Week two of Microsoft's "Summer of Arcade" promotion saw the release of the highly anticipated platformer/puzzle hybrid, Braid. As I returned from my vacation, I hopped on my XBox and forked over the 1200 points. Yes, I've seen the outcry over the "high" price, but in my opinion it is very well worth it. Over the past few days I have played through Braid about 3 times, my final time making sure to get all the collectibles.
Braid puts you in control of the main character, Tim, and also the flow of time. You can move forwards and backwards at different speeds, much like your DVD player. Each of the 6 (+) worlds also introduces a new time based theme that you can exploit to solve the puzzles. For example, the 2nd world introduces items and platforms that are not affected by your time manipulation skills, and instead behave as if time was still moving regularly during these sequences.
The gameplay is Braid's strongest point. The puzzles may stump you, sometimes for an hour or more, but it never ceases to be entertaining. You can always move on and come back later, which is another interesting point; most of the puzzles in braid are completely optional, and at points you can run straight through a level in under 10 seconds. You won't receive any of the story this way, and it is definitely not the intended way of playing, but it certainly gives you freedom to continue if you do get stuck on a puzzle.
Figuring out some of the tougher puzzles can be very rewarding as well. It feels like a huge accomplishment when you finally solve it. I really encourage you to solve the puzzles for yourself, the game is fairly short and once you solve a puzzle once it will be a whole lot easier the next time around. Even the official walkthrough pushes you to work through them by yourself. Spoiling a puzzle can really take the fun, and the point, out of this game.
The audio and visual are also exceptional. You feel like you are walking through a living painting. The colors are vibrant and the world animates beautifully, creating an intense dream-like feeling. The soundtrack mixes well with the visuals, and while short it never seems repetitive. There is more info on it here.
Finally we come to the story. The story is a major player in Braid, and after beating it 3 times I'm probably still missing things. To sum it up and trying not to spoil anything: Tim is in search of a princess, and there is a lot of Mario homages and strangeness to follow. At first I was a little put off, probably because I was incredibly confused. However, after the next couple of playthroughs I got a better understanding of it and came to appreciate it much more. It's a little overwhelming at first, but give it a chance and it will start to come together.
Overall I was very pleased with Braid, and had a lot of fun working through the puzzles. I got around 10+ hours of play out of it, and for $15, that is more then reasonable. I will probably return to it in the future too, it seems like a game that is fun to pick up every now and then... very reminiscent of Portal.
Braid puts you in control of the main character, Tim, and also the flow of time. You can move forwards and backwards at different speeds, much like your DVD player. Each of the 6 (+) worlds also introduces a new time based theme that you can exploit to solve the puzzles. For example, the 2nd world introduces items and platforms that are not affected by your time manipulation skills, and instead behave as if time was still moving regularly during these sequences.
The gameplay is Braid's strongest point. The puzzles may stump you, sometimes for an hour or more, but it never ceases to be entertaining. You can always move on and come back later, which is another interesting point; most of the puzzles in braid are completely optional, and at points you can run straight through a level in under 10 seconds. You won't receive any of the story this way, and it is definitely not the intended way of playing, but it certainly gives you freedom to continue if you do get stuck on a puzzle.
Is that Donkey Kong? Goombas?!
The audio and visual are also exceptional. You feel like you are walking through a living painting. The colors are vibrant and the world animates beautifully, creating an intense dream-like feeling. The soundtrack mixes well with the visuals, and while short it never seems repetitive. There is more info on it here.
Where have I heard this before?
Overall I was very pleased with Braid, and had a lot of fun working through the puzzles. I got around 10+ hours of play out of it, and for $15, that is more then reasonable. I will probably return to it in the future too, it seems like a game that is fun to pick up every now and then... very reminiscent of Portal.
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