Unwelcome Flavour

I do like difficult games. I even try to love them.

Megaman 9 was a brutally difficult game. I haven't yet completed it and so far have only managed to complete one level (take that Plug Man!). As with all Megaman games that attended the old-school: enemies attack in patterns and deliver sizeable amounts of damage; there are pitfalls aplenty with jump distances that just (just) shyed away from being unfair; boss battles also follow predictable patterns but victory is never a sure thing. Imagine my delight when Capcom announced that Megaman 10 would have an Easy mode. This happiness was temporary however, as I learned that Capcom does not know the difference between a helping hand and flat-out giving you the prize.

Easy Mode in Megaman 10 is like having a red carpet rolled out all the way to each level's boss battle. Floating platforms cover nearly all of the difficult jumps, enemies deliver miniscule amounts of damage and boss characters readily await you to shower them with lasers. The amount of challenge it offers you is nothing short of an insult. Probably the worst thing about this mode is that it makes the level of challenge presented in the Normal mode appear almost insurmountable.



Games like Bayonetta have shown that an Easy setting need not necessarily mean a pushover, rather an ordinate decline in difficulty. I didn't die often, however I always felt as though I was being challenged. Further to that I felt the desire to try my luck on the higher settings after building up the strength and arsenal of my Umbran heroine. I didn't go on to finish the game in Normal difficulty but I do believe that I would be capable of doing so.

What games have you played that were either too easy or almost unfairly difficult? One of the hardest games for my money is Mortal Kombat 3. When I played it, I almost felt as though the AI opponents were cheating.