Puzzle Solving

Lore & Background

The Sultan, together with the recently married Prince and Princess, visit the kingdom of his brother Assan south of Persia. During an entertainment, Assan's guards kill the Sultan's own guard and imprison the Prince. The Sultan had previously promised the Princess's hand to Assan's son Rugnor, a vow the Sultan broke when the Prince married her. The Prince escapes captivity and makes his way to the Sultan, who unsuccessfully attempts to persuade the Prince to give the Princess up.

Assan attempts to kill the Prince, but kills the Sultan when he steps between them. The Sultan asks the Prince to save the Princess before he dies, and the Prince flees as Assan accuses the Prince of the Sultan's murder. Rugnor, revealed to be a half-human half-tiger creature, kidnaps the Princess and has multiple run-ins with the Prince. When the Princess refuses to yield to Rugnor, going as far as cutting off his hand with a sword, he decides to kill her by tying her to a large gear machine in his lair to crush her to death.

The Prince arrives in time, killing Rugnor by knocking him into the gears and stopping the machine. The Prince then spirits the Princess away to an unknown destination.

Reader's Guide

Prince of Persia 3D is an action-adventure video game. The player controls the main protagonist, an unnamed Prince from a kingdom in Persia; the Prince is navigated through fifteen levels. Environments are seen through a fixed third-person view which tracks with the Prince's movements. When the Prince is standing still, the player can take manual control of the camera to examine the environment.

The Prince is guided through levels using tank controls. While exploring levels, he can jump across gaps and up onto platforms, climb up and explore along ledges, deal with traps, and swim through bodies of water. Many puzzles found during levels, which must be solved to progress, involve activating levers and triggering pressure plates and switches. Potions can be found through the environments, with effects ranging from replenishing and increasing health to turning invisible or curing poison.

While exploring, the Prince can engage individual enemies in close-range combat with three weapon types; the sword, the spear or staff, a bow and twin blades. The bow can only be used outside normal combat to shoot enemies from a distance, and can also be used in some puzzle types. The health of the Prince and their current opponent is shown along the bottom of the screen. Combat is initiated when drawing a weapon with an enemy nearby, with the camera switching to a side perspective which adjusts with the Prince's movements.

While always facing the enemy, the Prince can move in any direction. During battle, the player can strike from both sides and above, block attacks, and feint a move to create an opening for an attack. If a character's blow is blocked, then the attacker is stunned for a short time and the opponent can launch a faster counterattack. Some scenarios in levels allow the Prince to either sneak past enemies or use environmental elements to kill them.

If the Prince runs out of health, the game ends and must be restarted either from a save point or the beginning of a level.

Did You Know?

• Production began in 1997 and lasted over two years.
• Series creator Jordan Mechner acted as a creative consultant and co-authored the scenario, but was mostly uninvolved.
• The visual design drew from Medieval Persia with added fantastical elements.
• A planned PlayStation port was cancelled in favour of the Dreamcast version.
• The game used the third-party NetImmerse game engine and Motion Factory's Motivate middleware system.