I've always found Prince of Persia a fascinating game. I still play it from start to finish every now and then. If you do the math twice a year ends up adding up.
I refuse to believe that the reason behind this is that it's among the firsts (if not the first) game I have ever played.
I also think a fundamental skill for a game designer is to understand how the games we love have been able to generate the sensations we feel when we play it and, most important, why they are fun.
In this post, I'll analyze this masterpiece, from the point of view of the player and focusing on the sensations it generates without going deep into details.
Disclaimer
The analysis I make here is not free of nostalgia.
While this game has many ports I think the definitive version is the DOS version, using the EGA color mode and the PC internal speakers. The screenshots used on the article came from this version.
Now, let's start.
Story
The plot of the game is extremely simple:
Jaffar, the Sultan's Grand Vizier wants the throne and for that, he needs to marry the Sultan's young daughter. He casts a spell over the princess and she has to marry Jaffar or die. Only "the brave youth she loves" can save her, but he's a prisoner in the castle's dungeons.
And for a good period of my youth, this was basically "save the princess from the evil one". Since rarely I kept all the intro through the end (also, I've been playing this game since before I was able to read and English is not even my mother tongue)
For all it matters, the story gives us purpose: to rescue the princess. But also plays with our anxiety: we know that eventually we will fight Jaffar and get to the princess before the hour runs out.
Both aspects are equally important, exploring the castle is fun, but we also need to be in line with our mission. This tension came into play at different points in the game. Even when this is in most aspects a linear game, you feel all the time that there's a lot to explore. Though most of the time, diverging from the main path will lead you to death ends (though sometimes you'll get rewarded by increasing your max health)
Visuals
We are talking of a game released in 1989 for a machine that was not intended for video games and developed by a small team yet it has its own identity and does a great job setting the atmosphere. The first three levels, the dungeons, makes you feel locked up and afraid. You can feel the darkness and loneliness our young hero might be feeling. Then you discover a much more colorful area, that resembles more the characteristics of the princess's room seen during the intro. This alternation provides a well received freshness just went the visuals might start to feel monotonous.
The character animation requires its own paragraph of course as it feels extremely real (and it is, since it was made from recordings of the author's brother performing the movements) and provides a delightful feedback to the player actions. I always lost a couple of seconds just making the character slide from one side to the other.
Game Mechanics
These are less simpler than the history but not by far if you compare it with most games from today.
You can move left or right either running by default or walking when pressing a key. You can also jump straight or forward and combine the running with the jump.
You also have the combat mode which involves a sword and has a few actions: attack, move right or left, guard or sheath the sword.
Some combats are avoidable if you are clever enough. Well, maybe not too clever, but it's truly rewarding when you make a guard fall into a cliff or get locked behind a door.
Potions deserves a note aside: most of them will just heal you others will damage you and a few will increase your life meter. There are only two of them that have special effects: the one that makes you fall slower and avoid a certain death and the one that inverts the screen and controls.
This is certainly another important aspect of the game: It does not repeat itself, which leads me to the next section.
Music
I've kept music for the last since normally it is something I overlook. But turns out the music in this game (and sound effects in general) are as subtle as any other aspect of the game: There's the main theme, the music for completing a level, the tune played when you die, the one used when you kill a guard and the one played when you drink the fall-slowered potion on level 7.
At any moment the music distracts you as the game doesn't really have a background music. As we discussed for the visuals, the music sets the atmosphere. The absence of music during most of the gameplay adds to the loneliness created by the visuals and helps to empathize with particular events.
There's one particular tune that makes me shiver and it's a great example of this: On level 4, when you find the mirror, you find yourself shocked and intrigued. It's actually scary when you cross it and the shadow guy appears for the first time. After completing the level, you start hearing the classic end level music... but it suddenly gets cut and an upbeat tune is heard, emphasizing the disturbing moment you have just witnessed.
Game events
In every section, we have talked about how each aspect of the games helps to set the tone of the game and how they are wisely used to create an atmosphere or emphasize the Events in the game.
I call Events to those specific moments that appear on each level.
The Events in the game are used as plot devices to move the story forward. Once again, the subtlety on how they are used is the trick here. No Event lasts more than a few seconds and they rarely block the player, they just "happen". If the game was made today, most likely you will get a cut scene for each one of them. Though here you will just continue moving while hearing a particular tone or participating in it.
Each of these Events makes their corresponding level unique. They normally add their own mechanic to the game and are used only once. They surely disrupt you the first time you play the game and make you wonder what's ahead.
Just for reference, let's make a quick summary of them:
Level 1: Get the sword.
Level 2: No events.
Level 3: The Skeleton.
Level 4: The mirror and the shadow.
Level 5: The shadow steals a healing bottle.
Level 6: The Fat Guard and The shadow closes a door making you fall to the dungeons.
Level 7: The floating potion.
Level 8: The passive guard and the mice.
Level 9: The inverse-control potion.
Level 10: No events.
Level 11: The ceiling collapses as you go.
Level 12: Encounter with the shadow.
Level 12+: Fight with Jaffar.
Level 13: Rescue the princess.
Summary
Overall, I think the subtlety each element used in the game is what makes this game a masterpiece. The simple story gives you a purpose, the visuals and the music sets a tone of a thriller that gets you engaged, the mechanics provide the fun and the events make the game to not be repetitive and keep you attached to it until the end.
All things considered, Prince of Persia is a perfect example on how a few elements can be used to create a cohesive experience that, wisely used, provides a simple linear game yet with a lot of re playable value.
If you want to talk about game development, game design or just games in general, please reach me out to @tehsis on Twitter.
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Now, I'll type the magic words, and play some PoP.
C:\> prince ega
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