The Sleeping Prince Review

Prince Perilous has had a spell cast upon him to make him stay asleep no matter what. Fortunately that’s not stopping him from attempting to save the Princess and the Kingdom, because he can still leap around while unconscious. That’s the premise behind The Sleeping Prince, a charming if overly easy platforming game.

It’s a little weird at first as it’s admittedly a bit like flinging a dead body around. With some clever rag doll physics, you use a finger to flick the Prince around each stage. There are platforms to leap (or fall) on to, hooks to snag, and trampolines to be propelled by. It’s all pretty simply done, although sometimes getting the shot right can be tricky.

There’s a big catch, though - the use of magic. Magic is used to move the Prince around and, in the free version of the game, you only have so much magic to do so until you have to wait for the meter to recharge. This can be frustrating when halfway through a level, and while you can buy limited boosts for a relatively low price, it’s an eye-watering $14.99 to have infinite magic.

This just isn’t worth that price. It offers 40 levels but rarely does it ever feel very challenging. There’s simply no peril to messing up other than taking a bit longer or using up some magic power. Medals are acquired for completing a level particularly well, thereby unlocking future stages, but it’s not hard to do so.

The Sleeping Prince offers some nice extra touches such as power-ups that can be bought with gems acquired along the way, which allow you to discover hidden areas, but it all feels pretty gentle.

Charming it might be, but with such an infuriating energy system no one could blame you for playing for so long then forgetting about it while waiting for the energy meter to recharge. Thanks to the well-made physics engine, you’ll be tempted to plump up for $0.99 once or twice for an energy recharge, but The Sleeping Prince lacks the extended wow factor that it really needs.