By: Pilgrim
Platform: Xbox Live Arcade
Genre: Puzzle.
OMG a 1200 Point XBLA game!!!! The Humanity!!!!
Braid is a Side Scrolling Puzzle game. If you want to categorize it think of it as Prince of Persia meets Mario meets Portal. There’s a story, told through Text Between worlds. The basic mechanics are pretty predictable. But there is no failing… If you fail you can always rewind. Each world uses it’s own rules, and once you understand the rules of the world you are in then you can begin to quest for all the puzzle pieces. In order to Understand why Braid is so awesome… I had to challenge myself to get all the pieces… every single one. As usual being lazy after dinking with it a few minutes i went to my trusty friend the internet and looked for a Cheat guide to tell me how to do it… None existed. Making frowny faces I turn off the console and go about my day. Then a few hours later I go back… and decide to figure this crap out! It pissed me off that I couldn’t get the last 2 pieces. And then I figured it out. The puzzle clicked, and the last 2 pieces were mine… it was insane. I haven’t felt that much triumph in a game sense Portal.
I turned around and immediately bought it. Worth every penny.
The good:
It’s brilliant, clever puzzles, with solutions that when you find them, it doesn’t feel cheap… it just works. Brilliant Backgrounds and soothing music (Playing Braid to Death Metal would be interesting) Graphically it’s astounding, but nothing you’re gonna write to momma about. It’s like being in a painting… It’s just a well thought out, well designed and well executed game.
The Bad:
It’s $15 and about 6-8 hours long. But here’s the long and the short of that… If I told you that Portal was $15 and only 4-6 hours, would you buy it? While it’s not fully analogous, the intelligence behind each of these titles is very similar. I think missing Braid would be missing one of the best games that will probably come out this year. It’s another one of “Those” moments like with Portal. You don’t see it coming, but man when you get there it’s awesome.
Tags: braid, live arcade, puzzle, review, xbox