave in and cheated.

The Bottom Line
If the difficultly was toned down a bit this would have been an improvement to Prince of Persia. But as it is playing this game is definitely not what I'd call fun. I could only recommend it to either completists or masochists.