Roger Ebert once said “video games are not art.” But he has never played Ico or Shadow of the Colossus. Those two games are considered fine works of art among gamers but as more Van Gogh pieces. The game Braid however tries to define itself as that abstract statue you see at the Chicago Museum of Art and you wonder “What kind of idiot would consider this art?”
Now Braid is not a bad game. But I should mention it is way too pretentious and feels like a Jackson Pollock Painting if the squiggly lines actually made sense.
Braid is an independently developed game created by Jonathan Blow who despite flagging around the image of being small and indie invested a ton of money into this project and it shows from the game’s $15 dollar price tag. Now Braid isn’t something you buy at a retail store, you download it off the Xbox Live Marketplace for said price or in Microsoft’s Currency “1200 Points”
The story of Braid is simple. You’re Tim, a guy in a suit out to rescue a princess who for some reason left. The story isn’t really clear and is told through books that you read in Hubs that take you to the levels in the game. Each time you reach the end of a world a dinosaur will come out and tell you “The Princess is in another castle” a direct reference from Super Mario Bros. where it seems this game takes some of its inspiration from.
Braid at heart is a puzzle game that has you really using your brain and your thumbs. Tim’s big ability is that he can rewind time which you do by holding the X button. This manipulation of time not only requires you to solve the game’s puzzles but also revives you from the dead if you were to get hit. But the thing is you can’t die at all. You just rewind time back to before you got hit and keep going.
The puzzles involve you collecting puzzle pieces of all things which can be formed into weird abstract paintings which I believe help tell this story. Either way most of these pieces have you do hair-ripping, TV smashing, very frustrating stunts just to get one and sometimes if you mess up you have to restart the level. But when you do get a piece the feeling is satisfying at best. Although they decided to throw in hidden stars which are really annoying to try and obtain, including one that requires waiting for a cloud to move for a total of 2 hours just to get the star.
The graphics look good for a game only made by a handful of people. The colors are rich and vibrant and fun to look at and really do look like a painting at times. The soundtrack is the opposite as it’s boring to listen to. Although some would argue it sets the mood but if they put out a soundtrack CD to this, you won’t see me buying it.
In the end, Braid is the type of game for the gamer who wants something different from the norm of Shooting Games and Sports plaguing the market. It’s a breath of fresh air but I just feel it is way too overblown and acts all high and mighty due to all the great reviews it’s been getting. So do I recommend it? Try at your own risk.