Hey guys, wrote this up a couple of days ago on my site and wondered what you thought.
Before you destroy your eyes with the long unformatted post below, feel free to see it in technicolor at http://facejolt.com/daily-blog/braid-a-video-game-review/
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Afternoon everyone, Gruejolt here. This is my first post so I thought I?d start with a nice gentle review of Braid, the indie darling that has taken the Xbox Live Arcade by storm and is coming to a PC near you on 10th April.
For those of you who don?t like reading, here?s the short review: Braid is awesome and anyone who disagrees is just plain wrong. 10/10. Sorted.
For those of you who want a ?proper? review with longer words and maybe some pictures, read on?
Braid is essentially a puzzle platformer where you can rewind time at various speeds. Doesn?t sound particularly original, but Braid more than makes for it with fantastic gameplay and an engrossing story. Plus it?s so very VERY satsifying to complete?
STORY
Think a tongue-in-cheek parody of Mario and you?re about halfway there. Tim has lost his princess, but every time he gets to the next castle she?s long gone. However, it then gets a whole lot more interesting - to say any more would spoil it, but let?s just say there a couple of brilliant twists along the way. The plot is seriously open to interpretation, and you really have to dig beneath the surface to find out what?s going on.
I should mention that it has been pointed out to me that if you have to really think to figure out what?s going on then the story hasn?t been told very well - this is, of course, bollocks. I?m sorry that Braid doesn?t have the generic ?these are the good guys, these are the bad guys, shoot the bad guys? plot that pervades every bland FPS these days. If you don?t like it then go back to playing with your crayons and daubing your faeces on the wall, you lazy asshat.
GRAPHICS
Right, enough of my complaining. Graphics-wise, Braid looks like an awesome, psychedelic watercolour painting. That?s probably all there is to it really. Very artsy, and it complements the gameplay brilliantly. Here?s a couple of screenshots for your viewing pleasure:
SOUND
The music itself is really quite good, a few nice tracks here and there that go with the game pretty well. To be honest, you probably won?t notice it that much, but then I guess that?s kind of the point. When you reverse time, the music also plays backwards at whatever speed you?re rewinding at. Obvious, yes, but the novelty really does take a long time to wear off, probably due to the fact that a lot of effort has clearly been put into picking the appropriate music - each tune played backwards sounds like a new tune in itself, rather than some garbled mess. I couldn?t find any clips of the music being played backwards, but if you?re interested in hearing some of the music, you can find it here.
GAMEPLAY
This is where the game really excels. The controls are mind-boggling simply: up/down/left/right, jump and rewind time. Aim of the game is to collect all the puzzle pieces, which is at the same time frustrating, headache-inducing and hugely rewarding. The puzzles are challenging, but not impossibly so - Braid has somehow managed to strike that extremely tricky balance between too easy and pointlessly difficult. The game is much cleverer than you - that is until you turn around and *****-slap it by solving the damn puzzle. You?ll flail around blindly wondering what on earth to do, but once you stumble upon the solution, by luck or otherwise, you will want to shout out ?I AM THE FUCKING MAN! BOW DOWN BEFORE MY SUPERIOR INTELLECT, IGNORANT PEASANTS! BEHOLD THIS PUZZLE WHICH ONLY MY MIGHTY BRAIN COULD COMPREHEND!?
And so on and so on. Solving these puzzles, particularly towards the latter stages of the game, brings an immense sense of achievement with it for some reason. It?s easily 10 times more satisfying than any FPS/sports/racing/you-name-it game I?ve played in a long time. You?ll actually feel cleverer for having played a video game.
So that?s Braid for you. If you have a 360, download it now! If you don?t, wait until 10th April then download the PC version like there?s no tomorrow.
Gruedog out.
Also at the following address with formatting/images etc
http://facejolt.com/daily-blog/braid-a-video-game-review/
Before you destroy your eyes with the long unformatted post below, feel free to see it in technicolor at http://facejolt.com/daily-blog/braid-a-video-game-review/
-----------------
Afternoon everyone, Gruejolt here. This is my first post so I thought I?d start with a nice gentle review of Braid, the indie darling that has taken the Xbox Live Arcade by storm and is coming to a PC near you on 10th April.
For those of you who don?t like reading, here?s the short review: Braid is awesome and anyone who disagrees is just plain wrong. 10/10. Sorted.
For those of you who want a ?proper? review with longer words and maybe some pictures, read on?
Braid is essentially a puzzle platformer where you can rewind time at various speeds. Doesn?t sound particularly original, but Braid more than makes for it with fantastic gameplay and an engrossing story. Plus it?s so very VERY satsifying to complete?
STORY
Think a tongue-in-cheek parody of Mario and you?re about halfway there. Tim has lost his princess, but every time he gets to the next castle she?s long gone. However, it then gets a whole lot more interesting - to say any more would spoil it, but let?s just say there a couple of brilliant twists along the way. The plot is seriously open to interpretation, and you really have to dig beneath the surface to find out what?s going on.
I should mention that it has been pointed out to me that if you have to really think to figure out what?s going on then the story hasn?t been told very well - this is, of course, bollocks. I?m sorry that Braid doesn?t have the generic ?these are the good guys, these are the bad guys, shoot the bad guys? plot that pervades every bland FPS these days. If you don?t like it then go back to playing with your crayons and daubing your faeces on the wall, you lazy asshat.
GRAPHICS
Right, enough of my complaining. Graphics-wise, Braid looks like an awesome, psychedelic watercolour painting. That?s probably all there is to it really. Very artsy, and it complements the gameplay brilliantly. Here?s a couple of screenshots for your viewing pleasure:
SOUND
The music itself is really quite good, a few nice tracks here and there that go with the game pretty well. To be honest, you probably won?t notice it that much, but then I guess that?s kind of the point. When you reverse time, the music also plays backwards at whatever speed you?re rewinding at. Obvious, yes, but the novelty really does take a long time to wear off, probably due to the fact that a lot of effort has clearly been put into picking the appropriate music - each tune played backwards sounds like a new tune in itself, rather than some garbled mess. I couldn?t find any clips of the music being played backwards, but if you?re interested in hearing some of the music, you can find it here.
GAMEPLAY
This is where the game really excels. The controls are mind-boggling simply: up/down/left/right, jump and rewind time. Aim of the game is to collect all the puzzle pieces, which is at the same time frustrating, headache-inducing and hugely rewarding. The puzzles are challenging, but not impossibly so - Braid has somehow managed to strike that extremely tricky balance between too easy and pointlessly difficult. The game is much cleverer than you - that is until you turn around and *****-slap it by solving the damn puzzle. You?ll flail around blindly wondering what on earth to do, but once you stumble upon the solution, by luck or otherwise, you will want to shout out ?I AM THE FUCKING MAN! BOW DOWN BEFORE MY SUPERIOR INTELLECT, IGNORANT PEASANTS! BEHOLD THIS PUZZLE WHICH ONLY MY MIGHTY BRAIN COULD COMPREHEND!?
And so on and so on. Solving these puzzles, particularly towards the latter stages of the game, brings an immense sense of achievement with it for some reason. It?s easily 10 times more satisfying than any FPS/sports/racing/you-name-it game I?ve played in a long time. You?ll actually feel cleverer for having played a video game.
So that?s Braid for you. If you have a 360, download it now! If you don?t, wait until 10th April then download the PC version like there?s no tomorrow.
Gruedog out.
Also at the following address with formatting/images etc
http://facejolt.com/daily-blog/braid-a-video-game-review/
