"Braid is one of the best XBLA games of 2008"

Braid is a unique gaming experience. The gameplay is mostly top notch, the story offers a lot for people to think about and discuss, and the presentation is unlike anything else. That said, the game is really short and offers almost nothing in the way of immediate replay value. Luckily, because of the advent of XBLA, the game is only $15 for a few hours of enjoyment.

Tim is the main character in Braid, and he's just a guy in a suit. The level hub is simply a house, and outside it looks like there's either a brilliant sunset or the city is in flames. There are doors in the house which lead Tim to a secondary hub for each world and set of sub-levels. This secondary hub is a cloudy world with books that relay some bit of story. This cloudy area features doors which lead to different levels, unlocked as Tim enters them by clearing a world.

The graphics are a bit quirky, with roaming heads as the typical enemies, as well as ravenous bunnies and Mario Bros. inspired piranha plants. (The Mario influence certainly doesn't end there). The backgrounds are essentially painted backgrounds, and combined with the gorgeous music Braid really has a substantial atmosphere for such a quirky little puzzle-platformer.

The major gameplay mechanic is Tim's ability to reverse time. Each world tries to build on this adding new wrinkles, such as time immune items, and while the main action is done by typical platforming actions, it's more of a puzzle game. Each world has a jigsaw puzzle, and each level tends to have certain puzzle pieces. Each puzzle piece must be obtained, typically by using platforms, enemies, keys and time distortion. Most puzzle are clever, some will fit your intuition right off the bat, others might be frustrating, but the game leaves little doubt that plenty of thought and creativity went into it. There are also a couple of boss characters which don't provide much actual challenge, but are fun nevertheless. The end level of the game is quite a trip, one of the bigger "whoa" moments in gaming if you can avoid having it spoiled for you.

Completing the jigsaw puzzles reveals scenes, and much like the books in the cloud areas, there isn't really an explicit path from one to the other. What does each puzzle mean? What do the story chunks mean? The game is fun enough that the puzzle solving and presentation are rewarding and you won't really feel a need to figure out what the heck any of the story means, but there are plenty of theories floating around and I don't think any of them have been confirmed as truth. So, the game helps to support a communal effort to discuss and figure things out, which can lead to hours of interacting with the fans of the game.

It also leads to people finding out about stars, which are hidden in the game and people can find them all and will change the end of the game. The only other stuff you can do after beating the game really is the time attack mode, which is simply executing the puzzles quickly in order to get an achievement. The stars might be more worthwhile but unless you poke around on forums/gaming sites, you might never figure out they even exist. The time attack mode really doesn't offer much except for a reason to mow through the levels a second time for gamer points. Not exactly a major addition to the game and I imagine the typical player gets through the final level, enjoys the gameplay, doesn't understand the ending and moves on.

The game is pretty short, taking only a few hours at most. It's well worth it at $15 because it's such a unique and memorable gaming experience. I will say that if you're on a tight budget, you'll probably get better value for your $15 from other XBLA games that focus on replay/multiplayer, but if you're looking for the best 2-3 hours of gaming, Braid is probably it.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 10/09/08

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