Once you beat Braid (which only takes a few hours), there a few things to do. A speed run mode unlocks that challenges you with completing certain levels within really strict time limits. I thought that was a bad idea, but when I tried it, I had a blast finding ideal routes and tricky time-manipulation tricks to shave time off my playthroughs. There is also a challenge to beat the whole game in 45 minutes, which I failed miserably at. It would take several hours of practice that I don't want to put in to get that time. There are also some very, very hidden secrets to find in the game that are worth the trouble, both for the experience and the little bit of light they shed on the story...
Braid's graphics are also top notch. It basically looks like a moving, breathing painting the whole time. It's really gorgeous, one of the best looking 2d games I've ever seen. The music is also top-notch. It ranges from happy violins to disturbing ambiance, to lullabies and creepy vibes and back again. The music really follows the game's themes; the potential of youth, relationships, family, disappointment, restriction, horror, etc. That list goes on and on.
Re-winding time is actually just the very tip of the
iceberg. Each new set of levels introduce other time-bending powers that are
just as fully realized and executed as re-winding time. One of these abilities
stands out in particular as something I've never seen before. This concept is
also so well implemented that it just works intuitively, just like the rest of
the game. It's really great stuff. And I'm not saying what it is, because that would spoil the fun of discovery.
Because you can re-wind time, puzzles often include elements
that wouldn't work in other games, such as deadly surprises or the necessity
for extremely precise movements. These aren't a problem, since you can
instantly re-try a puzzle after dying or missing an opportunity, and you'll
have the knowledge of exactly how enemies are going to move and what is going
to happen since you have already experienced it. And then the mind-bending
really starts. Braid's level design is sublime. The puzzles are ingenious and work
perfectly. There are so many stand-out moments of brilliant creativity and
excellent implementation. I'll give you a few simple examples. Some levels
might require you to get to an area very quickly after completing a task. This
can be done by going to where you need to end up first, then completing the
task and re-winding at max speed until you end up back where you need to be. Other levels might give you mutually
exclusive goals, but since you can re-wind, you can find a way to do both
tasks. These are the most simple and general examples I can give without
spoiling what you need to play to properly experience. It gets much more
complex than that. Many levels end up being a mini mind trip on the level of a
two-hour movie with a perfectly orchestrated mind-blowing twist.
Pressing and holding square re-winds time. You can do this as
many times as you want and can rewind all the way back to the beginning of any
individual level. It's really cool how there is almost no limitation to this
very powerful ability. Death means nothing to you; if you fall in a bed of
spikes or get bitten by an enemy and die, no problem, you just re-wind back to
before you died. Tapping L1 increases the re-wind speed, and R1 decreases the
speed. The only other controls are X to jump, circle to use switches, and the
left analog stick or d-pad to move.
Braid
is very much in the vein of Mario, and makes no bones about throwing in many
very direct references to that series (as well as nods to Donkey Kong and Banjo
Kazooie, and probably others). You run around in small levels that are usually
only a few screens long at the most. Your goal is to collect puzzle pieces,
which are guarded by obstacles and enemies. In order to get to these puzzles,
you'll often have to exploit Braid's main gameplay hook; re-winding time.
It's a 2d puzzle platformer. In it, you play as Tim, a guy
who is off in search of the princess whom he has had a falling out with. At
least, that's what the game is about at the outset. Braid has a winding,
ambiguous story told mainly through text excerpts that you read at the
beginning of each set of levels. The story goes through themes more than it
does a direct narrative. It's very well written and gets across all kinds of
emotions and meaning. It's pretty remarkable, actually. And amazingly, the
gameplay really gels perfectly with the themes and ideas put forth.
I
recently picked up Braid during a PSN flash sale for $.99. I can't think of a
more clever intro than that, sorry. But don't worry, I thought of a great gimmick for the review.
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