Individual Entry

 
The substance of style

Earlier this month, I posted about the 2008 edition of Prince of Persia, praising its audio-visual quality but criticising it for not offering enough of a challenge. This evening, I came across a very interesting article about the game over at Gamasutra, where writer Tom Cross eloquently offers a differing point of view, praising the game for its characters and story, and offering up the game’s style as its substance:

This Prince of Persia is many things good and bad, but for me, it has been one of the more enthralling experiences provided by a video game. It eschews frustrating, punishing gameplay tropes, and instead follows a hugely unpopular and successful (at its aim) path: it aims to create a continuous, enjoyable, flowing experience, one unhindered by the mechanical, artificial traditions of “achievement” and “fun” that so many games cling to.

Here is a game that asks you to enjoy yourself, and its fiction, and attempts to make these goals as attainable as possible. I can’t think of a more welcome trend to introduce to the industry, and I wish Ubisoft well, especially if they continue to produce products of such impressive quality and passion.

I can’t say I share Tom’s opinions on the game as a whole (and I’m afraid I’m one of those people who clashed with its sense of humour), but his argument is well-argued and serves as a solid “devil’s advocate” to my own views.