Avoiding Wasted Time With Prince of Persia

Posted by Soulskill on Monday December 29, 2008 @07:32PM from the getting-to-the-good-stuff dept.

Zonk pointed out an interesting video presentation by Shamus Young on the importance of the new Prince of Persia, calling it the most innovative game of 2008. Young brings up the fact that many of today's games punish failure by wasting the player's time; being sent back to a check point, the beginning of a level, or sometimes even further. This cuts into the amount of time players have to enjoy the meat of the game — the current challenge they have to overcome. Unfortunately, as Young notes, modern controllers are designed for players who have been gaming since they were kids, and have evolved to be more complicated to operate than an automobile. The combination of these factors therefore limits or prevents the interest of new players; a problem Prince of Persia has addressed well through intuitive controls and the lack of punitive time sinks.

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Re:missing the point by Anonymous Coward · 2008-12-29 19:46 · Score: -1, Redundant

which in most cases doesnt save. e.g. GTA 4 - i lost the yellow ferrari with the scizzor doors after the bernie mission end. couldnt get it back even with save game since he calls you randomly after the last mission.
save games dont work and end up punishing the player needlessly.
pop is a far better system.