A month ago, everyone was comparing Mirror's Edge to Prince of Persia. The two have a great deal in common -- they're both about running, jumping, climbing and just generally doing gloriously stupid things to vault past obstacles and over bottomless pits. But the two feel entirely different. Mirror's Edge was considered a massively frustrating game because it delighted in killing the player whenever he did the slightest thing wrong. Prince of Persia doesn't let you do anything wrong.
Yes, it's true that at no time while playing Prince of Persia did I feel any of the frustration that I felt on a regular basis in Mirror's Edge. But neither did I ever feel the joy of doing something right, of stringing together a perfect series of vaults and wall-runs and feeling like it was based on my own skill.
Can one exist without the other? Is it impossible to create joy without difficulty? I don't know. But Prince of Persia lost something significant.
WIRED Gorgeous graphics, great big seamless world, pretty music, entertaining characters.
TIRED Nearly challenge-free, disjointed controls, repetitive levels.
