BRAID - Xbox 360 (Arcade) Review
by Andrew Sadowski at Aug 20, 2008 5:55am
Game: Braid
System: Xbox 360 (Arcade)
Publisher: Microsoft
Developer: Jonathan Blow
Players: 1
HDTV: 720p/1080i/1080p
Braid is an innovative title from indie developer Jonathan Blow. Braid is a puzzle platformer that simply captures your mind as you jump and move through out each level.
This multi-genre hybrid for Xbox Live Arcade requires the use of your mind rather than your reflexes. This is not your twitchy shooter nor is it your arcade rehash. Though Braid may remind you of Mario in its days, this unique title brings something completely different to the table.
You play as Tim who with his blue suit and red tie go through each level and try to save the princess from a monster. Before each world, the story is continued in books. The story may seem like Mario but it’s entirely its own. Braid has a remarkable story with an incredible ending that can be interpreted in many ways. Braid can stand on his own about a man trying to save the princess or go even deeper and tell the story of the creation of the atom bomb.
Braid is a series of unique worlds that have the feel of a painting. Its bright colours and whimsical design is a perfect tone for Braid. The point of Braid is not to reach the end of the worlds as quickly as you can. Doing so, you could complete the game in 20 minutes. Each level in each world is scattered with puzzle pieces that are placed in tricky spots that not require how well you can jump but if you can figure out how to reach them.
Once you have all the pieces (but you certainly can start before), you must complete a relatively simple 12 piece puzzle. Then a world is complete. You can always move on to the next world after you transverse the previous world without completing the puzzle or complete a previous puzzle in the game hub, where you can enter any unlocked world.
The part that makes Braid unique is in its time shifting abilities. Pressing the X button, rewinds time while tapping LB while holding X, lets you rewind at 2x, 4x, and 8x the normal rewind. Thus another interesting point to Braid is brought up. It is impossible to die. If and when you die, you simply rewind to where you feel comfortable and continue from there. If and when you miss a jump, you can always rewind time. Braid is not about being making the hardest of jumps. It’s about completing the puzzles. The puzzles get increasingly hard and can frustrate you to an end degree.
Each world has its own time ability (although rewinding is always available). The first level in almost every world is entitled “The Pit”. It’s the same puzzle done all different ways. The first world you play in focuses on rewinding time and practicing your jumps. But the others are as creative as the next. One world has you creating a bubble that slows down time. This bubble may slow down a cannon firing bullets or gate from closing. Another world’s time manipulation has that every time Tim moves backwards, time rewinds while when he moves forwards, time continues.
Another obstacle to the puzzles is that any objects that are surrounded by a green glow are not affected by rewinding time. A glowing green key will remain in Tim’s hands while a door with an outer glow will not relock itself. In possibly the most interesting world, when you rewind time, a shadowed twin of your self will complete the previous task you just performed. For example, if you needed to stand on a platform that had to be raised. You would move to the lever and pull it. Then, you would rewind time and your twin would pull the lever required for that platform to move while you stand on the platform. This is the simplest form of the mirrored Tim as the world gets much harder than this.
The calm classical music in Braid completes the game’s charm. The first level in Braid has distinct music (Downstream by Shira Kammen) that will play in your head all day. The other classical songs through out Braid are equally as good but the first one stands out. Another great addition is how the music is affected by time manipulation. Go near the bubble that slows time down, the song will slow to a near crawl. While rewinding time, rewinds the song. Even at 8x speed, the song rewinds very fast as oppose to a normal rewind.
Braid does have a major downside. This game is really short. Completing the entire game only takes a few hours. Other than that, there is no reason to come back once you know all the solutions to the puzzles (which remain the same). The achievements are easy. 11 out of the 12 achievements will come with one play through the game. There are also speed runs (the 12th achievement) for some levels including beating the entire game in under 48 minutes.
But even that leaves much to be desired. There won’t be any new levels at all as developer Jonathan Blow said that he has no interest in either a sequel or more puzzles. There are also 8 very hidden stars to collect that will require a guide for most. Again, those give you no sense of physical achievement besides being satisfied.
Overall, Braid is one of the best games on Xbox Live Arcade. Braid excels in almost all aspects of the game. The sound is incredible, the presentation is great and the gameplay is innovative. Being 1200 Microsoft points for such a short game will cause some to not buy it. But if you like using your mind, this is simply the best puzzle game on Xbox Live Arcade.
| Graphics | Sound | Presentation | Replay Value | Enjoyment |
| 9 | 10 | 9.5 | 2.0 | 9.0 |
Upside
• Interesting and challenging puzzles
• Great music
• Awesome world and story
Downside
• Not much reason to go back
• Too short
• No future downloadable content
Overall: 9.0 (out of 10) Excellent
