BITMAPS 56: Why Prince of Persia Reviews Are Wrong

Reviewers proclaim that this is essentially a masked QTE, with each action in the segment only having a binary pass/fail outcome.

Well, no duh.

[ablecain]

I enjoy the threat of failure in a game, as it makes success that much more rewarding... It isn't that complex of a concept and certainly doesn't warrant an entire article.

I simply can't enjoy games that offer no challenge, especially when I'm paying $60 each for them.

[cain141]

I'm still interested in playing this game at some point. Even if it is "easy".

[ihaten4glol]

I enjoy the occasional game that isn't grit-your-teeth hard. I'd still purchase PoP.

[Viewtiful]

There's a lot more to this article than "it's easy." There's a lot of other concepts brought up.

Personally though, I disagree with every single word of it. I don't think PoP offered no challenge, but if a game is too easy it definitely takes away from the enjoyment of it.

[cain141]

I'd say most extremes take away from games. If it's too hard it just pisses you off. Specificly if you don't have much time to play.

[predator]

I didnt think it was getting bad reviews

[italianbreadman]

Only a few, but the general response is favorable

[Gambit07]

He lost me at Assassins Creed is an amazing game.

[gidzilla]

Very interesting article.
I would argue that there is a huge gap in how is feels to play Modern platformers and early Super Mario games. The Mario series absolutley mastered the responsive controls for the onscreen character. POP didn't, but does look really cool..

And I would normally say of course games need to be challenging! But Mirror's Edge was a breeze but I really enjoyed it. I think the truth is Games and Gamers are diversifying

[Viewtiful]

A fine comment, and a fine observation sir. Bubbles for you!

[SlamVanderhuge]

I prefer to have challenge in my games, if done correctly. (Endlessly filing bad guys into a room and arming enemies with instant-kill attacks is NOT 'done correctly')

Despite this, I don't see the need for every game to have said challenge. Every player is different. What i find tough, others don't. I don't think fear of death needs to be a primary factor in a game for this reason, especially a game that aims to be a beautiful, thrilling experience like PoP. Games should be judged on their own merit...if a game works best without fear of death, go for it.

[cain141]

I agree, nice comment!

[italianbreadman]

This game feels like a new gamer's introduction to the genre. Most of us are very seasoned gamers, and while we may expect games to operate in certain ways, it IS possible that the complexity we seek may be more than a less experienced gamer can handle.

As a videogame critic, I try to keep myself from falling into the mindset that everyone is just like me, the veteran gamer, and that other perspectives should be considered.

For example, I didn't even realize that some gamers thought Mirror's Edge was too difficult and frustrating until well after I wrote up my assessment.

Some games cater better to particular skill levels, and PoP welcomes newcomers.

[monkfish]

ive been a gamer since spectrum 48k days and i think what made old game seem so difficult was there unresponsive controls.....in most old games the principle ideas of certain tasks were simple such as run jump run double jump.....but the poor controls would turn this into run run jump jump jump a etc.....just drag out any old platformer and see what i mean....

ive just completed dead space and that was an amazing game but i had to use the extra stasis cheat so i never run out of the ability to slow down enemies as i was on medium difficulty.....this was a challenging game more so becauuse there were bits were i was scared sh1tless at night with my rather decent surround setup relaying every freaky noise all around me lol. but this was more difficult for this reason than actually really difficult to play through if you get my meaning. you really need a good surround system to fully appreciate the detail of sound in dead space otherwise your really missing out....i relly beleive it is a must for this game.