There's been no shortage of bitching about how easy this game is, but it seems to be centered almost exclusively around the fact that you cannot die.  To me, that's only a minor problem.

The fact that you can't die is fine with me.  It makes sense to respawn at a checkpoint without much delay.  However, having this mechanic could have allowed the developers to make the actual gameplay deeper, more complex, and more difficult.  I think that the biggest problem is just that the core gameplay is piss-easy. 

This game is forgiving and takes no skill.  It could have been far better if it were a game that was formidable but forgiving.  Just put one checkpoint at the beginning of each platforming sequence (instead of having one every few seconds) and create sequences that take even a modicum of thinking to get past.  The instant-save system they have provided the potential for challenge without frustration or heavy repetition, and Ubisoft just shat all over it.

Along with Assassin's Creed, this game suffers from the developers having a poor execution on a good idea.  They want the movement to be fluid and look cool.  However, they want to force that at all times and rob the player of control to do it.  The fluidity should be a reward for playing well.  Seeing the Prince or Altair doing cool acrobatics does nothing for me because it's essentially like watching a movie.  I just don't feel that I'm the one responsible for it. 

I think too many people are taken in by the production value and a predetermined want to like the game.   Certainly not everyone who likes the game is in this category, but many are.

I kinda disagree.  To me, they made this game under the following guideline:

IMO the "Reward the Frustration"-thing was at least partially implemented with the trophies/achievements were you get some for speed-runs and such. But I absolutely have to agree with you: The constant guidance gets highly annoying after the first hour.

If you think about this game as about 40% platformer, 60% rhythm action game, it all begins to make sense and you can have more fun :)

I wasn't bothered about not dying in platforming it was the combat, and the lack of it, I loved the prince of persia series because of the combat, and in two thrones they had a decent enough stealth system, but one bad guy at a time doesn't really work for prince of Persia in my opinion.

Interesting topic. I agree with most of what you guys say, the "reward the frustration" part comes in with achievements. I dont mind not being able to die, but the core gameplay was just to slow in Prince of Persia. And there were segments that I actually got annoyed over when dying over anyway. Im talking about like when you are in a long "power plate" segment, and I get a bit tired and loose focus when it goes on for so long. When I forget to press a button, and the whole gameplay resolves around pressing either b or y at the right time, I annoyed when I die because it takes time doing the same thing over again.

Simply put, the problem with prince of persia is that the game takes too much of the control from you and is slower in general. When you jump on a wall, there will be a delay when you hit it, and you will run at a fixed line. You will also run slower than in the older PoP games. The DLC they came out with improved much on what people had been complaining about, but the core gameplay was the same. I still enjoyed it more though, as it was a bit more challenging, had fewer long- and boring segments, and had some good puzzles. The combat was also a little too dumb and clunky (though pretty). The challenge when fighting the later bosses was enduaring the endles button tapping you had to do.

To be honest, I was just as annoyed by mirrors edge on the first playthrough as I was of Prince of persia. I wasnt that annoyed by either, but Im just saying.

So I agree with the threadstarter.. I think...