No matter how old will it get, it'll still be fun to play.
To my surprise the controls weren't as bad as I expected, it took me mere few minutes to perfectly control my hero. Though there is not much what to control either, you can jump, climb, run or walk with short steps and thats basically everything. Level designs are pretty good too, they are well thought out, and there are no bugs(at least not to my knowledge). This game is about jumping over spears, climbing onto walls and opening gates, walking on switch, and it's great at that. Levels are interesting and appealing, and the later ones require a lot of skill to complete, though when you'll be in the later levels you'll already have reflexes of the prince himself, and it won't be that extremely hard to jump through those traps or holes. On a side note, combat system sucks hard, it's better on Snes version but on PC or nes versions, it's just... There are too buttons, one to party and one to hit, and when you parry you can counterattack, yet usually enemy counterattacks you, you again party and counterattack again, and there is no end, until your hand is too tired, every enemy was an annoyance for me to meet, and I hoped to see as few of them as possible.
Well, just seeing that the game is as old as 1989 you can make your own conclusions about graphics. It's poorly detailed and most of the floors look the same, except for their layout. Prince's and enemie's desings are pretty undetailed too, but what to expect, it was made in 1989 you know. The sound is better than graphics, yet, it's not very good either. There is one or two themes which are repeated all the time, they are pretty good themes, yet they can get very very annoying, and the theme when you die, uuh.. I disliked that one too, or was it because I was angry because I died?
Well anyway, this game is definitely valuable, to know the roots of computer games history itself, you have to play this game. It's one of the first and it's very good considering its old age. Any person who considers himself a gamer, or a guy with a knowledge of games, must be played this game. It's a classic, and it's a masterpiece of the old times. Even if you hate old games, I still strongly recommend you to try it.