Braid; 4.7(?)

The simplicity of the game design is what makes this game stand apart from most others. Braid is a complete thought. As I play the game I can't help but think about what if the game had come out during the height of 2-D platforming. What if somewhere in-between Super Mario Bros. 3 and Strider a game like Braid came out? Would the course of popular video game history have been changed?

While it is futile to compare video games to movies one thing is for sure; you can't help but do it with most current generation games. Alone in the Dark has chapters you can skip to like a DVD, Dead Rising is a send up to zombie movies, BioShock comes dangerously close to film noir at points. and I'm sure that there is some review out there that states CoD IV is an 'action packed, thrill ride'. So then why does such a simple game like Braid more closely garnish feelings so close to what a movie gives you? I guess I could battle back and forth with myself for hours on that, but in the end I would tell you the same thing.

Given the right circumstances, Braid is a game that can hit you like any good art form; literary, visual, or otherwise. I would liken the game to a movie like F. W. Murnau's 'Sunrise'. In that, if I were to talk about it, you might be turned off. It is something that has to experienced under the right conditions to get the full impact.

I can't review this game under the exact same structure I use for others. It has no package and I am going to stick to reviewing games that I can collect on my shelf (for now). I sometimes wonder what is going to happen to Xbox Live Games 10-20 years from now. Will we have all them stored somewhere, like our music, to pull up later when we want to enjoy them? Kind of makes things disposable to think about it that way. Time shall tell. As for now and for the topic of this particular blog, the game gets a 4.70 out of 5. Sans Package Design and Art of course.

Anyway... that is an average.

Braid

Sort of by happenstance I came across the XBL game "Braid". After clicking around and reading a couple reviews on it I started scratching my head. The scores are through the roof? For a Xbox Live game that looks like a painted Mario?

Here is part of Dan Whitehead's excellent review from Eurogamer:

"You see, Braid's creator, Jonathan Blow, has more in mind than just shaking up tired old gameplay conventions. He wants to create games that make you think and feel. Braid doesn't have a story, at least not in the traditional linear narrative sense, but there's a lead character, Tim, and his mission is to find a princess. She's not a literal princess though, but a metaphor - the romantic cliché of that perfect soul mate as filtered through popular videogame motifs. The classic Mario line "our princess is in another castle", knowingly reused here, is more than just an ironic wink to gaming history. In the context of Braid's melancholy mood, it becomes a bona fide commentary on the human condition. Our princess is always in another castle."

After reading that I got the game. Like Mr. Whitehead's review, I too, am at a loss for the best way to explain the impact this game could have on you. I'll end up writing more about this game soon.