Braid

You may have seen my last post on the top 5 video games I own but don’t play.  Well, in the mix of the top 5 video games for the Xbox 360 was one game I didn’t know anything about:  Braid.

So in my eagerness to play some of the said unplayed games (I actually ended up playing more Halo 3 and GTA IV) I decided to download the Braid trial and see what the hype was all about.

The hype indeed was well worth it in this case my friends (friend?).  If I had to describe Braid in one sentence it would be:  “A poetic homage to Super Mario Bros., as designed by Monet, that emphasizes that sometimes what seems to be is not and sometimes our mistakes are more valuable than our accomplishments.”  I know, cryptic, right?

In Braid you are trying to rescue a princess, not unlike Super Mario Bros.

Essentially what it is is a puzzle based game that loosely resembles a 2D Super Mario type world (with an extra homage to Donkey Kong on one level).  Your little hero (anti-hero?) Tim must run around a dreamlike world and collect puzzle pieces by shifting time and space.  It really is a very simple game that shows that even the most simple idea can become very complicated.  Yet I think it is a game that almost anyone can play.

This was my killer puzzle piece.

My rating?  Two thumbs up.  It took me the better of several hours of play to get through all of the worlds (and I only needed help with one puzzle, shhh!) but I still cannot wait for there to be a sequel.

Alas I can add it to my top 5 games that I own and do (did) play.

~ by audioscience on September 25, 2008.