Braid Review

It'd be easy to think of bedroom coders as just a part of gaming history, those that helped get us going back in the old days but no longer relevant. However, in today's age of shovel-ware, sequels and desire for mass-market appeal I'd argue that bedroom coders and independent developers are more important than ever. Indie developers aren't constrained by publisher demands or a need to cater to the lowest common denominator, these are people with a vision for a game and the means to deliver it as intended.

Thankfully, in this time of big budget titles demanding hundred strong work forces and years of development, indie developers are still going strong, able to get their games out to an audience with relative ease thanks to services like Steam, Xbox Live Arcade (and XNA), the PlayStation Store and WiiWare.

And a perfect example of just why we need these bedroom coders around has landed in the form of Braid on Microsoft's XBLA.

It's just a jump to the left

At its simplest Braid is a platformer that plays heavily on understood gaming conventions, especially those established by Super Mario Brothers. But whilst Braid makes calculated nods to various gaming conventions, it also plays against them to manipulate your expectations and the experience.

Take, for example, one the main features of the game: the ability to, at any point, rewind time to any given moment in the level. Miss a jump or get caught out by one of the level's dangers, simply hit a button and rewind to just before it happened and retry. But it's the execution of this feature that elevates the game to a whole new level.

But what's really praise worthy about this? Rewinding time is not a new mechanic, it's been successfully employed in a whole range games like Sands of Time and the recent example of GRID. However, in each of these games the time manipulation is optional feature, a layer that sits upon the game world providing a tool to correct mistakes, and you could happily play these games without ever needing to rewind. In Braid time manipulation is part of the fabric of the game, woven into the puzzles and challenges, and is very much needed.

And then a step to the right

There are six worlds in total to be explored, and each one plays with the time manipulation feature, introducing new quirks and tricks to be learnt. Praise should be given here for how these are introduced, as part of the game and requiring experimentation to discover the full range of possibilities they offer. For example, the first such trick you're introduced to is that certain objects, which glow green, are immune to your time reversing powers. This is introduced by a key at the bottom of an inescapable pit. Jumping down you can claim the key, but with no way out you hit X to reverse time, finding that the key goes back up with you, allowing you complete the level.

Most of the worlds also introduce unique features and side-effects of the time manipulation that require you to think about the world in a different manner. The most notable example being World 4 that moves time forward as you walk to the right, and reverses it as you move to the left. With this in place seemingly easy tasks suddenly aren't so simple and require a completely different approach to what you might expect.

An additional challenge comes via jigsaw pieces to be collected in each level (with each world made up of a number of levels). Progress through the game can be made through them without too much complication (though the time tricks will require a bit of thinking). However, to collect all the jigsaw pieces requires a lot more effort and a lot more thinking. And it's in the way that these time manipulation tools are not just used, but required that you'll quickly come to see that Braid may be easy to finish, but it's difficult to complete.

With your hands on your hips

Some of the pieces seem impossible to reach at first, other seem obvious until you try and the game world throws you for a loop. But like all good puzzles, the answers are relatively straight-forward once you get there. I found myself on a number of occasions confused as to how to proceed, and then hit by one of those 'a-ha!' moments that left me wondering how I'd not seen the answer that was right in front of me the whole time.

And because you can't die, you can always rewind back time and start over if you make a mistake, it means that experimentation with the game world carries no risk, besides how many of your hours it'll eat up or how frustrated you might get when puzzles get the better of you. But you have fun toying with the game, pushing the limits of the time tools, seeing what you can and can't get away with. And, of course, when you do crack the puzzles and lay claim to all the jigsaw pieces it's a rather satisfying feeling indeed.

You bring your knees in tight

But it's not just the platform and puzzle elements that you'll find satisfying and appealing: the game is rendered in a beautiful painted style that looks magnificent on screen, and it's all complimented with a wonderfully serene orchestral score.

And then there's the story, that of a man and his desire to find the 'princess'. At it's core this is a fairly relatable story about relationships, the kind you will likely have been part of or witnessed. Admittedly, sometimes it risks getting a little weighed down in its occasionally overly poetic prose, but by the time the final level plays out you'll come to appreciate what was attempted and telling of a rather contemporary relationship story in an unusual manner. In fact, the delivery of the tale couldn't be managed in any other medium than a game, which alone makes it worthy of attention.

If the story stuff isn't your cup of tea though, well it can be easily ignored. As you start each world you walk past a series of books, and standing by each reveals a small piece of the story's text. However, nothing forces you to read through it and you can happily speed past the books and straight into the game. Again, another thoughtful aspect that deserves a nod of appreciation.

Let's do the time warp again

So it's a rather beautiful game, well scored, it takes familiar gaming conventions, uses and turns them on their head to create genuinely interesting and tough puzzles, all backed by a decent story you can ignore if you would rather. The question you possibly have in your mind now is "So what's wrong with it?". Not a whole lot really. You could argue that it's too short; you can feasibly rush through the game in very little time, and if you figure the puzzles out quickly enough the whole thing can be dispensed with in a few hours. To some people that may be sufficiently off-putting.

In actuality the biggest negative mark against it is likely to be the price. Whereas most games land on XBLA for around about 800 MS points (about £6.50-7), Braid has been priced at 1200 MS points (about £10), which has caused a lot of discussion about how much XBLA titles are worth and what prices they should be pitched at. I'd argue that a lot of people happily pay four times that amount for a whole range of full price titles, some that last just as long, if not shorter (Lost: Via Domus I'm looking at you), and many that aren't nearly as refreshing, as well constructed and executed, or as fun.

Braid is one of the best titles available on XBLA at the moment, if not the best, and is worthy of praise and the money being asked. And it seems many people agree, with the title having shifted something like 55,000 copies so far (according to developer Jonathan Blow), which is excellent news.

In fact, success of the game is something we should all be hoping for. After all, bedroom coders need money to survive like the rest of us, and more importantly they need some financial to continue what they're doing and encourage others to do so too. I think we can all agree that a greater range of games, more people trying different ideas, is no bad thing.

And whilst the lazy comparisons are naming Super Mario Brothers and other platformers, a decent game to compare this to is actually Portal. So do yourself a favour, if you own an Xbox 360 go get Braid right now, or at the very least grab the demo. You won't be sorry.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Yep. I'd pay more than 15 bucks worth for a decent indie game. Lets not confuse that with the game ITSELF, but rather the attempt of the game. So yes, this game is awesome at its execution, art, and score.

Thanks OP, I couldn't agree more to what you said.

There's nowhere I can't reach.