Game Name: Braid
Developer: Jonathan Blow
Platform Used to Play: PC
Description (from Steam store): "Braid is a puzzle-platformer, drawn in a painterly style, where you can manipulate the flow of time in strange and unusual ways. From a house in the city, journey to a series of worlds and solve puzzles to rescue an abducted princess. In each world, you have a different power to affect the way time behaves, and it is time's strangeness that creates the puzzles."
What did this game do that was different from its predecessors?
In the past, puzzle platform games have been very straightforward with very little in the way of hidden meaning. Braid, however, does not confine itself to that stereotype. Instead, Braid offers players a hidden meaning that is there, but only really noticeable if you look for it and want it. Braid also looks to break the conventions of jumping on enemies to simply kill them and saving princesses from castles.
In addition, Braid uses an incredible set of mechanics all based around time. This provides unique and exciting gameplay as well as intriguing puzzles. With this mechanic, the game breaks away from many platformer conventions. One such convention is always moving to the right. Braid breaks this convention many, many times, requiring the player to move back and forth across levels.
Favorite Part about the Game (and why)
My favorite moment of Braid was using the puzzle pieces in World 1 to solve one of the puzzles. It was an amazing moment when that puzzle was solved. Honestly, I would have liked to see the puzzles for the other worlds used in similar ways.
While that was my favorite moment, my favorite part of the game as a whole was how each world used a unique modifier to the basic mechanic of controlling time. I loved having the ability to manipulate time in so many different ways. Not to mention, the modifications provided a lot of interesting gameplay by allowing the creation of so many different kinds of puzzles.
Least Favorite Part about the Game (and why)
While Braid is an amazing piece of art with a fabulous mechanic, the puzzles were insane. I often got too frustrated with the puzzles once I thought I had figured it out and realized I hadn’t and needed to start the whole area over again. Some of the puzzles felt impossible. It wasn’t until I found help, either online or from a friend, that I was able to get through some of the puzzles. That made the game less enjoyable, knowing that I was incapable of figuring out the puzzles on my own within a decent amount of time. I can’t count the number of times I needed to put the game down because a single puzzle had frustrated me so completely.
Another thing I am not a fan of is the use of hidden stars in the game. The stars are nearly impossible to find for anyone just playing the game. Actually, they seem to be almost impossible to find even for the players who are looking for them. A player needs to be essentially obsessed with Braid in order to find them (or use a guide online). Once they are found, they change the ending, just slightly, but enough. If a player was able to collect all eight of the stars, at the end, the player will be able to catch the princess. Once the player character touches the princess, though, she glows and explodes, the sound of a bomb going off can be heard.
How would you change the game to make it better?
One of the things I would consider changing is the difficulty curve. The game is, at the beginning, fairly easy, and very fun. Once the mechanics modifications get added into the mix, though, it felt like the level of difficulty stayed the same throughout the other four worlds with small hiccups of the insanely difficult here and there. I would have liked to see a steadier curve rather than a steep slope and a plateau.
In addition, I am unsure as to how I feel about the hidden story that Braid provides to its players. The allegory for the creation of the atomic bomb feels almost pretentious in the way it’s worked into the plot. I would have liked to see the story a little more obvious, but without being overt. It was, at times, confusing, while at other times it almost seemed like it was way too obvious. If the allegory had been integrated more evenly, I think it would have been beyond amazing. I did enjoy it, but I think it could have been done in a much better manner.
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