The difficulties of Prince of Persia

The new Prince of Persia game has attracted some comment about it's difficulty, or lack thereof. There have been articles concerning the fact that it's just so easy, and whether this is a problem. 

It's true to say that the feeling of beating part of a game that has had you stumped for days is one of the parts of gaming that makes it so fun. However, is there now space in this post-Wii, broad gaming market for more mature and complex games than the likes of Wii Sports that can be completed by almost anyone?

This harks back to the great argument in videogames of narrative versus interactivity. Because by making PoP as easy as it is, Ubisoft Montreal are implicitly weighing down on the side of narrative, because making it easy allows everyone to reach the conclusion of the story. Yet it does try to position itself in a specific area of gaming - the artgame. Your companion, Elika, and yourself form a relationship very reminiscent of Ico and the whole game itself is structured much like Team Ico's other masterpiece, Shadow of the Colossus. The watercolour graphics owe much to Okami and Braid. So the game wears it's "artgame" influences on it's sleeve, yet it can never help feeling like a Hollywood remake of an independent film. The cheesy voice acting, the exciting chase intro and the tutorial all make it feel like a big game with a big budget, trying to do things things those smaller, beautiful games do so well.

But none of those games were particularly easy. I certainly took a week or so to finish off the final Colossus, and got pretty frustrated with Yorda in Ico, so why make PoP so easy? Perhaps the decision was made for corporate reasons - to broaden the appeal, maybe for artistic reasons - so people see it to the end. Whatever the reason, I think there is certainly a place in the market for easier, yet satisfying games such as this. It's something we will definitely see more of - the casual mode in Gears of War 2 for instance. Whether it will have an effect on the overall difficulty of games however, remains to be seen.