Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame
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| Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame | |
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| Developer(s) | Brøderbund |
| Publisher(s) | Brøderbund |
| Platform(s) | PC, Mac, SNES, Mega Drive (Unreleased), XBOX (as feature) |
| Release date | 1994 |
| Genre(s) | Action adventure |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame is a platform game released by Brøderbund in 1994.
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[edit] Gameplay
From a gameplay viewpoint, it is strongly similar to the first Prince of Persia. The character explores various deadly areas by running, jumping, crawling, avoiding traps, solving puzzles and drinking magic potions. Prince of Persia 2 is, however, more combat-heavy than its predecessor. In the first game, enemies appear only occasionally and are always alone, while in the sequel, up to four enemies may appear at once, sometimes flanking the player, and may even be instantly replaced by reinforcements when they are killed. As in Prince of Persia, the trick is to complete the game under a strict time limit that passes in real time. Lives are unlimited, but time cannot be regained except by reverting to a previously saved game. In other areas, more significant improvements have been made. The graphics are far more complex than the simple look of the game's predecessor, the areas explored are larger, and the variety of backdrops is greater.
[edit] Story
Although 4 years elapsed between the making of Prince of Persia and Prince of Persia: The Shadow and the Flame, the world of the Prince goes through a few days alone. During these days, the Prince has a lot going for him. At first, he is hailed as the Hero who defeated the evil Jaffar. When he spurns all riches and asks for the Princess' hand in marriage as his reward, the Sultan rants and raves, but eventually he is moved by his dear daughter’s tears and pleadings, finally giving in to her wishes. The Prince and Princess are married and live happily – for eleven days.
In The Shadow and the Flame, Jaffar is brought back into action by an evil Witch who, for reasons not mentioned, hates the Prince. As the Prince enters the Palace gates on the eleventh day, he feels a strange, cold feeling seep through himself. His royal robes turn into that of the beggar he was, before he saved Persia. Even the Princess does not recognize him when he tries to speak to her – she orders her guards to treat him well, for he was "just a poor mad beggar!". And, out from the shadows, steps out the Prince – Jaffar who has taken over the Prince’s countenance as well as his role. With the Palace guards rushing him with drawn swords, the Prince has only one option – to jump through a large glass and flee the city by sea.
Unfortunately for the Prince, the ship in which he is a stowaway crashes and he finds himself on the beautiful shore of a foreign land. But not before a strange woman appears in his dreams and tells him to avenge his father. The strange woman keeps saying "Come to me!" throughout the game.
Halfway through The Shadow and the Flame, it is revealed to the Prince that he is really of Royal lineage. His father was killed and his mother had to cast him off, just before she was herself killed. The time to take revenge had come. Although not stated explicitly, the evil Witch appears to have been the one behind the Prince’s loss as well.
The rest of the game is vintage Prince of Persia: lilting background music, fluid animation, breath-taking graphics and environments, a Flying Carpet, a Flying Horse, Magic and Magic Potions.
The end of the game is when the Prince needs to shed his physical body and kill Jaffar as he plays hide-and-seek. A single bolt of the magical blue flame finishes Jaffar off, but the trick is to get it right – one has at most two attempts, before the blue flame sputters out... The Prince and Princess are once again united and the day is saved – for now.
[edit] Ports
Titus Software ported the game to the Super NES and released it in 1996. Due to some missing features and stages, it is considered an inferior port.
On August 11, 2006, drx of Hidden Palace, a ROM-specialized website, released the long lost Mega Drive version, ported by Microïds and with a planned release in 1996 by Psygnosis, but finally cancelled in an almost complete state.
The game can also be unlocked in the Xbox NTSC version of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time by finding a secret area. The GameCube, PlayStation 2 and Xbox PAL versions of the game lack Prince of Persia 2, with that secret area unlocking the original Prince of Persia early instead. The PC version lacks the secret entirely.
The makers of Prince of Persia Classic hinted that they may remake the game in 3D for the XBLA along with other side-scrolling games.[citation needed]
[edit] External links
- Prince of Persia Legacy A fansite dedicated to the Prince of Persia series.
- Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow & The Flame at MobyGames
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