NIDZUMI+

You would be forgiven for initially seeing Braid as a pretentious Mario clone with an artistic backdrop. To be honest that’s what I did but when you really dig into what Braid really is you’ll notice that it’s really a very clever puzzle game.

It’s the games pomposity that might turn you away because although Braid initially draws you in with it’s indie charm and artistic vision, it will put you off with it’s initial lack of direction and purposely vague story. The game that is made up of 6 worlds and presents you with the story of a man named Tim. Tim is looking for his Princess, who is always in another castle, who you are lead to believe has recently spilt up with Tim. The story plays out an abstract tale of regret, love & obsessive behaviour.

Braid’s action is played on numerous platform mario-esque levels. From the leadoff you could complete these worlds in a matter of minutes but you would be missing the point. You’ll quickly realize that the lack of direction quickly becomes user error because on each level there are an abundance of puzzle pieces to collect. These start off simple but eventually turn into long puzzles that involve the manipulation of Tim’s primary ability, Time.

This is where you would replace those rudimentary beliefs of pretentiousness and an ill-defined story with the sarcastic excitement of collecting objects and some time altering gimmickry. Again I’m going to forgive you for that because Braid proves that it’s not the gimmick you choose, it’s the way you use it. The puzzles require you to use Tim’s time modification skills to acquire the puzzle pieces. These puzzles are frustrating as most of the time you’ll be over thinking the solution but as soon as you nail the piece that’s been eluding you, you’ll feel like a genius.

Most importantly how Braid implements Time into the platformer environment is what makes Braid great. On the first world you can simply rewind time by holding down X. It’s simple enough but for every world they throw in another aspect that forces you to rethink how to play. A personal favourite would be when you move forward time moves forward but when you move backwards, time follows. There is also one that makes a shadow double of what you just played out when you rewind time. It’s the creative ways that Braid utilizes time that really show how ingeniously brilliant Braid is.

Because of this, the game never gets boring as the main mechanics are always changing. Just when you think you’ve got the answer, Braid changes the questions. This is a game that will always keep you on your toes and make you feel much better and smarter for it.

As previously stated the game starts off in world two and originally I perceived this to mean that the hub world you start in was world one. But once you’ve collected all the puzzle pieces in the game you’ll be able to climb up to world one. This is when Braid turns from a smart indie game into a genius piece of design and storytelling. As much as I want to ramble on about how this level totally changes the way the game is perceived it will be better for you to figure it out for yourself.

Braid isn’t perfect but it comes pretty damn close. Unfortunately the game does come with a large amount of frustrating levels and moments but this appears to be purposely built like this. The pay off you get when you figure out a puzzle normally justifies the mental work out you’ve just experienced. Braid is also expensively priced for the amount of content you get but this is a case of quality over quantity.

Braid originally appears to be a side scrolling mario clone with pretentiousness off the scales but when you dig a little deeper you’ll find a brilliant piece of game design. The way Braid takes your initial conceptions and changes them is terrific. Braid’s story, gameplay, mechanics, music and so much more gets turned on it’s head at some point during the game. It’s the fact that the game does all of this and gets away with it that makes Braid nothing short of genius.