Excerpt from a newly discovered 12th century Middle Eastern manuscript (translated from the original Persian):

My Dearest Princess,

By the time you have received this, I will have returned to my native land. My love for you has not diminished, but I can no longer withstand the physical punishment and torture I must constantly endure to prove my love.

I arrived on your shores for the first time ten years ago and was immediately cast into a dungeon. Upon my escape I was forced to evade deadly traps, leap across unfathomable chasms and engage in bloody swordfights with the palace guards. Four years later we began to date, with your father the King's permission, and once again I was thrown into a dungeon, escaped, evaded, leaped and fought. Now six more years have passed and on what should have been the happiest day of my life, our wedding day, I once again find myself ... (the text here is illegible due to decay)

Though my love for you still burns like the tiger's eye--for my own well-being I feel we must forever separate.

Signed,

The Ex-Prince of Persia

In 1989, Jordan Mechner released what was probably the very first arcade game to provide a detailed storyline--The Prince of Persia. The plot, while not very original, was the stuff that classics are made of: love's labours lost and regained with some healthy bloodshed and decapitations thrown in for good measure (this is, after all, the world of computer gaming). A sequel followed, The Shadow and the Flame, and now ten years have passed and the Prince (also referred to as the artist formerly known as #@^) is back in glorious 3D. Don't let the 3D fool you, though--the motion-capture technology and platform feel of the original are still very strong.

Prince of Persia 3D is the first 3D game I have played that fully takes advantage of the properties of the third dimension rather then just using it as eye candy. It is still at its core a platform game, but now the platforms have risen to new levels of height and depth rather than just scrolling from left to right. One problem with the original PoP games was the constant staggering and then plummeting off the edge of a pit or ledge. This has been corrected, as you can now hold down the shift and directional key to keep yourself precariously perched on the edge of that deadly death drop. The movement options on PoP3D, controlled by either keyboard or gamepad, are precise. There is no more satisfying moment than executing a difficult jump without fear of falling off a ledge due to sloppy controls. This game does provide you with some minor leeway. There has been some grumbling from the hard-core action gamers about the control system, but I think their dissatisfaction arises more from their failure to realize that this is not a game of speed and high-volume chases as are Quake or Doom. Prince of Persia 3D is rather a thinking man's (or woman's) game, slow and steady, plan your jumps and advance through trial and error. It is a game of patience. It is not a game for hard-core action gamers. But is it a game for adventure gamers?

The puzzles mostly consist of activating secret levers, pushing and pulling crates, unlocking chests, discovering hidden passages and avoiding traps. It is not an adventure game in the traditional sense, but if you have played and enjoyed the previous installments in this series, then you already know what to expect. You will die in this game. You will die more than any other game you have ever played. But that is part of the attraction: figuring out how not to die. Also, kudos to Mindscape for resisting the urge to turn this game into a bloody gorefest. If you remember, part of the attraction of the original PoP games was that when your character died, he would squirm on bloody spikes. Not only do you have the option of turning down the gore, but even with the level at its highest, it is never revolting as it is in such modern pieces of trash such as Kingpin or Shadow Man. With greater realism in today's graphics also comes greater responsibility (my apologies to Stan Lee and Spider Man), and Mindscape was up to the challenge. Yes, there are beheadings and quick death scenes, but they are handled as tastefully as can be while still being true to the original spirit of the series.

I actually think that PoP3D would have a great appeal to puzzle lovers as it is, like Tetris, a huge puzzle. Every level has a clear goal, and it is your challenge to figure out how to achieve this goal. Unfortunately, there are no multiple paths to choose from; the entire game is actually very linear. This is a challenge for the strategist, not the fragger. As a nod to the adventure gamer, there are a few minor inventory puzzles, but for the most part the puzzles arise ingeniously from the environment. For example, when you are in the library, you clearly see the opening at the top of the ceiling that you must reach to escape from this level. If an escape route is not always obvious, observing the actions of patrolling guards will provide clues on how to escape. Sounds easy enough, doesn't it? But in Prince of Persia 3D, the shortest distance between two points is never a straight line, and that is what makes this game so much fun.

You will confront the occasional foe in the game, but utilizing my usual hack 'n' slash method, I never had a real problem with any of the palace goons. (I understand that there is a patch available to increase the AI of the guards--this is one patch I could do without, thank you). Archers will usually present the biggest problem, but defeating them is usually just a matter of finding a post or other object to hide behind until you find an opening to use your bow and arrow. Probably the biggest problem is not using the melee weapons, but often in your enthusiasm to run down a new corridor, you will forget about a moving blade or the floor triggers that shoot poisonous darts. You will, though, be quickly reminded that haste makes waste when you see your decapitated head rolling down a hall.

After drooling over the visual beauty of Drakan, I cannot imagine any other game coming close, but PoP3D does have some wonderful graphics. The indoor graphics are splendid just in their construction alone, but the outside scenes are breathtaking. Take a moment when you are standing on a ledge high above the city. Have the Prince look around. It is a beautiful and enchanting world brought to life.

I would be remiss if I were not to mention a few problems. First, I found it very restrictive that you could not carry over healing potions from one level to another. Second, this game would, at the most inopportune times, just crash. For no reason. I understand there is now a patch available, but a product should never have shipped with such a major problem. Last are the voices. While what voices there are are well-done, the characters do not have any Persian inflections or accents. For some reason, I find this disturbing. It's as if making the Persian characters sound English is fine, but to have them have authentic accents is not? Finally, you must have a 3D card to play PoP3D. Now this is not a problem for the average action gamer, but for the average adventure gamer, now may be the time to give in to advancing technology and purchase that 3D card (it doesn't hurt, either, that a coupon for a $30 rebate on a 3D card is included with PoP3D).

If you are a patient gamer and if you like to proceed in small intervals and not defeat a game in a week or two, then PoP3D is for you. It is an action game for the thinking person. A game where strategy and planning are more important than a quick trigger finger and lightening reflexes. Highly recommended for the adventure gamer looking for a change of pace.

Final grade for PoP3D--B+.

(If you would like to try a demo of Prince of Persia 3D or just download wallpaper or screen images, then visit the official Prince of Persia 3D site.)

System Requirements:

Windows 95/98
233 Pentium
64 MB Ram
300 MB free hard disk space
4x CD-ROM
DirectX 6.0
Quicktime 4.0
100% DirectX Compatible Sound Card
100% DirectX Compatible 3D Graphics Accelerator