• Completed
& Reviewed by Neil Collins
The Prince by Firebird is a strange action / RPG
game that I owned as a kid. I remember being very
unhappy with it as it looked to have great potential,
but was too difficult.
The
object of the game is to build something to rescue the
princess, but also prove your bravery and acquire enough
wealth to convince her into escaping with you. This
means collecting all of the parts of the craft that are
scattered through the land, scoring enough points to
prove your bravery and collecting enough gold and jewels
to build up your wealth. She doesn't want much does she!
Failure to complete all these tasks will result in the
princess refusing to escape with you. The problem with
all of this is that the items you need are hidden within
very difficult sub-games, which are quite strange and
very confusing. You will need to explore most of the
game map to find these sub-games, but also avoid or
fight the numerous hordes that attack you on your
travels.
The
graphics aren't too bad, but the game plays quite slowly
and control is sluggish. There's plenty to do in this
game but most will give up after a short time of playing
as the game is way too difficult to enjoy. I tried to
beat this game many times and now, finally, over twenty
years later, we have the ending a lot of us thought we
would never see...
There's 'yer man'
with his purple balloon.
"Up, up and
awaaaaaaaay"
You can JUST see the
balloon in the bottom left of the screen.
...and now it's on
the right side.
Our hero finally
saves his 'beloved'.
The End.
HOW WAS IT COMPLETED?:
I played it and saved my progress. I gained a few parts
of the craft, but couldn't get any further. I started
poking about to change the craft piece that I held. I
worked out the codes for each piece, poked them in and
built the escape craft. I acquired enough score to prove
my bravery, and collected a lot of gold and jewels to
achieve the required wealth.
SO WHAT HAPPENS?:
When all the pieces are collected and assembled they
form a balloon with a firebird logo on it. The prince
then leaps in and takes off up the screen. You then see
him fly across the map and head for the black castle
that holds the princess. The next scene shows the
princess run to the prince who has landed the balloon on
the roof of the castle. They join hands and jump up and
down in happiness. A final screen shows your score,
details of the other items you collected and a
percentage of the map you explored. A message at the
bottom of the screen reads 'AND THEN THEY LIVED
HAPPILY TOGETHER FOR 24 YEARS'.
The Prince
