Prince of Persia Hands-On

Since we last saw this version of Prince of Persia on the Dreamcast, he was looking very well polished and almost ready for a debut performance. We recently got to try out a more complete build to see if some earlier problems were fixed.

In our previous run, the user-controlled camera needed a bit of tweaking to work with a control scheme. This time around, a single tap on the D-pad activates the first-person view, and another tap brings you to a view behind the Prince. This makes for an easy transition between the two modes, and it works very well. The controls on the whole have an overall better feel to them. As was the case with the other Prince of Persia games, it took a short time to get used to the way your character jumps and handles his sword. Those who are familiar with the Prince's other outings will already have a good sense of what to expect on the Dreamcast version, as the controls feel virtually the same.

In addition to the single-skinned, seamless character models, the game has some nice lighting effects, which adds to the realism of sneaking around a dark castle. Subtle music also plays in the background during your adventure - once again, it immerses you in the environment.

We encountered only a few minor graphical glitches that had little effect on gameplay. With only a couple of months to go before a release to the public, Mattel should have no problems making sure that any remaining anomalies have been worked out.

Prince of Persia is set for a November release.