Prince of Persia

Crash

Nick Roberts

THE SAM PAGE Yippee! I'm back and I'm bad! And have I got some scrummy SAM news for you? (Yes.) Crash is the mag for SAM coverage, so put on your kinky boots and walk this way... PRINCE OF PERSIA Revelation/Domark £14.99 Put on your heroic head and help the young adventurer on his quest to save the princess (yet another girl's blouse - Ed) from the clutches of the evil Jaffar. Lots of jumping over large gaps, falling onto spikes and getting sliced in two by mega blades! That's if you're not careful where you're stepping.

Sinclair UserSinclair User Gold

Graphics 97%

Sound 84%

Playability 93%

Lastability 87%

Overall 94%

Steve Keen 94%

LABEL: Domark/Borderline MEMORY: 512K TAPE: n/a DISK: £14.99 Anyone who's seen Prince of Persia on those big expensive PC's will know that their owners have been flapping at the gills about it for months. Well the news from Revelation, the geniuses behind the project's initiation, is that the Sam Coupe version is the best that money can buy! Not much to look at initially, it's hard to see what all the fuss is about. A big, blond haired sprite dressed in white pajamas, stands upright and ridged against a blue brick wall whose only other features are a plain door and two burning torches. But then you move. And what movement! If you're used to seeing your sprites slide around the screen or shift awkwardly from foot to foot you're going to be shocked out of your shorts! The Prince moves with the grace and fluidity of a blob of mercury flowing through a maze. He jumps, crouches, walks, runs and fights with such realism you gasp along with him at every move he makes. You could watch him running around for hours; even forgetting that you've got a game to play! When you do get down to the quest though it s all a bit of a cliche. Kidnapped Princess, Evil Grand Vizier, rescuing the girl by going around the platforms and completing the levels. But it's in the gameplay and movement that Prince of Persia shatters all the 'animation' standards. And the game's not that easy either because there are fiendish traps to be negotiated and devilish devices to overcome. Corridors housing vicious steel blades, that quite literally dice you up, block your every turn and pits full of spikes are ready to take the wind out of your sails if you get too hurried. Potions that restore health and sword fighting Turks also abound as well as skeletal soldiers that cannot be killed except by leading them off precarious ledges. The Prince must use all his speed dand all your cunning to complete his task in the multitude of levels. And so what if the backgrounds don't vary much, you'll not be looking at them very often, you'll be too busy marveling at the Prince's dexterous deeds and the awesome animation. All this and brilliant music and sound effects too. If you own a Sam you can't get better and if you don't, well, this is the game that was made for it. Easily the best version of Prince Of Persia on ANY format!

A man in a dress! I bet he's led a sheltered life!

After all that effort the wench has done a runner!

Avast! Take that you blaggard! Give 'im one from me.

Domark and Revelation what a team. Nice one!

Now which way was East lad?

Now why didn't I bring my Granny's ball of wool?

You don't get much deader than this!

Introducing the Sam Coupe. We at S.U. are always open to suggestions and when public demand necessitated a Sam Coupe section we decided that we could no longer ignore this most exciting development in home computing. Rest assured all you Samies out there, we have the reserved notices out already and you'll be able to check out what's best for the Sam every month in these hallowed pages. To kick off with though we've secured a review of Prince of Persia to wet your appetites until we've collated all the terrific Sam software that's out there. So don't delay, read on!

Your SinclairYour Sinclair Megagame

Life Expectancy 88%

Graphics 93%

Addictiveness 86%

Instant Appeal 84%

Overall 90%

James Leach 90%

Domark £14.99 SAM Coupe disk Reviewer: James Leach Gordon Bennett! Look what's just dropped through the shed's letterbox! A blue 3.5" disk with the letters SAM on it! My guess is it's some SAM software. Let's have a look it is! it's Prince Of Persia (and I'm going to review it!). No doubt if you're a proud owner of one of those posh 16-bit machines you'll know all about this game, but for the others I'd better fill in the gaps. Basically, Prince Of Persia came out on the Amiga and ST around Christmas and was generally declared to be the best platform game anybody had seen in ages. It appeared a couple of months later on the 8-bit Amstrad (looking just as juicy, sort of) but nobody dreamt they'd ever see it on the Speccy. And to date they haven't been proved wrong! Obviously, those clever folks over at SAM HQ were quick to realise this, and decided to upstage our humble rubber-keyed chum by doing a really prestige conversion job on it. And after all the problems they've had trying to their blue and white baby taken seriously, this might just do the trick. It really is terrific stuff. So, erm, let's delve into the mysteries of the East, shall we? SULTANS OF SWING Right, the plot. You play the Prince himself, who's sitting at the bottom of a huge castley-dungeon type thing. Your girlfriend's been kidnapped, and being held at the top of the one of the towers. So you've got to work your way up the levels until you reach (and, I suppose, rescue) her. So how come it's so classy then? Well, for a start there's the animation - you've never seen anything like it. Your little chap rushes around in such an amazingly life-like manner that it looks there's a real blokey dashing around the screen. His hands fly about and his body jerks as he runs around - and when he climbs up onto ledges you can see him putting his elbows to lift himself up! But it's not just the graphics that make PoP so good - you'll soon get hooked exploring the castle, trying to find your way around all the corridors to get to the next level. A quick hint - the first thing to do is find your sword. Once you've got that you stand a better chance at defending yourslf against all the baddies who jump out at you, looking for a slice of your flesh (see box). MAPPING MADNESS Wandering around the castle is a mapper's dream. There are five levels, and each is a different floor with secret rooms and potions to be drunk (most of these restore strength, but be on your guard - a couple will make you very ill indeed!) just to make things a bit more difficuly there are gates (which operate by pressure pads on the floor nearby) and snapping guillotines (you're going to need timing here). As you get further into the castle things get more complicated and a lot harder. You'll be lucky to have any hair on your head left by Level Three! What else? Oh yes, the sound's also pretty amazing. Weird Eastern-type tunes flow out (and there are some fabby sounnd effects) so it's all a million miles from the standard Speccy beeps and burps. There's no doubt about it - Prince Of Persia is very difficult, very addictive, and an awful lot of fun (sorry to go on about it) the graphics are so brill I've simply got to give it a Megagame. Goodness knows it deserve it (just as the SAM deserves such a corking game to show off all it jolly clever talents). Heartily recommended.

