Braid Damage

Earlier this week I had the satisfaction of striking another game from the Hall of Shame – this time it was Braid. But what made this victory particularly satisfying was for two reasons: a) it was the endpoint after numerous frustrations and b) the achievement for completion of the game was enough to reach the ten thousand mark in my XBLA achievement total. Whilst Specs Ops the Line may have contributed heavily to this goal, beating Braid was enough to cross the finish line (that and saying both games in the same sentence makes me laugh).

So about Braid: To be honest approaching this game has always carried a weight of intimidation: It is one of those games that has lauded with praise so much that one would think there may not be a lot left to say about it and saying something different may come across as treason. So did I think of Braid?

Well I enjoyed it: There is indeed a lot going for this game that certainly deserves the praise.  The game mechanics are clever and inventive, the music is great, the puzzles creative and the art direction mind-blowing. All of which sound like great but, as there always seems to be, a problem raises its head. You see, many people regard Braid as the go-to game for the ‘Games as Art’ proposal but I’m not getting it. Where Braid works for me is a deconstruction of the whole ‘rescue the princess’ gaming trope and it there it works best: Thus adding all this stuff about the atomic bomb seems …well…unnecessary. To me it comes across as tacked on, convoluted and dropping an actual good idea. In fact the title of ‘Art Game’ continuously bestowed upon Braid seem more a ‘Get Out of Jail Free’ card so its problems won’t have to be explained – but I’m not so easily fooled.

Still I did enjoy Braid and am glad to have played it.
As a side note though, I am now imagining Tim being drinking buddies with Wander from Shadow of the Colossus.