Braid Comments by Dan Whitehead

I appreciate that Dan. And it seems like a fairly well reasoned argument that, all joking aside, actually helps explain some of the game's appeal. Poncey or not.

Still doesn't change the fact it's a poor man's Dark Knight Returns though ;)

Also this: http://braid-game.com/walkthrough/walkth...

@ Arbiter:

Not sure if you asking for someone to describe the music, but it's varied. It's like good post-rock and chamber rock, like Esmerine or early A Silver Mt Zion, or Andrew Bird in terms of solo instrumentation. Ie accomplished strings and folk. But later it's playful and brooding, and the music is tied up in the whole narrative (I mean, literally, everytime you rewind time you rewind the music), which I haven't completed so I don't know where it's heading.

I like the concept of videogames and childhood being inextricably linked, in terms of learning about life/learning about games, and the princess metaphor, which I am not sure how plays out.

Like Dan says, semiotics. It's hard to talk about without the issue of sounding like you're reading to much into it (there are plenty of people who would shout "it's just a game", but they have their own polemic), but that's a good danger for videogames to have (some would say: 'finally').

A lot of it reminds me of an IF game called Shrapnel, and also another called Galatea. In terms of graphical games, tonally it reminds me of that level in Deus Ex: IW, when you travel to Antarctica and enter JC Denton's brain-form (cue bits of Deus Ex 1 being recalled). The narrative informing the actual level design. Pretty interesting.

@Darren:

"I not only want it to entertain me for many hours (to get value for money out of it) but I also want it to make decent use of the hardware."

Eh... Is that really so important to you? I do hate it when designers add things to games just because they can, not because it's a good idea. Adding heavy processor-intensive graphics and effects to Braid seems to me as silly as having a wii/ds game with ridiculous controls just because the designers felt they needed to use all the features of the wiimote/touchscreen.

I want my games to be as long as they have to be, to accomplish what they set out to do, and use as much of the hardware as they need to in order to achieve the artistic style they are going for. I don't ask for anything more and frankly I think the fact that many people do ask for more has a lot to do with why there are so many games which have great ideas which are messed up in the execution.

I'm a desperate Sony Fanboy, how dare Eurogamer give a 360 game i've never played a 10/10.

I will find out things to undermine your review and the game shortly

Carry on

@DanWhitehead

Loved that walktrough. Absolutely genious. Ill be playing this all weekend. More so than SCIV for sure ( proper game or not lol ).

" All the puzzles in Braid are reasonable.

They don't require you to do anything random; they don't require guessing."

Someone needs to forward that to whoever at Square was in charge of creating the "secret" stuff in FFX-2 and FFXII.

This game has an art style that reminds me of an old Amiga 500 game. I cant think of the name of it though. Anyone else have any ideas what it might be?

@MrMarbles

Yes, he did have a problem with it - I don't want to speak for Arbiter, but I remember it. In short, Arbiter's view is that game reviews should at least make a effort at being objective even if they are necessarily subjective (correct me if I'm wrong).

My, and I would guess many reviewers view is that reviews should not be shy of the fact that they are subjective and that just because a review is consciously subjective doesn't mean that it's no help to a person deciding whether to buy it - because they can read the review and take what they like from it: the Watchmen comparison might not appeal to them, they may not be interested in gameplay-as-metaphor, and they just might not like 2d playform mechanics in any shape or form, they might not be thrilled by the sound of the time-shifting gameplay. All a reviewer can really do is say: this is what I got out of it, here are some of the reasons why I think I got that out of it, if you think based on that that you'll get about the same mileage, here's a score to hang on it. If not, knock a point or two on or off to taste.

@PatAU - Flink?

@Widge

I've always felt that a lot of the FF games require you to guess or stumble upon solutions and secrets. Even FFVII had some strange way to get all of the powerful weapons and also revealed that the plot had been re-written when you got hold of Aeris most powerful staff long after she had died :)

FFVII was fairly straight up, FFVIII started to get a bit silly with the strange shadow in the lake and the UFO, I seem to remember FFIX and X being ok, but then FFX-2's ridiculous make sure you do some things in certain orders, look a certain scenes and only then you can have the ultimate costumes and FFXII's don't open certain chests really irked me.

Its like they are bunged in to fuel the sale of strategy guides so that you don't miss anything.

It could be any A500 game! The dire Oscar springs to mind for some reason and is clouding my memory of other, actually good titles.

@Insofox - not Flink, but you just reminded me of what it was. I dont know how.

It's Flimbo's Quest!

(this took me ~3 weeks to think of the bloody name, thanks for jogging my memory)

Incidentally, the game art doesnt really resemble Braid that much. Only ever so slightly.

What a wonderful love letter, this review:)

I can't agree more with the 10/10.

It's a game that has clearly been thought through from every aspect.

If only the same could be said of other 10/10 games on eurogamer.

: D

I'm just going to reiterate that this review was a very enjoyable one. These days the games industry is like the music industry in terms of content and personal preferences.

