Developer: Number None
Publisher: Number None
Rrp: £6.99
Released: 10th April 2009
Available on Steam and their own website
Played Using: An Xbox 360 Controller
Braid is a 2D side-scrolling puzzle platformer with a twist. The twist being that you can reverse time, yeah I know its been done before BUT there is a twist to this twists twist. Some things aren’t effected by your time manipulations.
There is a lot of lateral thinking needed to solve the puzzles and if you aren’t good at that then you’re likely going to struggle. Your characters skills don’t improve over time or have new ones revealed to them, its just you and the ability to reverse time, everything after that is timing and planning. That being said though the characters skills don’t change the various worlds and the rules that govern them do. In one world time will only move when you do, in another a shadow version of yourself will do whatever you did last, even if you rewound time.
As you play through each world you’ll find jigsaw pieces around the levels, collecting all of these and completing their corresponding picture is absolutely necessary for you to reach the final world.
If you’ve played any of the classic (or retro styled) Mario games then I imagine that you will easily spot places where this game takes its influence. Everything from jumping the heads of your enemies to kill them to your princess forever being in another castle. But it runs a little deeper than that and if you know a little of your Mario history you’ll likely spot a goodly number of references beyond those two.
To quote the developers own website (and the Steam store page), “Braid is a platform game in the painterly style…” meaning that everything was designed with the intention to look like it was created with oil paints and leaving visible brush marks. Ordinarily I would have just considered this a unique style choice but having completed the game to its fullest (storyline wise anyway) I can see that this style was chosen for more than its aesthetic value. Sadly as I don’t want to give away anything I can’t really tell you why its important.
This game is rather short, for the asking price and to be honest I don’t quite see why it seems to be such a industry darling. Its not a bad game but its not really ground breaking either. That’s not to say that I haven’t enjoyed it or struggled with some of the puzzles. It just doesn’t resonate with me and I’m not sure why it got such critical acclaim (beyond the ending scene). Do I recommend it though? Well, yes I do, but I would urge you try and get it for a lower price than £6.99.
If this appeals to you perhaps try;
Fez
Thomas was Alone
Limbo
