I have been thinking for quite a while about what words I could possibly use to describe the immense beauty of Braid. When I say beauty I don’t just mean the game’s stylistically exquisite visuals (which put me in mind of a living, breathing painting by one of the great impressionists like Monet). I mean everything about this game, from concept to gameplay to exposition, is just sheer beauty.
If you have any kind of soul this game will captivate you completely, make no mistake.
At its core Braid is a platform puzzle game. Over the course of 6 distinct “worlds” you must use lateral thinking and precise platform jumping to figure out how to collect various puzzle pieces spread about the game in order to eventually find your princess. Completing each of the 5 main worlds will give you access to the game’s 6th and final world.
Each world has a distinct art flavour, the first being bright, vibrant and evocative of spring. The next is a golden paradise of high summer, warm summer showers interspersing the heat of the afternoon sun. Other levels evoke winter and autumn, all with a beautiful soundtrack to match. Every world feels like you are within a living painting that hums and pulses with your movements. Reverse time and the world fades to monochrome and the background moves into the distance; speed time up and the world becomes a shimmering hyper reality of uncontainable colour.
The game uses a variety of mechanics that centre around time manipulation. The first world is pretty straight-forward, giving you the ability to rewind time to get yourself out of sticky situations, but otherwise playing out much like an impressionist version of Super Mario Brothers, right down to warp-pipes with chomping flowers and goomba look-alikes.
Once you get past the relatively gentle introduction though things start to get a little more complex. A variety of gameplay devices are introduced, such as items and enemies which remain unaffected by reversing time. One world which I found particularly devilish maps time to your physical movements. Move forward and time moves forward, move backwards and time reverses. I won’t detail every gameplay dynamic that is introduced as I think it would taint that joy of discovery you feel when you work it out for yourself, but suffice to say that Braid isn’t afraid of mixing things up. However, it never feels loose or tacked on; each different mechanic feels carefully considered, engineered and implemented.
Some of the levels will leave you tearing your hair out in frustration, either because you just cannot work out how you are meant to get a particular piece or sometimes because you know what you need to do, but you are just not quick enough or precise enough to do it properly. I think some people may well give up on this game because of a few of these more fiendish bits, which would be a great shame for them. Finishing this game is completely worth the effort because of the other ace up Braid’s sleeve; the story.
Told through text in the “lobby” areas of each world and in the epilogue area accessed when you complete the game, the central themes of Braid’s plot are really resonant and it has multiple layers to it. Unravelling the story of Tim and his search for his Princess is a huge part of the experience, and if you are a plot skipper you will miss out on the emotional impact of the game. The finale of the last level will have you all a tingle, and may even bring a sly tear to your eye. It’s not often the narrative of any video game, let alone a quirky platform puzzler, moves me as deeply as Braid did. The plot is also purposefully open to interpretation, and the internet is rife with different takes on it. Some people have really gone to a lot of effort analysing the narrative in great detail.
I feel like a gushing fan-boy, but it’s hard to not be swept up in the sheer beauty of Braid. I have managed to briefly slip my heavy duty criticising boots on, although even then I can really only come up with the rather lame accusation of the game being a bit too lateral in parts. It is highly subjective though, as what I found oblique and impenetrable I’m sure many others found woefully obvious. There is limited scope for re-playability beyond timed runs and the collecting of hidden stars to unlock sections of the epilogue and a slightly odd alternate ending to the finale. Although the game pays heavy tribute to Super Mario and its ilk, I don’t feel it has that same arcade replay appeal.
The game is available for Mac, PC, Xbox360 and PS3 (PC users can check it out via Steam, as usual) and despite it being on the slightly pricey side of things for an indie game, I really can’t say that it isn’t worthy of the full amount. You get more bang for your buck with this little beauty than a dozen soulless, unoriginal and totally cynical EA/Activision releases.
Braid almost makes me want to start a huge “games as art” debate just so I can point at it as a perfect example of the artistic potential of the video game medium.
Either way, this game cannot receive less than 5 out of 5.
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