Pretty bloody amazing. However, the first time I ordered from them they took about 2 weeks to arrive. Talk about inconsistent.

Tell me about it. I thought I week in advance would be plenty time for my Geometry Wars 2 points to get here, still waiting.

As for Braid, I completed the demo this morning, and it just underlines the total insanity of putting this out at 1200 points. It'll doubtless sell to the Ico fans (you know the ones, the ones who pronounce it "eeko"), but any hope of getting it beyond them went out of the window as soon as it was priced over the standard 800. I doubt many people will even bother to figure out the trickier pieces in the first world, knowing that if they end up liking it it'll cost them over a tenner, and until you DO figure out the trickier ones the appeal of the game is invisible.

I knew someone would crack the Eurogamer 10/10 eventually. All it took was making a very short game in which you can't possibly lose. Edit: I should note the graphics and sound are brilliant, though. I'd like to see more good 2D games.

Darren, I wholely disagree. I've played Stardust on and of since I purchased it and have enjoyed my time on it consistantly while some full priced games have lost alot of their charm after completion.

Re: Braid. I want. I love the art direction, so all you tossers moaning about the graphics can go and screw yourselfs. This game is the feather in XBLA's cap that MS needed. Want!

There is another big difference between Watchmen and Braid. Watchmen still works as a brilliant experience regardless of how much one knows about superheroes. I've known people who've (at least so they claim) never read any comics beyond Garfield who still found Watchmen a great book, true they've almost certainly missed some stuff, but then there are things I'm still noticing on subsequent readings that I never saw the first time.

Braid however, well, for anyone who isn't experienced in jumping on heads platforming this game isn't nearly as enjoyable. And the time rewind to help me out from my death after death due to personal suckage at timing jumps is far less helpful than one might imagine. I normally only play jump on head platformers on emulators anyway so rewinding is a just a slower, fiddlier and ultimately just as likely to result in a second (third, fourth, fifth ad nauseum) failure version of quicksaving/loading anyway.

And I'm only on the second world so far (bought without a demo, starting to regret that decision already) but I've already seen one jigsaw piece that requires a degree of fiddly enough skill that I'll never bloody bother getting it even though I know how to because so far all the puzzles have been alarming obvious in terms of what needs to be done while frustratingly hard (for me at least) to actually accomplish which is the exact reverse of what I'd have hoped for.

Chaote-Imagicka wrote: I know how to because so far all the puzzles have been alarming obvious in terms of what needs to be done while frustratingly hard (for me at least) to actually accomplish which is the exact reverse of what I'd have hoped for.

Sounds great imo. Just how i want it.

Well this is a complete bitch-fest. Instead of talking out of your arses, why not just wax lyrical about how awesomely transcendent this game is?

Great review, Mr. Whitehead. This seems like the game I've waited years to get to experience.

@ Gearskin

Because people are already being paid to do that!

Chaote-Imagicka wrote: I know how to because so far all the puzzles have been alarming obvious in terms of what needs to be done while frustratingly hard (for me at least) to actually accomplish which is the exact reverse of what I'd have hoped for.

Sounds great imo. Just how i want it.

+1 I like my challenges in games to be from needing skill to accomplish them rather than sitting there scratching my head until I give up and look on gamefaqs.

I swore never to buy an Arcade release again after MS didnt transfer my licence on my new/refurb 360, leaving my son unable to play any of the stuff i have purchased for him for over 1 month untill they "rectify"the problem....but this is tempting me :(

I've just given the trial version a spin and I love the art style and the game mechanics. I do however find the written passages to be obnoxiously self-important and I'm also a bit hesitant to throw 1200 points at it. I guess I'll wait to see what the general reception will be.

just spent lunchtime figuring out world 2 in the demo. i love it. it's quite tricky but wouldn't be fun and nor was mario without it. bought promptly

Played the demo. Didn't think much of the art direction, though it was pretty. Enjoyed the music. Time-puzzle elements were quite clever.

Surprised to see such heartfelt writing in a game. Made me wonder if the designer was talking about himself. Also made me think that he should move on from chasing the princess.

Despite that, and because it made me think, I bought it.

@ phoopipe

That problem is rectified

http://www.xbox.com/en-GB/support/drm/


Buy away!

I thought this game was also by Rod Humble (I'll have to check out his other works) but it Looks and sounds great though.

@muscleblade - Actually you'll find that the games I play are usually weighed in favour of the offline game as I don't play games online so I'm not going to get any points for those obviously.

Judging how long I play games by the Achievements is pretty pointless anyway . For example, I've played GTA IV for over 45 hours and only have 195 GP. I played GRID for 30 hours and have 565 points, PGR 4 for almost 50 hours and have around the same. I completed Gears of War twice and I only have 200 odd points. I played Ridge Racer 6 for over 35 hours and only unlocked 150 GP from memory. I've played Oblivion for over 250 hours and managed 1,220 GP. The point is that I'm getting value for money from those games because I'm getting hours and hours of enjoyment from them regardless of whether I complete them or not. That's something I don't get from 95% of XBLA games. Also I play games to enjoy them not hoard meaningless points like some people (and it's pretty sad that you even bothered to check my Achievement scores in the first place really; I'm certainly not interested in yours or anyone else's for that matter).

