Pretentious games suck, they aren't fun, the “innovative” mechanics don't work well or just are stupid and they rarely manage to convey the ideas they were created for.
Braid is not pretentious.
It is a 2D puzzle platformer that seems to be a Super Mario Bros copy with a nice art design. The main twist here is that you have the ability to rewind the game with the X button at any chosen moment. All puzzles are based on this ability and they grow gradually more complex as the game progresses. I don't want to give them anyway since they are probably the most rewarding, confounding and un-frustrating puzzles of any game ever.
The art design is probably the prettiest I have ever seen in a game and wouldn't look out of place in a classical art museum. I am a huge fan of impressionist art and while it looks great on screen-shots it is divine while moving. The musical score is equally impressive even if it is slightly innocuous.
But where it really sticks out is the story. Most games have very simple stories that almost never have any depth, go kill bad guys, save mankind, get the girl, but Braid actually manages to be personal about it. The main idea is that you play as Tim who's girlfriend has been kidnapped by a horrible monster and it's Tim's fault, so you need to save her. But in between chapters of brilliant puzzle solving you get to hear the back story and it is filled with musings about love and relationships, about consequences and learning, about perfection in one's actions and it all comes together beautifully. A game studio couldn't make something this personal, you can't have ten fantasy-pulp writers come together and talk about their failed relationships, this is truly a self-reflective piece of art.
It lovingly references old-school platforming games like Super Mario and Donkey Kong and does it in a truly humble way. Like Kill Bill is a love letter to Spaghetti Westerns and Kung Fu movies Braid pays tribute to it's muses while transcending them in so many ways, Shigeru Miyamoto will cry while playing this game.
Braid is one of the greatest games ever and by far the best of it's genre. A clear GoTY winner and as close to a perfect game we will ever get.
The Demo is available on the Xbox Live Arcade and it cost only 1200 microsoft points, buy it now. If you don't have a 360 now is the time to get it.
(A PC release will happen sometime during 2008)
Braid is not pretentious.
It is a 2D puzzle platformer that seems to be a Super Mario Bros copy with a nice art design. The main twist here is that you have the ability to rewind the game with the X button at any chosen moment. All puzzles are based on this ability and they grow gradually more complex as the game progresses. I don't want to give them anyway since they are probably the most rewarding, confounding and un-frustrating puzzles of any game ever.
The art design is probably the prettiest I have ever seen in a game and wouldn't look out of place in a classical art museum. I am a huge fan of impressionist art and while it looks great on screen-shots it is divine while moving. The musical score is equally impressive even if it is slightly innocuous.
But where it really sticks out is the story. Most games have very simple stories that almost never have any depth, go kill bad guys, save mankind, get the girl, but Braid actually manages to be personal about it. The main idea is that you play as Tim who's girlfriend has been kidnapped by a horrible monster and it's Tim's fault, so you need to save her. But in between chapters of brilliant puzzle solving you get to hear the back story and it is filled with musings about love and relationships, about consequences and learning, about perfection in one's actions and it all comes together beautifully. A game studio couldn't make something this personal, you can't have ten fantasy-pulp writers come together and talk about their failed relationships, this is truly a self-reflective piece of art.
It lovingly references old-school platforming games like Super Mario and Donkey Kong and does it in a truly humble way. Like Kill Bill is a love letter to Spaghetti Westerns and Kung Fu movies Braid pays tribute to it's muses while transcending them in so many ways, Shigeru Miyamoto will cry while playing this game.
Braid is one of the greatest games ever and by far the best of it's genre. A clear GoTY winner and as close to a perfect game we will ever get.
The Demo is available on the Xbox Live Arcade and it cost only 1200 microsoft points, buy it now. If you don't have a 360 now is the time to get it.
(A PC release will happen sometime during 2008)