Software Vault: The Sapphire Collection/Software Vault (Sapphire Collection) (Digital Impact).ISO/cdr16/cyberr02.zip/PRINCEP

Text File | 1994-10-18 | 6KB | 100 lines

            Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow  & The Flame
                             review by
                           Lisa Ramaglia

    Imagine that you are a traveler who has stowed away on a ship
bound for Persia.  Once there, you meet a beautiful princess.  You
and the princess fall deeply in love with each other and are
married.  After 11 days of wedded bliss, you enter the palace only
to find that you have been replaced by a look-a-like, and no one
seems to remember you, including your bride.  The evil, look-a-like
"Prince" orders you captured.  Somehow, you manage to break free and
escape through a window.  You vow, that if you survive, yo u will
someday return to reclaim your Princess and defeat your enemy
(whoever he is).  Your journey is just beginning...
    You'll find that Prince of Persia has a very simple installation
procedure.  From the DOS prompt, switch to your disk drive (A:
ect.), type INSTALL, and press enter.  The installation program will
prompt you when to change disks, will create the directory for you
if you haven't already, and then place you in the SETUP window.
    Be certain that when setting up the configuration that you
carefully check the information on the sound card you have.  Your
system can freeze or a crash if it's not right.  If I had done this
from the beginning, I would not have had to test it nine different
times.  Once I pulled out my sound card manual and checked the IRQ
setting, I had no further problems and the sound was great.
    From the SETUP screen, you can also choose whether or not you
want the game accessible under Windows.  They do mention that if you
notice a problem while under Windows, launch from DOS only.  I found
that I had no sound at all when I tried to run under Windows.  If
you have tend to run everything under Windows, give it a try.  It
may work on your system.  I find that my computer doesn't like to
run most DOS programs through Windows, so I stick them on my menu
program and run them through DOS.  It's much easier than bothering
with the command line.
    From the SETUP screen, you can also tell the program whether or
not to run with the 640K or to use High Memory, if it's available.
I chose the latter and received no "Out of Memory" messages.  I've
been getting a lot of those lately.
    Now, on to the game:    Prince of Persia starts with a visual
story, telling the plot leading up to the point where you have to
jump out of a window to save yourself.  After jumping through this
window, you fight your way across the rooftops, leaping from
building to building.  If you're not careful, you might fall to your
death (if the guards don't get you first!).  If you manage to
escape, you will jump aboard a ship where your journey begins.
    The keyboard or a joystick can be used during play.  You can
easily switch between the two by pressing Alt-O for the options
menu.  After making your selections, you are put back where you
left.  (I chose the moment I was falling to my death.  I returned to
listen to my scream of terror and the thud of me hitting the
ground.)
    I played by both methods.  When reading the instruction manual,
it looked like the keyboard method would be too confusing to
contemplate.  It turned out to be just the way the manual was set
up.  They split the keys for their examples, which was a little
confusing.  During actual play, and much re-playing, I got the
pattern down and was able to progress into the level.
    I didn't do as well with the joystick.  In their diagram, they
assume that you are using a simple two button joystick, which seems
easy enough to use.  I, on the other hand, have a flight-stick type
that has a trigger and a button on top (not so easy to figure out).
    After a while, I became better at the joystick, but chose to
switch back to the keyboard.  Try them both and see which you like
better.
    I must admit, I love this game!  I'm hooked.  Every free moment
I get, between feeding the kids, changing diapers, and naps, I find
myself back in front of the computer.  You get no help in this game
at all.  There's no one to tell you which way to go, or what to do.
You've got to figure it out on your own (unless you purchase the
official strategy guide!).  So, not only do you have to deal with
sword-slashing guards, you have to solve a puzzle as well.  It took
me many tries to get every so many feet.  I'd figur e out one part,
then get stumped at the next.  It must have took me 10 times at
least to figure how to jump off the pier and onto the moving ship,
without missing and drowning myself.
    The beginning part of the program had very colorful movie-type
graphics.  The backgrounds are beautiful, and full of detail.  The
animated figures are not as detailed as some of the major video game
systems put out, but are impressive none the less.  You'll also find
that games for your computer usually cost less than the ones for the
regular game systems.
    If you like the action games for Super Nintendo and SEGA, like
Aladdin, you'll like this one.  I find that I get the same kind of
action and fighting, and no gore.  The kids will like this one too.
Give it a try!

Requirements:   286/10MHz or higher
                640K RAM (but can be set to run in High memory)
                2MB of RAM for sound
                Hard disk with 7MB of free space
                VGA card and monitor
                1.44MB 3.5" disk drive
                DOS 3.1 or higher

                      Broderbund Software Inc.
                         500 Redwood Blvd.
                        Novato Ca 94948-6121
                          [phone]