Braid tells the tale of Tim, in a moving story of loss and redemption, becoming complacent in our day to day "ordinary" lives, and wanting to do and be something more. This beautiful story is told in a classic storybook fairytale fashion, which fits nicely with the rest of the game, especially the artistic graphics and beautiful musical score.
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| Classic. |
Braid's graphics are some of the most beautiful 2-D visuals I've ever seen in a game before, the art direction is extraordinary, never has a game made you feel like you were playing an interactive painting before more than Braid other than perhaps Okami. I could go on and on about how pretty Braid's visuals are, it's easily one of the best looking XBLA games available, and one of the most artistic looking in years.
The music in Braid is equally beautiful, with lovely violins and moody cellos, Braid's musical score will constantly delight your ears. It also changes depending on what Tim does in the environment, increasing in intensity or creating a feeling of desperation, and when need be, a soft relaxing melody almost like a complement of a job well done.
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| "GET OVER HERE!" |
The thing that makes Braid most unique however is it's gameplay, granted you can run across the various levels stomping the enemies and bosses in your path in minutes, but the real meat of Braid's gameplay comes from using the time manipulation mechanic to solve various puzzles in order to collect puzzle pieces. Each time you complete a certain world's puzzle, a multicolored ladder will grow a little bit more leading the way to the top floor, which is where the final level of Braid lies, and it's nothing short of epic. Using time manipulation to solve puzzles is simple at first, but later on you will encounter objects not affected by time, another level has Time controlling a shadow version of himself, and it only gets more complicated and stranger after that. No doubt, Braid's puzzles will make your head hurt, in fact, I haven't played a game with puzzles this tough since The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.
Braid is probably best described as the Super Mario Bros. of the 21st century, although the difficulty comes from the puzzles, there is no punishment for death, simply rewind time to before you died and your back running again. Arguably the best, not only Xbox Live Arcade title available, but the best downloadable game available period, Braid is a game that every gamer should give a try, especially if you enjoy 2-D puzzle-platformers.
9.25/10
*Originally written April 18, 2009*
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