Nevermind DRM, launch day DLC, online passes, hacking, potty-mouthed brats on Xbox LIVE, the secondhand market, Zynga, and Mass Effect 3’s ending – the thing that’s really destroying games today is… easy modes. That’s according to Assassin’s Creed III lead designer Alex Hutchinson, who reckons they’re a very, very bad, bad thing.
“A lot of games have been ruined by easy modes. If you have a cover shooter and you switch it to easy and you don’t have to use cover, you kind of broke your game. You made a game that is essentially the worst possible version of your game,” he told Edge Online.
“It’s like if I picked up a book and it said ‘Do you want the easy version or the complicated version?’ [Game designers] can simplify the language, you know; we can make it two syllables.”
HOW DARE PEOPLE WANT TO PLAY FOR FUN AND SKIP THE HARD STUFF!? Obviously, it’s much better to attempt a really difficult game mode and give up after ten minutes and never finish it because at least you tried.
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Not sure I agree with Hutchinson. A well designed game will offer players of all skills the opportunity to enjoy it. If your game breaks when on “easy mode” it’s not the fault of the player – try designing the game better.
I do agree that an easy mode shouldn’t be shoe-horned in unless it can be done properly.