It is a bit harder in some ways, but it is also easier because it works a lot more like regular programing languages.
Like, for assignments, instead of doing 5->A, you would do A=5

The worst think in BBC Basic is the horrible User Interface IMHO.  It makes it very difficult to visualize and edit code, and is very confusing for beginners.  You have to have a good idea of what your entire game is going to look like code-wise before you're going to code it (this does not apply if your using the on computer file editor, which runs like a normal program text editor).

It does have some very usefull graphics features though, like rectangle draw, fill, and different 'colors' (gradient levels).  Also it has line drawing, pixelTest, and floodfill.  You can also redefine character images to get an easy way to do sprites.  Supports AND/OR/XOR logic for all draw features as well.