Braid XBLA- If you've ever complained about mediocrity in games...

...buy this game now!

Braid is a sidescrolling puzzle/platforming game on Xbox Live Arcade. You can check out the second world of the game for free, or buy the whole deal for 1200 MS points.

This game is incredible. It seems so simple at first, and then it gets crazy. The first segment of the game involves solving puzzles using your brain, well timed jumps, and occasionally using the rewind time feature. The chapters after that allow you to manipulate the fabric of time to achieve your goals.

I won't go into to much detail about it, since the fun in this game is experiencing it for yourself. There are puzzle peices scattered through each world, the point of the game is to find these puzzle peices and put them together to form a picture that helps to fill in the story involving the main character and his search for a princess. Getting these peices is the meat of the game. When I finally figured out what I had to do to get the last two peices in the second world, I just had this big stupid grin on my face.

Bottom line, this game might not be for you, but if you are tired of mediocrity in game design, you owe it to yourself to check out the demo for this game, and if you like it, you should support Jonthan Blow for making such an incredible game. He spent a lot of his money making the game and had to borrow a lot more from other people, and it would be nice if he could get a chance to make another game.

Screens-

This screen shows an interesting part of the game. When you move to right, time advances, and when you move to the left it rewinds. Madness! I love this area.

Reviews-

Eurogamer gave it a 10.

IGN gave it an 8.8

1up gave it an A+

I'd read about this game in Play and really want it, but I need to know if you can play the full version if your 360 is not conncted to the internet. (Some XBLA games do some don't). I'm in a situation where I have to ferry my 360 between a location with broadband and one that doesn't.

I'd read about this game in Play and really want it, but I need to know if you can play the full version if your 360 is not conncted to the internet. (Some XBLA games do some don't). I'm in a situation where I have to ferry my 360 between a location with broadband and one that doesn't.

aspro73

I just unhooked my 360 from the interwebs and it still plays, so you are in luck! I was curious Aspro, as a collector, what do you think of downloadable games? It would seem that some of your enjoyment comes from the box itself, and downloaded games don't have that.

[QUOTE="aspro73"]

I'd read about this game in Play and really want it, but I need to know if you can play the full version if your 360 is not conncted to the internet. (Some XBLA games do some don't). I'm in a situation where I have to ferry my 360 between a location with broadband and one that doesn't.

rragnaar

I just unhooked my 360 from the interwebs and it still plays, so you are in luck! I was curious Aspro, as a collector, what do you think of downloadable games? It would seem that some of your enjoyment comes from the box itself, and downloaded games don't have that.

As a collector I abhore the lack of the box and manual and even more the limited access MS grants the user over the download. I have about 20 XBLA games and only 2 of them work when I am off line (the rest only let you play the trial version). To me, once I've ponied up the cash it's MY game, and I should be able to play it if my online access changes.

Back to the collecting thing, I like being able to look at games, browse through them, pick one off the shelf, consider it, and put it back. It's kind of like picking between smoking a cigarette and "the patch". Yeah, you get your fix either way, but I like the rituals surrounding gaming, which includes cases.

Besides being a collector though, I am also a gamer, so if online is the only way to get a great game (like this one looks to be) then that's how I am going to get it.

Since you are in a charitable mood can you check to see if 1942 also works off-line? :)

[QUOTE="rragnaar"][QUOTE="aspro73"]

I'd read about this game in Play and really want it, but I need to know if you can play the full version if your 360 is not conncted to the internet. (Some XBLA games do some don't). I'm in a situation where I have to ferry my 360 between a location with broadband and one that doesn't.

aspro73

I just unhooked my 360 from the interwebs and it still plays, so you are in luck! I was curious Aspro, as a collector, what do you think of downloadable games? It would seem that some of your enjoyment comes from the box itself, and downloaded games don't have that.

As a collector I abhore the lack of the box and manual and even more the limited access MS grants the user over the download. I have about 20 XBLA games and only 2 of them work when I am off line (the rest only let you play the trial version). To me, once I've ponied up the cash it's MY game, and I should be able to play it if my online access changes.

Back to the collecting thing, I like being able to look at games, browse through them, pick one off the shelf, consider it, and put it back. It's kind of like picking between smoking a cigarette and "the patch". Yeah, you get your fix either way, but I like the rituals surrounding gaming, which includes cases.

Besides being a collector though, I am also a gamer, so if online is the only way to get a great game (like this one looks to be) then that's how I am going to get it.

