The game I played most this week: Sinbad: Return of Legend

Pirate of the Sea: Sinbad: Return of Legend

Back at the tail end of the 1980s, there was an elegant twist to the platform scroller category in the form of a game called Prince of Persia. The game featured a lithe, agile character who ran, climbed, and swordfighted his way through an exotic Persian setting. PoP wasn't as hectic as some of the other platform scrollers and not as obsessive with racking up body counts and grabbing shiny objects while whizzing through levels. The game seemed to have an aesthetic style and sense of refinement that shined through even on the crude machines it originally ran on. The game, produced by Yale graduate Jordan Mechner (who also created Karateka, a fighting game known more for athletics and timing than pure reflexes) was a hit, with various incarnations appearing on different platforms to this day.  

While Sinbad: Return of Legend has a different character and storyline, it's a direct (but unofficial) descendant of the PoP series. The storyline behind the game isn't all the developed, but suffice it to say that involves the famous sailor Sinbad exploring exotic locales, killing enemies, overcoming obstacles, and grabbing some treasure along the way. It appears that developer Mobirate focused more on copying the elements of the PoP game play than developing a backstory, and that's fine with me.  

Despite the lack of storyline development, the game has great atmosphere, and despite the lack of VGA support, does a great job of creating the sense of adventure and danger that 1980s video games, especially PoP, were known for. Some might complain about the lack of VGA support, but the levels and characters are rendered so well that after a while you don't really notice. The only thing really missing from the atmosphere is some mood-setting music, which would really help draw the player in. Better sound effects would be helpful as well: while they're adequate as is, they're not up to the standards of the rest of the game.

The trademark smoothness of the character animation is very well reproduced here, and if you played the original, you'll feel right at home the first time you try to take a running leap or pull yourself up over a ledge. The control scheme isn't ideal (it never is on a Pocket PC), but it's very functional. By default, PoP uses a combination of stylus and d-pad/button controls. The game uses virtual buttons in the top and bottom right corners via an overlay that appears only to confirm when you've tapped the screen.

This idea works far better than having on-screen "button" graphics that eat up precious amounts of screen space. Provided your machine has a workable directional pad, getting the hang of the controls (some degree of precision is essential in PoP) isn't as arduous as it is in other games.  If you dislike the default layout, you can reassign buttons.  

I haven't played any of the newer PoP games (only the original way back when), but S:RoL has several features that highlight PoP's reputation as a sort of thinking man's platform scroller. If your character jumps too great a distance, you'll lose health. Many of the jumps have to be executed carefully in order to be successful. As in the original, combat is handled sparingly, and a few well-placed blows are usually enough to fell your opponent. Combat isn't the main idea of the game, and most of the fun involves navigating the tricky jumps and platforms so you can make it to the next level.

Clones usually feel a little bit hollow, since some things are always lost in the copying. I don't know how Jordan Mechner feels about such a blatant and unauthorized copy being made of his game, but Sinbad: Return of Legend, in my opinion, does a very good job of tapping into the formula that made Prince of Persia the great game that is was and still is. It has some flaws, but the overall package is worth the fairly high admission price $19.99 if you enjoy playing the "official" franchise.

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Allen Gall's The Week in Games  Copyright © 2007 by Thaddeus Computing Inc.