August appears to be the month that Microsoft laid down the digital distribution gauntlet, releasing what could be the best line up on its Xbox Live Arcade service yet. Braid, a time-shifting platformer from award-winning independent developer Jonathan Blow was the second game of Microsoft’s five. With an interesting perspective, a mature approach and tight platform mechanics, Braid makes a strong case for being one of the most memorable games of the year.

Braid plays on common video game archetypes of platforming and unlikely heroes rescuing princesses, but adds subtle variations in theme by taking a new approach with its plot. Instead of an overhanging narrative, Braid’s story is much more introspective, chronicling Tim’s internal dialogue as he deals with the loss of a loved one and his quest to rescue the princess. These stories are shared explicitly through tomes placed in each world’s cloud location, but other plot developments can be found in the context of the gameplay. That’s the plot on the surface anyway; the deeper you dig, the more you will find out until you get to the point where the base plot seems almost completely unrelated.


With heavy use of watercolours, the worlds of Braid are extremely vivid and unique. Tim is presented as an everyman, wearing a suit and red tie; his sprite is superbly animated and very detailed. Braid’s enemies are particularly charming, with your typical foe looking like a hairy version of Super Mario Bros.’ Goombas, while the catrabbits have a cute yet extremely aggressive demeanour reminiscent of a certain white rabbit from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The game’s music is peaceful and atmospheric, almost like environmental music. The way the music reacts to the movement of time is also a particularly cool idea – it just goes to show how far the developer was prepared to go to make everything in the game mesh together.

At the most basic level, Braid is a straightforward platforming adventure with a rather neat time-rewinding ability. Players guide Tim through each level, jumping over perilous pits and squashing any nasties that get in your way. The game does not punish players for their mistakes; if you miss the jump, land in the fire pits or run into an enemy, simply press and hold the X button, and everything can be undone, allowing you to pass through the end with little fuss.


Braid is arguably at its most enjoyable when the action becomes a little more complex. Certain parts of each level and some enemies are set up to be immune to Tim’s time control, making management of the flow of time and solutions to puzzles much more devious. Furthermore, each world has a unique time power to make things a little more interesting. One world allows you to perform an action and then rewind and have a shadow Tim perform your previous action. Another world has the flow of time linked to Tim’s steps; move to the right and time flows forward, but move to the left and everything is reversed.

Each of the five initial worlds has twelve puzzle pieces distributed through the individual stages. Many of these pieces are seemingly impossible to get at first, but once you’ve mastered Tim’s abilities, the path becomes much clearer. Many of the solutions to collecting these puzzle pieces are weird and wonderful and will have you wondering just how the developer conceived each one. Some pieces require pretty strict timing and flow of events, and on occasion it can get a little frustrating if you’re just that little bit out of sync, or Tim slides off the edge of a platform he should have been secure on.


Once you’ve collected the puzzle pieces, you must fit the pieces together; when all five are in place, you’ll be able to reach the game’s concluding level. The final sequence proves to be the most challenging and annoying section of the game, due to its complete intolerance for error. If you bear with it, you are rewarded with a very satisfying conclusion, but getting there can be pretty infuriating. Beating Braid in its entirety will take roughly 3-4 hours, which might seem a little hefty given the 1200 point asking price. However, for the price of an adult movie ticket and a bag of popcorn, you get to experience one of the finest and most imaginative games to hit any console this year.

Braid is exactly the type of game I expected to see more of when digital distribution first reared its head; games that experiment with a mix of new ideas and classic game mechanics, with a hint of artistic flair. Braid is a beautiful game with a really thought-provoking story with a ton of hidden messages and, most importantly, loads of fascinating levels and puzzles. It may well be the best downloadable game of the year.