Ha ha! You won't be able to get me down here, Mr Guard! (I'm a bit stuck behind this gate.)

Hmm. How jolly pretty. Sort of makes you want to lick the colours off the screen, doesn't it? (Erm, no. Ed)

It's not easy getting around the castle. You'd think they'd install lifts or something to make it less hassle!

Oops! The Prince has obviously annoyed this dude, who's rushing to attack. Quickly unsheath your trusty sword and its time for 'chip chop, bit's of guard all over the shop'. Hurrah!

OH NO! HERE COME THE BADDIES! There are basically two sorts of evil baddies in PoP. The first lot appear throughout the game and are swarthy, baggy-trousered cutthroats straight out of the Arabian Nights. They look as though they smell a lot and would stick their swords right through you as soon as look at you. Just approach them, press Fire, and a gleaming sabre will magically appear in your hand to thrust and parry with. These sword-fighting bits add a brilliant element of excitement and skill to the game - they're done so well you actually feel you're learning to fence! (Your opponents get more and more difficult to beat, so you've really got to stay on your toes and get better all the time.) On later levels you bump into a couple of horrible skeletons. Instead of just lying there doing nothing (like real skeletons do) they attack you in a rather vicious manner. And guess what? You can kill them! Eek! All you can do is get them to any nearby high ledges and push them off (which is easier said than done!).

THE START OF SOMETHING BIG? We've seen quite a few Coupe-specific titles before, but this is SAM Computer's first real tip for the top. So what about their other plans? Well, the big news is Lemmings. They haven't signed a deal with publishers Psygnosis yet, but if they pull it off (which they think they will) they'll have the biggest-selling (and most critically acclaimed) 16-bit game of the year on their hands. The game is a totally original puzzler (and cute to boot) in which you've got to steer hundreds of little, er, lemmings through various assault courses against a time limit, employing their various talents of bridge-building and digging (etc) as you go. The company's also having "discussions" with the Codies, so we may well see Dizzy popping up on a SAM screen soon too.

Read it at Your Sinclair Rock'n'Roll Years

CrashCrash Smash

Presentation 93%

Graphics 94%

Sound 92%

Playability 94%

Addictivity 93%

Overall 96%

Mark Caswell 96%

Nick Roberts 95%

SAM Coupe £14.99 (disk only) Oh! The East - what a wonderful place it is! But, and this is the spooky thing, there's always trouble afoot in some mystical manner. This latest Coupe game's full of the stuff and it's magic (ie, ace). Join NICK ROBERTS as he samples a bit of Turkish Delight! It's a sad time for the people of Persia. The Sultan has been off fighting a foreign war and his Grand Vizier, Jaffar, has seized the reins of power. The only obstacle between Jaffar and the throne of Persia is a young adventurer that has won the heart of the Sultan's daughter. That adventurer is you. But calamity strikes - you've been arrested, parted from your sword and possessions and thrown into the deep dungeons of the Sultan's castle while the princess has been locked in the highest tower. Jaffar has given your true love a choice and an hour to decide - marry him or die! Can you escape and rescue the princess to become... Prince of Persia? JUICY JAFFAR'S TRAPS To rescue the princess, careful leaping, running and ducking is needed, as you never know when one of Jaffar's traps will spring. There are 13 levels to the game, each set in a different part of the castle, and every one holds different obstacles for you to overcome. As well as the guards, who vary in skill, there are spikes that rise from the ground, slabs falling from above, metal blades, bad potions and bottomless pits to be negotiated. Collecting the correct potions replenishes some of the energy you're bound to lose along the way. However, one of the first things you should look for is your sword - fighting's a little difficult without it, but isn't that always the way! AMAZING ANIMATIONS The most dazzling aspect of Prince Of Persia is the sheer detail in the animation sequences. From the introduction with the princess to the leaps and bounds of the hero, the slickness of movement is astounding. This isn't surprising as the original sprites were modelled on live action - such as the sword-fighting films of the Thirties - to give ultimate realism. Many people may find simply moving about the game difficult to begin with. By combining the directional controls the hero can perform an amazing amount of different movements; and it's not until you mastered each one that you can start to master each level in turn. BLACK MAGIC BOXES In addition to the basic fighting and adventuring elements, there are strange goings on in the castle. Jaffar is a master of black magic and will use it to stop you. A particular favourite sequence of mine is where you have to jump through a mirror to exit from a level. A shadow of yourself then runs in the opposite direction! Spooky, oh? From then on in the game the shadow crops up from time to time to make things more difficult, like stealing a potion when you could just do with it! Prince Of Persia is undoubtedly the best SAM Coupe game yet - its combination of superb gameplay and graphical content really shows off what the SAM can do! NICK 95%

Showing off your big sword to Mr Skeleton, he doesn't look too interested.

This is the tower where the princess has been held captive... looks like she's gone to powder her nose!

You've made it into the castle but one wrong step now and it could be kebabs for tea! (hold on Nick, you're supposed to be on a diet! - Markie)

Read it at Crash - The Online Edition