I’ve been playing more games recently. I finished Professor Layton, I’ve been back into Team Fortress 2 (thanks to the heavy update), and various other things. One of the games I recently started (and finished) was Braid, the XBLA title.
Now there is a demo you can download, but I’m not sure what the point is. I downloaded the demo and after playing through it decided to buy the real game. The problem with this is that I was already going to buy the game. The only reason for the demo was to see if there was something bad enough to prevent me from buying. Yet one of my coworkers downloaded the demo and didn’t buy the game after that because he had no motivation, which I completely sympathize with. The demo showed off the game’s style, but there really wasn’t anything in it compelling me to buy the full game. You only get to see the simplest of the time mechanics in it, there is no real glimpse of the complexity that will come later. It just doesn’t include enough to make you want to buy. Had the demo not existed, I would have bought the game anyway because that’s why I was there. Had I not been going to buy that game and I downloaded the demo, chances are I wouldn’t have purchased the full game unless I was quite bored.
As a game, it’s basically a puzzle game and was quite fun. Some of the puzzles are frustrating (see: “Fragile Companion”, left half of the level) and some are fiendishly clever. Very few (again, see “Fragile Companion, left half of the level”) feel cheap. The way the mechanic varies slightly from world to world really helps keep it feeling fresh. Technically, it’s quite well done.
The art in the game is fantastic. I know the man who created it spent a ton of time (and money, $180k) to make the game and it was worth it. The watercolor art style looks fantastic. The sprites stand out, as they aren’t done in quite the same style (especially Tim, who doesn’t seem to quite fit in, which is rather apropos). The music (almost always a lone string instrument, probably a cello) not only fits very well but is quite beautiful. The only problem in this department I noticed is the sound effects seem a little cartoony. While they normally work, when you have to hear them over and over and over because you’re rewinding time to figure out where you went wrong they get grating.
The story, while barely there, is pretty good as well. The ending is pretty smart. Yet the way the story is presented (in little books that open into lines of text to read) you could completely skip all of it if you wanted to. I’m trying to think of another game that had such a fitting story that wasn’t forced on you at all, but I’m drawing a blank.
The game was a little expensive for a downloadable game (especially something like Lost Winds). It also feels a bit too short (one more world would have been nice). But either way it is a good value for the money and I really enjoyed it. I’d definitely buy it again.