Since you are in a charitable mood can you check to see if 1942 also works off-line? :)

Good points for sure. I'm starting to catch the collector bug, although not as heavily as some, I've been concentrating on hunting down the best stuff from the PS1 and PS2 JRPG catalog, and it is a lot of fun. Downloading it just wouldn't be the same. I've got Symphony of the Night on my PS3 and 360, and I'd still like to snag the actual PS1 game at some point...

...oh, and the trial version for 1942 worked fine disconnected, I don't own the full game, so I couldn't check that out.

I'd read about this game in Play and really want it, but I need to know if you can play the full version if your 360 is not conncted to the internet. (Some XBLA games do some don't). I'm in a situation where I have to ferry my 360 between a location with broadband and one that doesn'taspro73

this is news to me....which XBLA games require you to be online?

as for braid, i'm willing to pay up to $20 for an xbla game as long as the quality is there...i'll download the demo tonight and check it out...i still have to pony up for geometry wars 2 though...

[QUOTE="aspro73"]

I'd read about this game in Play and really want it, but I need to know if you can play the full version if your 360 is not conncted to the internet. (Some XBLA games do some don't). I'm in a situation where I have to ferry my 360 between a location with broadband and one that doesn'tProdigy_basic

this is news to me....which XBLA games require you to be online?

Geometry Wars, Doom,that marble game, double dragon, a while bunch. This may also have something to do with having transferred them over the 3 defective 360's I've had though (?)

^Rag, thanks for checking man, I'll download both of them. I'm stoked about Braid.

[QUOTE="Prodigy_basic"][QUOTE="aspro73"]

I'd read about this game in Play and really want it, but I need to know if you can play the full version if your 360 is not conncted to the internet. (Some XBLA games do some don't). I'm in a situation where I have to ferry my 360 between a location with broadband and one that doesn'taspro73

this is news to me....which XBLA games require you to be online?

Geometry Wars, Doom,that marble game, double dragon, a while bunch. This may also have something to do with having transferred them over the 3 defective 360's I've had though (?)

^Rag, thanks for checking man, I'll download both of them. I'm stoked about Braid.

my 360 can play geometry wars online or offline...you should give xbox support a call...i'm pretty sure every single live arcade game can be played offline...

i'm guessing you used the content license transfer method? i think you could only use it once a year or something like that though...

[QUOTE="Prodigy_basic"][QUOTE="aspro73"]

I'd read about this game in Play and really want it, but I need to know if you can play the full version if your 360 is not conncted to the internet. (Some XBLA games do some don't). I'm in a situation where I have to ferry my 360 between a location with broadband and one that doesn'taspro73

this is news to me....which XBLA games require you to be online?

Geometry Wars, Doom,that marble game, double dragon, a while bunch. This may also have something to do with having transferred them over the 3 defective 360's I've had though (?)

^Rag, thanks for checking man, I'll download both of them. I'm stoked about Braid.

All Live Arcade games can be played offline to the best of my knowledge.

Microsoft has since corrected the ridiculous DRM rights for people in your very position. I'm not sure of the exact process, but I'm sure if you go to the 360 home site you'll find out how to do it. Apparently it involved redownloading all the games that you can't play offline currently, but I've been told it works flawlessly. Give it a whirl and let me know. I'd have done it myself, but there hasn't been a time yet when I've actually had my 360 disconnected from the internet since it came out. I'm sure once a storm knocks out my internet some night and I'm itching to play an older XBLA game that I downloaded on my first 360, I'll wish I hadn't waited.

2 out of 3 of those screens are from Mario titles... :? I admit I know nothing on this game but....AzelKosMos

And they play nothing like what you're thinking. The play mechanics are completely different from the games they're paying homage to.

I really dont understand where the hype for this game has come from. Collecting pieces of something? Bouncing on baddies heads to jump higher? Hard to get to items that need puzzle solving? Its all been done a million times beforevitriolboy

Not like this, though. And they're doing the game a disservice by making the first world the trial, because it's the most straightforward. After that it gets interesting - rewinding time to move certain objects and enemies, having time move forward and backward when you move right or left, cloning yourself to perform your last action while you run off elsewhere...the game does some really unique stuff.

It is hard to talk about the game without venturing too far into hyperbole, but I think the best thing about Braid is that it makes you realize that we haven't seen everything yet. There are still new ideas in games. There are still interesting places that developers can go. I think we've resigned ourselves to assuming that new games will just be bigger and better than the games that have come before, instead of hoping that new games will be something more than that.rragnaar

Goddamn you! Stop this Braid mongering! I can't get it now! I even woke up earlier today in order to download it, but all I found was a Live update that took ages to download and afterwards my damn dashboard decided not to load.

