Prince of Persia QuickDox   by The Alternative

Prince of Persia QuickDox From The Alternative Game Published by: Br0derbund Cracked by : The Humble Guys Also by: International Network of Crackers Prince of Persia is a quite nice action/adventure game which first appeared on the Apple II some months ago, and got rave reveiws from everyone who saw it. It's got incredibly lifelike animation, and the IBM version also supports 256-color MCGA graphics, which look stunning. The music isn't half bad either, and it supports a number of sound cards as well. To top it off, it has an INSTALL program which actually looks half-decent, quite a contrast to the crap that most programs come with. To get it running on a hard drive, you just need to unzip both files into one directory, that'll work fine. None of this install from floppy crap. Anyway, your object in Prince of Persia is to rescue the princess who is being held by your enemy, Jaffar. To do this, all you've got to do is get out of the dungeons in which you are being held. The dungeons have a number of traps, and a few Persians (ie: Jaffar's guards) to prevent your escape, and you will fall prey to many of them. In Prince of Persia, you do have hit points, and can die. You are always resurrected, however, at the beginning of the level you died on, and you have unlimited lives. It can be frustrating when you get pretty far and manage to kill yourself by running off a ledge or something. The only thing you CAN run out of is time - you've got only one hour to escape from the dungeon and rescue Ms. Princess. Every so often a message will appear saying how much time you've got left, and the space bar will also tell you. Movement ~~~~~~~~ Although you can play with a joystick, I find that keyboard control is a bit more responsive. It may just be my joystick, however. Play with it and decide which you prefer. Control-K switches to keyboard control. I think Control-J will switch to your joystick and calibrate it. Movement in the game is simple. With a joystick, you just push in whichever direction you wish to move. With the keyboard, you use the numeric keypad for movement. The key layout is as follows: 7 8 9 4 5 6 SHIFT 2 Both the 5 and 2 keys will move down. 4 and 6 are left/right, 8 is up. 7 and 9 are diagonal jumping keys, and the SHIFT key is your "action" button. Here are some of the moves you can do in Prince of Persia: Run Push the stick/key left or right and hold it down. Release the stick/key to skid to a halt. Walk Slowly Hold the button and press left/right to move slowly in either direction. Do this to move up on a ledge cautiosly to jump or drop down, or to make a leap over a chasm. Also useful when treading on spikes. Climb Up Pushing straight up will cause your character to jump up. If there is an overhanging ledge, he will catch on and pull himself up if you continue to push up. Break Ceiling If you jump and the ceiling moves, that indicates a loose stone. Position your character underneath the loose stone and jump up to try to dislodge it. If you do, be sure to get out of the way to avoid getting conked on the head and loosing a hit point. Once you have dislodged a stone, you can pull yourself up to another section. Jump Sideways Pushing the stick/keypad in an upward diagonal direction will cause you to attempt a jump to the side. This is essential in jumping over small chasms and holes in the floor, and jumping over floor traps. Running Jump If you are running and move to a diagonal position, your character will do a running jump, which can cover more area. A running jump will take longer to stop, however, but it is neccessary often. Crouch Pushing down moves into a crouch position if you are not near any ledges. Crouching also moves you forward slightly. Climb Down To climb down to a lower section, or to drop down, simply position yourself at the edge of the opening, turn around (so your back is to the hole), and push down. If there is not a floor below you, you will hang for a moment and drop. Grab Ledge If you fall, and in this game you certainly will - and often, you can attempt to grab onto a passing ledge as you fall by. To do this, simply hold down the button as you fall past, and you'll try to grab on. You can either hold the button for a moment and drop, thus breaking your fall (and limiting damage), or you can push up and attempt to climb out. Get Item When you are near an item, such as a potion or sword, push the button to pick it up. Suicide Sometimes you'll manage to get yourself into a position where you can't escape. Control-A will put you out of your misery. Combat ~~~~~~ To win the game, you will need to fight. Once you get a sword, you can start killing some Persian guards. As a fencer, I am dissappointed in the swordplay's lack of realism, but it DOES beat what most games do. I