Intermission: 'Braid'

Ah, Braid.
I hate Braid.

Well, that's not fair. I used to like it, you know. I actually got all the puzzle pieces for level 1 and 2. It was at the world called "Hesitance" [the world with the ring] that I gave up on the game.

Oh, I finished it (that is to say, passed it but didn't get all the puzzle pieces) and I almost finished the last world, but what really pissed me off about said level/world was the time mechanic.

Placing the ring slowed down time in a fixed radius around the ring. The rest of the level went at normal speed, but whatever was close to the ring was slowed down.

That's fine. nothing wrong with that. It's actually pretty clever, because you can think of all sorts of interesting puzzles to go around it. And they probably thought they were.

I would seriously like to know who playtested Braid. I wouldn't be surprised if they got a few guys (presumably friends) in to do it for them instead of an actual team, because (being an indie game) they didn't exactly have that much money. Except that's a lie, because Jonathan Blow sank $200,000 dollars into Braid, most of which included hiring the artist and, according to Wikipedia, "living expenses".

Several of the levels in this world (hell, in the entire game) are complicated at best. The game does everything it can to keep clues on how you're supposed to finish the level as far away from you as possible.

Yeah, I know that's the point of a puzzle game and you don't need to point it out, but Braid seems to take it a step further.

My favourite level in the whole game is the Boss level in the last world. Not the last-last world, the shadow mechanic world.
Get this - two shandeliers. Both shaneliers have a shadow each. This equals (essentially) 4 shandeliers. Boss has 5 health.

That last fact just blew my mind. How the hell was I supposed to chip away the last health bar? What's worse is the bastard keeps moving all the time - he never stops, not even for a second, to give you a chance at hitting him. That's fine, you think, I'll predict his path. No you can't, I say, because the boss in intelligent and will walk away from whatever shanelier you happen to be waiting under, and all the while he's lobbing fireballs at you.

What I think your supposed to do is get it so the shandelier hits the boss, then rewind time so it hits the boss again, but this time it hits him a microsecond before his health comes back, so essentially you get three hits in one, but I'm not even sure about that.

All the walkthroughs I've read about it word the information in strange ways, so you have to decipher what they're saying.

The Braid website even gave you a page called "walkthrough" or "cheats", where it explained how to complete the first level (which is about as easy as explaining to someone how to click something with a mouse) and then went on to say how you should figure it out for yourself and you'll feel totally smart because you did and if you use a walkthrough you won't. (I'm paraphrasing here.)

A valid point Mr. Blow, but that goes out the window when I've spent the last half hour trying to figure out how to do a level.

And there's one which you have to execute perfectly, and I'm talking right down to the last PIXEL, if you want to get the puzzle piece.

But, with a heavy sigh, I have to say that Braid is worth whatever the XBLA (XBox Live Arcade) or Steam is selling it to you for, because its oh so unique. And it does feel cool when you do master a certain level, no matter which one it is.

So yeah, I guess Braid is worth it. But don't be all that surprised if you never see the "brillaint" end of the game. I know I probably won't.