The most unforgettable gaming experience from a mechanically unimpressive game
Well, that actually sums up my first reaction after completing the game for the first time: it's something that's amazingly hard to pinpoint. It is definitely not one of those games with edge-less, butter smooth gameplay, but it is one of the most, if not THE most, resonating gaming experience I've ever had through my eight years of gaming experience
AT A GLANCE:
If looked from a purely objective point of view, braid is an artistically sound, but ultimately simple game. You travel through different hand-drawn, lovingly crafted realms paired with soothing, and sometimes melancholic soundtracks, and obtain puzzle pieces by using the time manipulation power a la Prince of Persia. The visual and audio are technically unimpressive (well, it's 2D), but amazingly designed. The gameplay is similar, if not overtly so, to classic Mario games. The difference lies on the fact that this game focuses on solving a series of pretty well designed puzzles, all of which would challenge you to think in perplexing manners.
THE BAD:
The game does have its flaws, and it lies on the highly timing-based puzzles. Most, if not all of the puzzles require a progressively higher level of precision. This, combined with the unlimited time rewind and the PC control scheme, encourages the players to fiddle with the one mechanic and repeating a single move over and over again. The rewind mechanic, though unique, is the single main focus of the game, and some of the later puzzles are so timing based, both for the Player's movements and the enemy's, that to solve it means rewinding a single movement a couple dozen times. That being said, the game's puzzles' difficulties are reasonable (except the ones required to obtain hidden stars). So for more patient gamers, the game could be appreciated for its design rather than its execution
THE UNFORGETTABLE:
Braid is not a game for casual gamers looking for thrills, for they are most likely to find frustration before they could be thrilled by it. But it is, as mentioned, one of the most unforgettable games I've personally played. This is due to how everything in Braid comes together to deliver an experience unlike anything else. The story of the game is told through reading books at the beginning of the chapters. These excerpts are like quotes from literature: melodramatic and often mystifying. Chances are that you wouldn't get the message right off the bet, but everything else in the game are designed in such a way that the stoyline is integrated into the game itself. The different seasonal backgrounds in the worlds, the different time flows in the worlds, the resulting images after completing the puzzles, the excellent music, the time rewind system, and even the Mario-esque gameplay are all forms of story telling integrated into the game. The player never grasps the full picture of the story, but its genuine portrayal of human emotions and relationships is apparent even if you don't get the picture of the story. With it, the game is an experience that resonates with something deep down, for those gamers that are willing to let it slip in.
It is interesting how Braid is essentially a game that your ultimate motivation is to experience the game rather than to play the game. To sum it up from a critical perspective, the visual and audio presentations are artistically superb, the design ideas for gameplays are clever, but does not execute as well as it should, and the overall length of the game is relatively short. But such summary does not do the game justice, since what the game truly excels at: the storytelling, is something you as a gamer has to be open-minded enough to accept yourself. To enjoy this game to the fullest, a gamer need an appreciation for art and expression, a passion for details and the deeper meanings, and a philosophical outlook in life. It has its flaws as a game, for those of you looking for simple enjoyments in games, but at its core, it is an undisputed artistic piece.
STATS:
Graphics: 8/10
Sound: 8/10
Design: 9/10
Gameplay: 6/10
Value*: Variable (9/10 personally)
*For my review, Value is the marker that tells the overall experience and satisfaction that the game provides