:cry:

Checked it out. Definitely interesting. I got stuck on those last few pieces. I keep thinking there's a control element that I'm missing, or something very obvious I must have passed over. I have a feeling there's brilliance hidden inside.Jbul

[QUOTE="Jbul"]Checked it out. Definitely interesting. I got stuck on those last few pieces. I keep thinking there's a control element that I'm missing, or something very obvious I must have passed over. I have a feeling there's brilliance hidden inside.raahsnavj

This game totally does reward being observant. I just finally got the last two pieces on World 2's The Cloud Bridge, and man, what an awesome bit of design. This game has had more creativity in its first world than any other game I've played this year. It's really well thought-out.

And yeah, the LB/RB to speed up things should have totally been explained in the control tutorial. It's kind of an important facet of the game.

This game totally does reward being observant. I just finally got the last two pieces on World 2's The Cloud Bridge, and man, what an awesome bit of design. This game has had more creativity in its first world than any other game I've played this year. It's really well thought-out.

Shame-usBlackley

That was my favorite moment so far.

[QUOTE="Shame-usBlackley"]

This game totally does reward being observant. I just finally got the last two pieces on World 2's The Cloud Bridge, and man, what an awesome bit of design. This game has had more creativity in its first world than any other game I've played this year. It's really well thought-out.

rragnaar

That was my favorite moment so far.

Agreed. I'm still missing the first in tha tlevel (I think...maybe it's an early one) but when I found out the trick for the very last one I had a huge grin on my face for quite a while.

[QUOTE="rragnaar"]It is hard to talk about the game without venturing too far into hyperbole, but I think the best thing about Braid is that it makes you realize that we haven't seen everything yet. There are still new ideas in games. There are still interesting places that developers can go. I think we've resigned ourselves to assuming that new games will just be bigger and better than the games that have come before, instead of hoping that new games will be something more than that.SteelAttack

Goddamn you! Stop this Braid mongering! I can't get it now! I even woke up earlier today in order to download it, but all I found was a Live update that took ages to download and afterwards my damn dashboard decided not to load.

:cry:

Hopefully that works out. My dash took about 15 seconds to load after the update, but I just assumed that was typical for an update, hopefully it will load.

Do arcade games ever drop in price? its like 18 Canadian (or so i've read) and thats way too much for me. maybe when its 800 points i'll grab it.F1Lengend

I'll check out the demo later today, but to be perfectly honest, I can't see myself paying 15 dollars for an XBLA game...Dutch_Mix

It's really, really sad to see people insta-refuse to pay as little as 15 bucks because the game is 2D. You'd think that people would embrace variety, not spit on it, turn around and play generic FPS #432.

[QUOTE="F1Lengend"]Do arcade games ever drop in price? its like 18 Canadian (or so i've read) and thats way too much for me. maybe when its 800 points i'll grab it.ReddestSkies

I'll check out the demo later today, but to be perfectly honest, I can't see myself paying 15 dollars for an XBLA game...Dutch_Mix

It's really, really sad to see people insta-refuse to pay as little as 15 bucks because the game is 2D. You'd think that people would embrace variety, not spit on it, turn around and play generic FPS #432.

When did I ever say I wasn't going to buy the game because it was 2D?

It's really, really sad when people start typing without reading... :|

Sounds excellent but that sounds just like that other game they showed at E3, the misadventures of I forget the name but its about manipulating time and using clones of yourself and stuff.

I should watch videos of this game, I want it.

dvader654

The Misadventures of P.B.Winterbottom, I believe.

Quite an awesome name. From now on, I choose to be known as Sir Steel P. Winterbottom.

[QUOTE="F1Lengend"]Do arcade games ever drop in price? its like 18 Canadian (or so i've read) and thats way too much for me. maybe when its 800 points i'll grab it.ReddestSkies

I'll check out the demo later today, but to be perfectly honest, I can't see myself paying 15 dollars for an XBLA game...Dutch_Mix

It's really, really sad to see people insta-refuse to pay as little as 15 bucks because the game is 2D. You'd think that people would embrace variety, not spit on it, turn around and play generic FPS #432.

honestly it has to do with the game going from an impulse buy to a calculated purchase, and also the fact that once the bar is raised on price, everyone else is going to follow suit. it sets a bad precedent. this game might be worth it but its going to suck when some crappy game dev decides "if people will pay that much lets all charge it".

honestly it has to do with the game going from an impulse buy to a calculated purchase, and also the fact that once the bar is raised on price, everyone else is going to follow suit. it sets a bad precedent. this game might be worth it but its going to suck when some crappy game dev decides "if people will pay that much lets all charge it".

