Games for Lunch: Braid
In a nutshell: Not the hair braiding simulator I was expecting.
8/12/2008 6:49 PM | 1 Comments | Page 2 of 3
0:18 ... World 3, "Time and Mystery." The story tells us of Tim abandoning the Princess. "He regrets this, to a degree." He's trying to find her again, to apologize. The writing is so subtle and open to interpretation, makes most other game stories seem like nursery school books.
0:20 "The Pit" has a monster with a key at the bottom of a pit. I kill the monster and get the key but have no way out of the pit. Luckily, I can reverse time to fly back out, still holding the key, which seems curiously unaffected.
0:24 "There and Back Again" barely seems like a puzzle at first. I just have to work past the enemies to get a key. Then I realize that an impassable door has been slowly falling into my intended path since I started the room. I have to get the key, then reverse time to make it through. Kind of simple, but it shows some promise.
0:26 "Phase" has two rows of floating clouds being fired from cannons. The gap between the clouds is too large to jump across, but it seems half the clouds aren't affected by the time reversal power. This means I can shift some of the clouds to fill in the gaps.
0:27 "The Ground Beneath Her Feet" introduces switches that move ground-moving switches. Have to climb where I want, pull the switch, then reverse time quickly to outrun the moving platform.
0:29 There's a key hidden in a small alcove that I can't quite seem to reach. Hmmm.
0:31 I love the golden trees and gentle rain in the background. Combined with the gentle string music, it's absolutely heartbreaking.
0:33 "Tight Channels" introduces a new enemy: fluffy pink bunnies. At first I think they're harmless background elements, but the one lunging bite sets me straight. A few of them have tiny bunny families following them. OH MY GOD, SO CUTE AND DEADLY.
0:35 These bunnies are annoying, jumping to intercept my hops as soon as I get close. Takes some deft timing to take them out.
0:38 I don't want to give too much away, but I just solved a frustrating puzzle that involves keeping an enemy alive long enough so I can bounce off of him. Ingenious!
0:41 "Irreversible" has a puzzle piece hovering above a fire. I can't seem to reach it with a jump, and any enemies that I could bounce off die when they hit the fire.
0:48 I feel like the answer to this fire puzzle involves bunnies, as it so often does in life. It seems like I should be able to get them to jump out over the fire so I can bounce off them. Can't quite get the right angle, though. This is taking way too long, anyway. I'll come back later.
0:50 I went down a hole to find a new puzzle, but a few bunny families swarmed around the top and I couldn't get out. Whoops.
0:53 I'm pretty sure I just screwed up the puzzle I'm working on. Again, without giving too much away, I trapped a time-independent key behind a time-dependent lock. Time to restart the room.
0:55 Damn, somehow I screwed it up again by reopening a door I had unlocked. This is frustratingly mind-bending.
0:57 Third time's the charm!