You catch my drift? ;)

@moggsy - The comment about playing games on the Wii was a joke hence the :P at the end. I own a Wii myself although by Xbox 360 and PS3 standards the game are very much last gen technically if nothing else! ;)

am i the only one thinking braid sucks hard? or has no one else played it?

@Darren

OK.

I still dont agree with you about Xbla games not being proper games and ive spent countless hours on some of them too.

"Also I play games to enjoy them not hoard meaningless points like some people"

Agree on this and im not like that at all. In many games the award of getting hard achievmnets add to the enjoyment though and actually add replay value. This is certaintly the case in games like Geo wars 2. In many retail games theyre just a shore to get. If you dont like the challenge of getting achievements like those in Geo wars 2 and NG2 mission mode then you dont see my point i guess.

Isnt the challenge in games a very important part of gaming?

@muscleblade - Well I don't see the majority of XBLA games as offering me the quality of gaming that full-priced releases do from my own experiences, certainly not most of the £7 ones anyway. Perhaps it's the amateurish production values of many of them, the file size restrictions, the sheer awfulness of many of them or the fact that most of the games are relatively simple, or perhaps it's all of them, I don't know. All I do know is that I'd rather pay more for better quality games on a disc and I view most XBLA, as I said earlier, as I did those £1.99 "cheapies" on the C64 many, many years ago. I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree in this case.

Incidentally, I think the quality of the downloaded games are generally better and more varied/imaginative on the PS3 even the £4.99 ones. Games like the aforementioned Super Stardust HD, Tekken 5 DR, Elefunk, echochrome and the freebie Gran Turismo 5 HD have been loaded up more than most XBLA games plus I've spent a decent amount of time playing them. And games like Siren and Warhawk are terrific games for £20. IMO, XBLA is swamped with so much sub-par tat that it diminishes my appreciation for the good games when they do come along. I think Microsoft's quality control leaves a bit to be desired really.

@muscleblade - "Isnt the challenge in games a very important part of gaming?"

Not for me it isn't. I play games to relax and have fun, I don't play games for the challenge particularly, which is probably why I don't play them online and am not bothered about silly Achievements anymore. I generally like easy games anyway as it means I can finish them (my preference is for story driven games). My rule is that if I'm enjoying a game then it's good, if I'm not then it isn't! LOL

Anyone know if it's possible to get all the pieces in the world 2 on the demo? I've got all but 2 so far, and I'm buggered if I can work them out. Don't want to know how to get them, just whether it's possible or not.

@Darren

Ok - i guess we find enjoyment in different things then. I prefer short but challenging games over long easy ones.

played a level and a half at lunch, first impressions are good - plenty of how the (insert your favourite expletive here) am i supposed to get that moments - I love the way it takes everything you know about platform games and turns them upside down so you have to relearn how to play - a bit like portal in that way - love what i've played of it so far

Well, I have to buy this now, but just as an aside... Am I the only one who thought LostWinds was grossly over-rated? I mean, yes, it's cheap, and it's gorgeous to look at, and the integration of sound and music is wonderfully coherent... I appreciate all of that, but as a game am I insane or are the controls more than a little fussy and the puzzles more than a little predictable after a short while?

@smurphs: It is possible yes. When you work it out, it feels so good!

Anyone know if it's possible to get all the pieces in the world 2 on the demo? I've got all but 2 so far, and I'm buggered if I can work them out. Don't want to know how to get them, just whether it's possible or not.

I'm going to guess these are the last two pieces, near the giant jigsaw frame? If so, working out how you can reach these was the first moment I really fell in love with the game.

I'll just say this - pay close attention to everything you can manipulate.

Thanks for that. I'll persevere then. Feels like I could do to take a break and come back later to try again. Or maybe I'll explode some zombies in RE4 for a bit to clear my head. God, games are sweet.

@Dan - that was the exact moment it changed for me too! Prior to that I was somewhat underwhelmed! :D

Got it! Thanks guys. I've had my xbox for 2 years and haven't splashed out on points yet, but this will definitely be my first (+ Banjo on its way).

So did Darren just spend pages tell us why this game shouldn't have received a 10/10? Quality. Not quantity.

Played it, completed it, loved it.

This Game Is ACE!

(shame it's a tad short though)

>Quirky game gets 10/10 review on Eurogamer shocker!!!!!!!!!!

How is it quirky exactly?

It's doing the same as lots of games before it.. it's borrowing ideas from all over the shop.. but it does it VERY VERY VERY well.. Thus the reason it got a high score..

Game which is GOOD and FUN gets 10/10 review on Eurogamer shocker!!!!