OneWingedAngeI

Jon's contention is that a higher pricing will help ensure that he actually gets a decent return for all his work at the end of the day, even if he only sells a few 10,000 copies of the game.

This precedent isn't one that's being set by developers, the way that he feels it, but moreso set by consumers who aren't willing to shell out even impulse level prices for games that might not be as mainstream in appeal, meaning that if these games are going to sell in fewer numbers, the pricing is going to have to be higher so they can at least have a better chance of breaking even.

If people are worried that buying this sets a precedent, I guess I just have to say, vote with your wallet. If they start turning mediocre $10 games into mediocre $15 games because they think they can get away with it, boycott those games. I'm hoping Braid sets a precedent for quality over quantity. I don't want a bunch of impulse buy throwaway games. I want good games.rragnaar

Agreed.

[QUOTE="OneWingedAngeI"]

honestly it has to do with the game going from an impulse buy to a calculated purchase, and also the fact that once the bar is raised on price, everyone else is going to follow suit. it sets a bad precedent. this game might be worth it but its going to suck when some crappy game dev decides "if people will pay that much lets all charge it".

Skylock00

Jon's contention is that a higher pricing will help ensure that he actually gets a decent return for all his work at the end of the day, even if he only sells a few 10,000 copies of the game.

This precedent isn't one that's being set by developers, the way that he feels it, but moreso set by consumers who aren't willing to shell out even impulse level prices for games that might not be as mainstream in appeal, meaning that if these games are going to sell in fewer numbers, the pricing is going to have to be higher so they can at least have a better chance of breaking even.

It's a shame that Jon didn't come up with a better demo then because it's pretty bland in my honest opinion. It sounds like the full game is much better but I'm not willing to piss away 15 bucks to find out, especially with BC:Rearmed swinging in next week.

It's a shame that Jon didn't come up with a better demo then because it's pretty bland in my honest opinion. It sounds like the full game is much better but I'm not willing to piss away 15 bucks to find out, especially with BC:Rearmed swinging in next week.

Grammaton-Cleric

I understand why you use the phrase 'pissing away' in regards to paying money to find out how good the full game is...but I'd be more irritated throwing down money, only to find that there's not much more to the game than what the demo itself offers, personally. At any rate, the game is still fantastic thus far, and I'm very happy with my purchase.

Gamespot seems to like it too.:Drragnaar

Wow. Isn't that the highest score an XBLA game has ever received here?

[QUOTE="rragnaar"]Gamespot seems to like it too.:DDutch_Mix

Wow. Isn't that the highest score an XBLA game has ever received here?

If it isn't, it should be... oh and Skylock, I don't know how to break this gently, but I just passed you on the leaderboard.:P

[QUOTE="Dutch_Mix"]

[QUOTE="rragnaar"]Gamespot seems to like it too.:Drragnaar

Wow. Isn't that the highest score an XBLA game has ever received here?

If it isn't, it should be... oh and Skylock, I don't know how to break this gently, but I just passed you on the leaderboard.:P

And BTW:

When you get all 60 Puzzle Pieces, the ending sequence is indeed fantastic... however, the game isn't even fully over at that point. ;)

[QUOTE="rragnaar"][QUOTE="Dutch_Mix"]

[QUOTE="rragnaar"]Gamespot seems to like it too.:DSkylock00

Wow. Isn't that the highest score an XBLA game has ever received here?

If it isn't, it should be... oh and Skylock, I don't know how to break this gently, but I just passed you on the leaderboard.:P

And BTW:

When you get all 60 Puzzle Pieces, the ending sequence is indeed fantastic... however, the game isn't even fully over at that point. ;)

Hard Mode à la Mario?

Probably just wishful thinking :P

I put this Tom Mc Shea guy on my ignore list after he gave Eden a 7.0 so I take his reviews with a grain of salt but thats a really good score nonetheless.F1Lengend

It was that guy? So I know Braid is easy (Tom's not a big fan of challenge) and short (which is something everyone agrees on). I'd pick it up for $10, but for $15 I'll pass. No point supporting price inflation.