BRAID

Assignment 1: Game Review

Rainer Dreyer DRYRAI001

02.08.2009 2.8.2009 1

BRAID Assignment 1: Game Review

Since August 2008 Xbox Live Arcade players have been jumping, running and reversing time in a fresh indie platform & puzzle game by Jonathan Blow. In April 2009 the game was ported to the PC and by now I has also been released to MacOS X and the PlayStation 3. Blow created his studio "Number None, Inc" for the Xbox Release and programmed the game over 3 years, with the help of just one graphics artist, David Hellman.

The game is surprisingly unique, even though at a first glance it is made up of the same elements as Super Mario Bros. and generations of other platformers. But the moment the player hits the "Control" key it transforms itself into a fresh puzzle game. The basic plot is the story of Tim, chasing through levels of monsters, deadly falls and fireballs, to reach castles with flags in search of his "princess". (Sounds like Super Mario?) Like most platformers there is no Multiplayer mode and difficulty levels are not adjustable. There is no need for AI, monsters are just a part of the puzzle and move along set routes. Adding the use of different time-manipulators in different themed worlds creates a 4-12 hour long, exciting gaming experience filled with "ahaa moments" and occasional frustration.

1 A typical level in Braid’s World “Time and Mystery” 2.8.2009 2

GAMEPLAY

The main goal of the game is to collect puzzle pieces, similar to other puzzle games. These form pictures that are additional story pieces and seem to represent Tim's memories of life with the princess. There is no score other than the puzzle pieces and the player is never forced to get all pieces before leaving a level. This means unlocking other worlds fairly quickly, but leaves the player with time to think about puzzles in previous worlds. The difficulty is very nicely balanced, though. Each level in a world gets a bit more difficult than the last one and expects more thinking of the player. After completing Braid a speed-run mode gets available. (There are also eight hidden stars in the game that complete the constellation of Andromeda outside of Tim’s house.1)

1 Nolan, Richard (2008-08-19). "Braid - Review". Play.tm

2 http://www.joystiq.com/2008/09/25/joystiq-interview-blow-unravels-braid-in-post-mortem/

The story is told in in-game books: each world has a few pieces of poetry that the player needs to combine to form the story. The plot is vague and online explanations can't seem to agree on whether Tim is undoing just the wrongs of his relationship with the princess or even developing the atomic bomb. Blow himself states that he doesn't want to explain the story in a 3 page essay, as it would remove the purpose of the game2 . The ending is the 6th world called “World 1” and seems to be the first in the plot.

2 Tim’s house from where the player picks worlds to play and sees completed puzzles

Death is no problem in Braid, as the first game world "Time and Forgiveness" demonstrates: Tim falls into a pit? Undo time. Tim runs into a monster? Undo time. The player is introduced to these game mechanics in the first group of levels gently and slowly. In the first world Tim only learns to jump. In the next one he discovers the key and lock mechanism. Even though this seems simple some puzzles can 2.8.2009 3

only be solved with repeated time reversals. The player is told which buttons to press: When Tim dies a little "Shift" key appears next to him. When Tim stands next to a lever a little "Down" key appears above him. The game purposefully removes the need for a tutorial or manual. The player doesn't need the mouse. These simple controls were probably inspired by other platformers and the limitations of Xbox controllers.

In the next world "Time and Mystery" some objects start glowing green and become unaffected by time reversal. The game demonstrates this by letting Tim jump into a pit, get a key and reverse time to take the key with him out of the pit. Levels sometimes remind the player of similar levels in previous worlds, but the solution is different using the new time-manipulator. Braid's website uses the slogan "Braid treats your time and attention as precious" and really sticks to the promise of having non-repetitive puzzles. Later worlds add more complex seeming elements like Tim's shadow (in "Time and Decision") and time manipulation through horizontal movement (in "Time and Place"). I won't give away more details about the time-manipulators in "Hesitance" and the final world "World 1".

Tim lacks a "double jump" that players know from other jump-and-runs or platformers, thus he often uses monsters to jump onto, sometimes even jumping from monster to monster. In one puzzle Tim uses his own shadow to pass him a key (first sacrificing himself, rewinding time and taking the key from his shadow that is busy jumping into a death pit, insane!) In multiple puzzles Tim diverts monsters from their normal path to fetch keys for him or to line them up for higher jumps. He uses his time-tools in ingenious ways, speeding time up immensely walking on a time-manipulated cloud, which lets him steer a monster past three deadly “Snapper” plants. Each new solution keeps the player motivated. But don’t be fooled, the game wasn’t written with replayability in mind and can be completed in a day easily.

3 Tim dropping a chandelier on an angry boss 2.8.2009 4

PRESENTATION

Braid is set in picturesque hand-drawn 2D graphics, each world themed to a certain degree. The graphics are supposed to not distract from the playing experience and were refined by Blow and Hellman over multiple runs to not confuse the player. Blow added visual clues like yellow shading in “reversed time” and snowflakes that “fall upwards” in “Time and Place” when the player walks to the left. In “Time and Decision” most objects including Tim have shadows that seem to wobble in their parallel universe. Overall the graphics succeed in immersing the player into a new world completely and highlighting the new gameplay elements that are important (like the green and purple glow).

The music in Braid was composed by three artists: Cheryl Ann Fulton, Shira Kammen and Jami Sieber. Blow decided to license 8 tracks from these artists that were long enough to not loop while a player solves difficult puzzles, provide the right ambience and sound interesting when played in reverse. This is the most amazing feature of Braid’s soundtrack: While the player reverses time the instrumental background music is reversed, too. This is a key feature of Braid’s presentation that is completely unique to this game!

4 Time reversal graying out the world of “Time and Decision” 2.8.2009 5

CONCLUSION

If you are willing to play low-budget indie games set in 2D, Braid will be the best, most mind-boggling puzzle game you have discovered in the last year. It was also the highest rated Xbox Live game in 20083 . The graphics are the most exciting I have seen in a 2D game in a while (different shades in different worlds, huge level of detail), the soundtrack is brilliant; the puzzles are clever all the way through. My only point of critique is the story that seems out of place and not important at all. Play Braid, it is addictive! 1246 words

3 Blow, Jonathan (2008-08-09). "Braid is the highest-rated XBLA game ever. (Also, sales data).

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This work is licensed by Rainer Dreyer under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY 3.0), and is an Open Educational Resource.

Last edited by Rainer Dreyer on Oct 3, 2009 5:39 am GMT-5.