"Amazing"

Braid is a game you should buy. This near-perfect game is one of the most original titles to hit the Marketplace in a long while, and should be experienced by anyone who enjoys this sort of game.

Graphics

At first, standard 2-d platforming graphics. When you start out, you may find the art style to be rather over simplified, but it grows on you throughout, especially the phenomenal backgrounds. Overall, the graphics are good enough to establish the gameplay, and that's really all that matters.

8/10

Audio

One of the most fantastic aspects of Braid is the music. Not only does the music fit the level design very well, it works well with the time manipulation aspect as well. Traveling forwards in time plays the music as usual, and traveling backwards plays the music backwards. Somehow, this effect manages to sound pretty decent, with the only real exception being chapter 4, as you will be doing a GREAT DEAL of choppy backwards\forwards changes.

10/10

Gameplay

Obviously the real catch to this game is the gameplay. Time can be manipulated in many fashions, from simple backwards travel to several more complicated concepts introduced later in the game. On top of this there are items that are not effected by the reverse of time, regular items that are, and another variety which leads to a alternate paths concept too complicated for me to care to describe.
All of this adds up to a very well established game: the levels are all very different, and you never have to do the same thing twice.

But most importantly: the puzzles. In the first 2 days of release this game has been often compared to another inventive puzzler recently released: Portal. However there is a fairly serious difference in difficulty. If you listen to the developers commentary on the game Portal, it is clear that the developers took great care in pacing, introducing concepts in a fashion so that the user was never stuck or confused. Braid is not user friendly. Repeat: BRAID IS NOT USER FRIENDLY.
This game is very very hard. I managed to accomplish about 95% of the game free of hints, and consider myself to be rather decent at this sort of game. If you are new to logic based puzzles, you will likely find this game far too difficult.

That said, I enjoyed the game, and only really felt it needed to be a bit more clear at certain points.

I would give this section a 10/10 if not for a few flaws:
- Where the rest of the game relies on puzzles that are difficult to figure out, easy to do, by the end it occasionally becomes very hard to do, leading to several trial and error jumping puzzles.
- The puzzles occasionally went a little far, and in my opinion, occasionally came pretty close to breaking the rules established by the game, leading to the occasional "cheap-shot" sort of puzzle.

9/10

Story

My favorite aspect of Braid is the story. It gradually unfolds, becoming deeper and deeper (for an XBLA game, anyway) until what I consider to be one of the most fantastic endings I have ever seen in gaming. You may disagree, or may even decide to skip the story altogether, but in my opinion, its definitely worth checking out.

Overall

If you think you are up to the challenge of this difficult game, it is worth checking out.
Few flaws aside, its one of the most original games on XBLA and should be experienced by anyone with the right taste.

Pros:
-Brilliant yet simple story
-Inventive gameplay
-Great music

Cons:
-May be too hard for some gamers
-Only takes maybe 5 hours to finish
-Speed run achievement is near impossible

In the end, if you are up to a difficult challenge and are tired of filling your hard drive with top-down shooter after top-down shooter, Braid is the game for you.

9/10

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/08/08

Game Release: Braid (US, 08/06/08)