Interesting level design is countered by bugs and unresponsive controls
The combat is amusing for a while although buggy. Since there is no turning in combat, you and your enemy often won't be facing each other. This means that you can cut your opponent apart with impunity, although the same is sometimes true. If you run up to an enemy and take out your weapon right in his face, he won't even detect you and you can cut him apart. In fact, this was usable against one of the game's two bosses. Through these easily found exploits you can easily win any fight, so it's up to you to decide whether to actually fight. This makes these bugs actually quite welcome at times; by the end of the game I was sick of the combat and was glitching through every fight.
This seems like the type of game to have a well-developed plot, but it doesn't. The story is told through a few cut scenes spread through the game and doesn't always make sense. For example, the entire plot is based on the Sultan forgetting that he betrothed his already-married daughter to a monster. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't do that in the first place, much less forget about it.
The level design is the redeeming quality of this game. The levels are very cleverly made and varied. They do seem contrived at times, but that's almost expected from a game in this genre. They are colorful and make full use of the Prince's abilities. The biggest problem is that the levels include moving platforms that the game doesn't always place in the correct spots. Sometimes the platforms will be floating off in the middle of nowhere and you simply won't be able to cross the required gap. I had to play through levels multiple times until the platforms were all in passable conditions.
The graphics aren't very impressive at all. Most everything is blocky, but the textures are at least half decent. Admittedly I didn't play this at the time of the release, but it looks significantly worse than other games of that time. For example, Half-Life looks significantly better and was released a year before. The sound however is fine and some of the music was quite catchy.
The biggest problem is how clunky the controls are. You turn slowly and don't always jump when you press the key. You can easily make it through the game despite this, but it definitely leeches some of the enjoyment.
The game took 11 hours to complete, and although I may have missed a secret or two, there is little replay value. Despite the flaws, it was definitely fun. In short, if you see this game in a bargain bin, go for it, but don't bother searching it out; there are plenty of better games.