Prince of Persia

This is a game that's been very influential over the years thanks to its approach to 2d platforming, as such I do respect it for what its achieved for other games even if I personally can't stand it even for its time.

The biggest problem here is how stiff the controls are, this wouldn't be so bad if this game weren't so reliant on trial and error as there's plenty of hidden traps in this game that will catch you off guard at the best of times due to how clunky our hero moves are. This is made worse by the sword fights which I swear is up to pure luck whether you beat the enemies or not given how you can either score then without much effort or they score you within seconds. I also don't like the sound effects as they feel like they belong in an Atari game from a decade prior, I think the developer was going for stylisation, but it feels like they ran out of budget as the game admittedly looks beautiful for an early 16-bit game. The levels are cleverly designed and resemble traditional Arabian dungeons as opposed to the art direction used in Disney's Aladdin which was more in line with a Las Vegas show throughout the film. Speaking of Aladdin, the story has the imprisoned prince (who I'll be referring to as Aladdin) rescuing the sultan’s daughter from the royal vizier, which is named Jaffar in this game, making the princess an obvious stand in for jasmine and the guards you fight as the ones who bully Aladdin in the film. This game did come put years prior to the Disney classic, so actually Disney ripped this off rather than it being the other way around. One final thing I'll add is that although you have unlimited lives (as to be expected for a game reliant on trial and error) the game gives you a time limit of an hour to complete, which adds a stressful race against the clock element that makes an already tedious game that much more aggravating.

It's a game whose accomplishments in the industry can't be denied, however you're better off playing games like Oddworld or little nightmares as they aren't nearly as cheap with their respective difficulties.

It's all about the animations. This game showed that the protagonist of a videogame could be a normal guy, and by that I mean a believable human figure, as opposed to a mascot, a ship or any cartoon character. This opened up many possibilities for new scenarios and settings. Another World and Flashback would take advantage of the same idea of realistic animations to reinforce the feeling of a normal guy in an alien world. Realism dictates the logic of the world, how you can dodge spikes by going slow, how you get in and out of combat, or the horrifying falling deaths.

I never got past the first level. I absolutely hated to time jumps during the running animation and I think it was all too difficult (those doors could go a bit slower), but I always thought the movement was as fascinating as it was frustrating. Like in Tomb Raider a few years later, a positioning animation had to be added because of how inaccurate everything was, as if the level didn't exactly match the character's movements. This game impressed more for the technical aspect than the gameplay, even if it was released a bit later than it could have been, but it's more than just influential. I think everyone should try that first level, with patience, and see how it plays.