By J. Caleb Donaldson
So, you finally finished Prince of Persia. Your fingers hurt from the awkward keyboard controls, and your head is swimming from staring into your Macintosh magic mirror, but the Princess is at last within your reach. Not so fast - here comes Broderbund's sequel, Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame. As before, the traps, mazes, and riddles will have you ignoring the rest of your life until you complete the game.
Part arcade battle, part puzzle-solving mystery, this is one of the most complicated computer games on the market. Though the plot is thin, it's all the motivation you need to start playing. After that, the complex puzzles hook you in for the duration.
Production values are superb, but you pay for this beauty in CPU cycles: game play is slow, like knitting. Sure, there's swashbuckling - but the trade-off between keyboard responsiveness and detailed animation has been settled in favor of aesthetics.
Prince of Persia 2 for DOS and Mac: US$40. Broderbund: +1 (415) 382 4600.
STREET CRED
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A Manual of Factual Self-Defense
The Prince of Persia 2
