Time-bending puzzle-solving at its finest.
Much like Inception, self-raising flour, and reading Arabic, Braid is confusing. Braid defines confusion. Everything, from its story to it's mind-bending puzzles, makes you boggle at the sheer complexity of the game. If you feel comfortable with one aspect of the game, it completely changes to keep you as delirious as you were at the beginning. Only one thing remains the same: Braid is a deep and rewarding puzzle game; an achievement that will leave you pondering well after its completion.
Braid's story revolves around the main character, Tim, and his princess, whom he searches for. As you progress through the games 6 worlds, pieces of the story come together slowly, but it never quite fits until the final, stunning conclusion.
Speaking of fitting, in Braid, your primary objective is to get the 12 puzzle pieces within each world. There's normally no trick; and you'll very rarely, if ever, get a puzzle piece by luck. And that's what makes this game great. To get that puzzle piece, the only thing you can rely on is Tim and maybe some small hedgehogs that you can jump on.
Of course, if you get Tim, you also get his ability to make time move around. The time-manipulating abilities change to each different world, to keep the game feel fresh and to onslaught you with another set of puzzles and general bewilderment. None of the puzzle mechanics feel completely alien, but none of them feel the same either, so it still feels as if you're playing the same game. And each game mechanic ties in to the story, mainly as metaphors, to make you ponder the storyline a bit more.
Probably the greatest part of Braid is it's level design. Every level in the game has been made excellently, and you'll never have to do the same trick twice because of it (even if it is the same level!). As a result, you can't help but marvel at the no doubt ingenious minds that created this title.
The musics and looks of the game are also very well made. The music wouldn't standout if it wasn't for the fact that it changed with the made timeturning that was going on, and the graphics are very clean and detailed, almost hand-drawn. Overall, the presentation is virtually flawless-everything looks and sounds as if it should be there.
The game takes around 5 hours-the quantity well worth the price, and the quality far exceeding it-and it will be some of the most frustrating moments you will ever have in a game. But the rewards are there to reap. Often after doing a puzzle, I'd get my brother to try it out as well, with a smug little expression on my face. And that smugness is what you will feel after solving a tricky conundrum or a puzzling puzzle. And that satisfaction makes this game very worthwhile. It's immersive, unique (which is saying a lot considering it's a game that involves time travelling, which is in a LOT of games), and it's satisfactory. What more could you want?
