Prince of Persia 3D

The Good
Prince of Persia has translated well into a 3D format. The graphics, while not state of the art anymore, are very atmospheric. Dungeons are dark and dirty, palaces are well lit and ornate, but outdoor locations tend to be rather dreary looking. The characters are animated well, especially the prince, even if they look a little blocky close-up. The controls aren't quite as responsive as Tomb Raider, but once you get used to them, they work quite well.

The levels are large and (mostly) well designed. My favorite section of the game are the levels that take place on an airship. This is like a giant hot air balloon with a large, tapered vertical structure beneath it. You start out on the lowest point, which is a platform only a few feet across and you have to carefully make your way up to the top. Along the way you'll encounter peaceful workers, hostile guards and a few surprises. Many of the upper levels are huge jumping puzzles. Drop onto the moving platform, jump off and grab the pole, flip onto the walkway, drop onto another moving platform, then jump to a rope, slide down, jump onto ANOTHER moving platform, and so on. These will probably annoy many players as it is easy to miss a jump and fall to your death, but I enjoyed these parts.

The Bad
When I first started playing, I was used to the controls in Tomb Raider and while the prince has most of the same moves, the controls are a little different. At first I was frustrated that he didn't seem to do what I wanted, but once I got used to them, these problems went away.

Probably the biggest thing I disliked about this game was the fog used to limit the view distance. It makes sense in the outdoor scenes, but it was used quite a bit in the indoor levels as well. Then again, maybe it's supposed to be smoke from those pipes that you always see people smoking from in movies about this time period. In the airship levels, there's nothing below or beyond the edge of the platforms. I guess this is supposed to represent the ship being up in the clouds, but it would have been nice to see some generic scenery going by so that you could get a sense of really being up in the air rather than floating in a grey void.

I also didn't care much for the sword fighting. The manual goes into detail about how you need to watch your opponent, and time your moves to counteract theirs. Usually it went like this: The enemy moves in one direction, I hit the keys to make the appropriate counter move and while I'm in the process of swinging my sword, the enemy recovers and whacks me. There's a whole system of feinting moves for faking out the enemy, but I never had any luck using them. In the end it usually came down to mashing the attack button and hoping I killed the guard before he did too much damage to me, and quick-loading if I didn't. Of course it's possible that I'm just not very good at sword fighting. I didn't do all that well in the Jedi Knight games either.

Another thing that kind of bugged me is that except for the guards, the levels are mostly empty. I know this fits with the original games, but it would have been nice to encounter some servants going about their business or some harem girls. There are a few non-hostile NPCs, but they're few and far between. Sometimes it almost feels like you're playing through a ghost town, which gives the game kind of an eerie feel.

Finally, the AI for the enemies is non-existent. Walk through a doorway and the enemies will completely ignore you. Step into a room and the enemies will head straight for you. Step through a doorway and it's like you become invisible.

The Bottom Line
I was a big fan of the original Prince of Persia, although I hated the sequel, so when I saw this game in a closeout store for $5, I couldn't resist. I'd read some bad reviews of it, but I was determined to try it with an open mind.

There are some games that I instantly like from the first moment your game alter-ego take their first step and others that don't seem very special at first, but which grow on you as you progress through the levels. Prince of Persia 3D falls into the latter category. Even as I played it, I couldn't help but feel that there was something a little "off" about it, as if it hadn't quite been finished. It's nothing I can put my finger on, just a feeling of it needing something a little more.

However, by the time I finished the game, I realized that I'd been enjoying it quite a bit and I was sad to see it end. I don't think it's a great game, but it deserves better than to be forgotten about when talking about the Prince of Persia games.