Written by: Chris W.

 

 

 

Back in 2008, the artistically wonderful "Braid" was released on Xbox Live Arcade to much applause and fanfare. The game was - and still is - one of the most beautiful titles that you could ever play, but fortunately Braid isn’t all about the looks, there’s also a very good game in here: a game that will challenge those looking for a heavy puzzle challenge.

 

Thanks to Hothead Games, Braid has now been ported to the PlayStation 3.

 

 

Braid’s plot is rather unique, particularly in the manner in which it is presented to the player. Before heading into any of the game worlds, walking past books will reveal snippets of the well written story to you, and it involves main character Tim attempting to rescue a princess from the clutches of a monster. Overall, it’s a rather clever story with a hugely shocking twist, which will come as a surprise of gigantic proportions for most, although it’s also rather confusing in the later stages of the game.

 

 

 

Braid is a platformer, although to call it only this would be churlish. True, there’s plenty of jumping to be done, but there’s also a heavy emphasis on the control of time, as well. Tim’s ultimate goal is to seek out jigsaw pieces throughout the five worlds, and whilst in many other platformers it would just involve lots of jumping before reaching and collecting the object, Braid is different in the sense that it requires the manipulation of time.

 

These time control mechanics are such a big part of the game, and, with that said, many of the jigsaw pieces are just not going to come easily. You’ll discover different ways in manipulating time as you progress into each game world, meaning the game doesn’t completely unwrap itself instantaneously. Even the problem of death is easily stepped around thanks to an instant rewind mechanic, but, being a puzzler at heart, in no way does this make the game a cakewalk.

 

 

You see, during my time with Braid, there were many moments when I struggled to come up with the solution as to how to make a jigsaw piece mine, though if you manage to work things out for yourself, it feels immensely satisfying. As the game is so short, walkthroughs should only really be used as a last resort, but with a large difficulty curve for many of the puzzles; their help will sometimes come as a huge relief.