Prince of Persia 3D is a 1999 action-adventure game developed by Mindscape and published by Red Orb Entertainment for Microsoft Windows. A port for the Dreamcast was developed by Avalanche Software and published by Mattel Interactive in North America the following year under the title Prince of Persia: Arabian Nights. It is the first 3D installment in the Prince of Persia series, and the final game in the trilogy that started with the original 1989 game. Taking the role of the titular unnamed character rescuing his bride from a monstrous suitor's schemes, the gameplay follows the Prince as he explores environments, platforming and solving puzzles while engaging in combat scenarios.
Production began in 1997 and lasted over two years. While series creator Jordan Mechner acted as a creative consultant and contributed to the narrative, he 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. Reception of the title was mixed, with most of the criticism focusing on its gameplay and several bugs. Following its sale to Ubisoft, the series was rebooted under Mechner's guidance with 2003's Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.
Gameplay
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.
During the design phase, the team put a lot of effort into creating the narrative and the environmental design. Multiple patches were released for the game over the following weeks, focusing on fixing reported bugs.
|Edge_PC = 5/10
|rev2 = Official Dreamcast Magazine (US)
|rev2_SDC = 3/10
The Dreamcast version received "mixed" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.