have not found a game yet which meets true swordplay in any satisfactory manner. Anyway, enough of my diatribe. Return the joystick to the center, or press the shift key on the keyboard (while not moving) to draw your sword... Advance Use the direction keys to advance slowly towards your opponent. Retreat Use the direction keys to move away from the guard. Lunge To make a lunge (ie: attack), don't push any direction keys, and hit the shift key/space bar. Parry To parry a blow, hit the up direction key or push your joystick up. It's a good strategy to wait for him to attack, parry the blow, and hit him with a riposte. Run Away Push down, and you'll sheathe your blade. You automatically put it away after killing someone, so be careful not to do this in battle unless you want to run for it. Notes ~~~~~ A few things which you may find which afford further discussion include the following: Potions Potions come in two flavors, red and blue. A red potion will heal one hit point, and a blue one will hurt you. Swords When you find the sword, grab it. You'll need it to fight. Floor Switch A raised floor stone is a switch which is activated when you step on it. These usually raise a portcullis or reset a trap. Floor Switch A floor stone which is level with the other stones, but has a dark depression beneath it is another kind of switch. These usually lower a portcullis or spring a trap. Often these should be jumped over. Loose Stones When you jump, you may see some of the stones on the ceiling or floor rattle a little. These are loose, and can be broken to open new areas, or trap you. Jumping up underneath loose stones will cause them to crumble (avoid being beneath them when they do) and running over loose stones will cause them to collapse (don't stand on them as they crumble - they don't make good elevators). Sometimes you may need to return over areas that have loose floor stones, so use your judgement before collapsing them. Portcullis A portcullis simply keeps you from passing through a doorway. Hit a floor switch to raise one of these. They are often on a timer, and you will need to hit another floor switch to return through them. The switches can be up to a few rooms away. There are also sometimes other floor switches which will slam them shut. Drill Some type of drill or spear or something which falls from the ceiling, like a portcullis. They, too, are operated by floor switches. Spikes There are often nice beds of spikes for you to fall on. Don't run over these or fall on them, as they'll kill you. There are also other traps and the like to find and kill. Be wary, and remember that time is counting down. To jump across wide chasms, try to make a running jump, and keep your hand near the action button to try to catch a ledge if you miss. A couple other miscellaneous commands include: Escape Pause the game. Hit another key to resume. Space Display your time left. Control G Saves the game, if you're on the third level or above. Control L Load a saved game from disk. Control A Suicide. Kill yourself. Control S Toggle sound on/off. Control R Restart the game. Control J/K Toggle Keyboard/Joystick. Control Q Quit to DOS. Acknowledgements ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is a really cool game. I'd recommend BUYING it to support the industry of good software if you like it as much as I do.. there's nothing dishonorable to a pirate in supporting quality software from time to time. Of course, thanks to The Humble Guys, who's version I got first and seems to be completely cracked. Also thanks to INC - who appears to have gotten it out first by about 4-8 hours (depending on time zone differences). Although I haven't tried the INC crack, I've been told it's got a trainer built-in, for those of you who can't handle playing it the right way. And lastly, personal greetings to R. Bubba Magillicutty, The Slavelord, Lord Icon, Malignant Growth, Invisible Stalker, and The Phantom. --The Byter Give these Celerity boards a ring: The Lexicon................Home of Celerity and The Alternative....714-627-0601 The Unknown Division.......Part of Binary Systems/TSAN.............805-492-7174 Computer Is Your Friend!...The Humble Guys.........................415-234-4588 The Genisis Division.......Part of Binary Systems/TSAN.............818-706-9839 Instant Replay.....................................................714-544-7571 The Citadel........................................................213-271-4232 Infinate Intoxication......I.N.C. Distribution Site................508-750-8035 Absolute Monarchy!.........I.N.C. Courier System...................214-343-0600 The Lost Caverns...................................................404-451-0521 The Proving Grounds........TRIAD-90/TSAN...........................913-842-9828 Celerity - BBS of the High Speed Elite