Developed in 1990 by Brøderbund France, the Amstrad CPC conversion of Prince of Persia is a decent interpretation of Jordan Mechner‘s classic platform game.

Graphically, the Amstrad version is very good. It is arguably the best-looking out of all the 8-bit versions.

There are still some issues though. The screen sometimes flickers when it changes from one to another – like the game doesn’t know which screen to show – especially when coming to the end of a run near the edge of a screen. Also: having a sword fight near the edge of a screen can result in some very annoying flicking between one screen and another (and probably the main character’s death).

I also spotted a couple of bugs, including one that puts you on the other side a chasm if you jump directly upwards, and another where you can jump through closed gates.

Sword fighting is very easy – perhaps too easy – at least at first. Just holding down fire will win you most fights. I also found the sword-fighting skeletons to be inanimate and lacking (any kind of) intelligence. The first one I fought just stood there, not even attacking or moving towards me when provoked.

Those faults thankfully don’t ruin the game. The most important thing is that the movement of the main character is right, which it is. Kind of.

More: Prince of Persia on Wikipedia