Games for Lunch: Braid
In a nutshell: Not the hair braiding simulator I was expecting.
8/12/2008 6:49 PM | 1 Comments | Page 1 of 3
Developer: Number None
Publisher: Microsoft
Release Date: Aug. 6, 2008
Systems: Xbox 360 (reviewed), PC
ESRB Rating: E10+
Official Web site
0:00 Designer Jonathan Blow himself gave me a personal demo of this game back a few E3s ago. Been looking forward to it ever since, and now that it's here, it seems everyone is sharing in that excitement.
0:01 The title appears rendered in fire over a red and black oil-painting cityscape. A silhouette of a small man is on the left. "Use the left analog stick to move," is my only instruction. Let's-a go.
0:02 As I walk from the dark city into a bright interior room, my character turns from silhouette to a little tow-headed little boy with red hair, a red tie and a blue blazer. Elegiac strings fill the background as we enter "World 2." (I guess this is World 1?)
0:03 "Time and forgiveness" is the name of the world. Tim (our protagonist) made a mistake and now has to find a princess taken by a monster. "Our world, with its rules of causality, has trained us to be miserly with forgiveness." Heady stuff.
0:05 "Three easy pieces," is the first room. The background is blue and sunny now -- reminds me of Yoshi's Island a bit. The background strings have gotten more upbeat, more like a fiddle.
0:06 I can climb ladders and fences, and jump-bounce on enemies like in Mario. I get hit by one and fall over with a sickening "crunch." As I fall, time freezes and an X button appears next to Tim. I hold the button down and time rewinds to a point where Tim has not yet been bitten by the furry brown monster. It seems I can do this rewinding indefinitely at any point. Makes death seem unimportant, which I think is sort of the point.
0:08 After collecting a few floating puzzle pieces, the next room is "the cloud bridge," which has a cannon shooting clouds, appropriately enough. I find a big board with some puzzle pieces on it. I try to arrange them into a coherent whole, but I really, really suck at jigsaw puzzles. Plus, I think a few pieces are still missing.
0:11 I can't seem to jump high enough for two of the puzzles pieces in the cloud bridge room, so I move on the "Hunt!" The gentle piano doesn't really match the theme of the room.
0:13 I eventually realize that I need to jump and bounce off an enemy's head from above to get to a nearby platform. Unfortunately I've already killed the enemy off which I would need to bounce. Not to worry, though -- a quick rewind can get him back. Seems this feature isn't just good for death. I find I can speed up the rewinding by tapping the L trigger.
0:14 "Leap of Faith" is next. Appropriately, I have to jump into a bottomless pit at just the right moment to bounce off an enemy fired from a cannon. I end up rewinding a good five dozen times before I get it. The violin music sounds oddly nice as it alternates going backwards and forwards.
0:17 I've made it to a castle. A reddish dinosaur comes up to me. "I'm sorry, but the Princess is in another castle." Groan. I get 10 Gamerscore points for traversing World 2, even though I know I missed a lot of puzzle pieces. Maybe I'll be able to get them later? Or maybe I'm just an idiot who didn't spend enough time trying to get them this time around. Either way, it's on to...
