Better late than never - here are some stages from Braid, in video form. The game was released last month on Xbox Live Arcade, and seem to be loved by everyone. The video itself shows some levels that wasn't playable in the trial version.
Loakum @Driftwood Awesome! I’m loving it! It does show a much crisper picture and the frame rate looks good! I was playing Stella Blade and Dragonball Soarkling Blast! :) (2 Weeks ago)
Driftwood @Loakum: enjoy, the one Sony sent us will be there on launch day. Coverage will follow asap. (2 Weeks ago)
Loakum *takes a large sip of victorious grape juice* ok….my PS5 pro arrived early! So much winning! :) (2 Weeks ago)
Driftwood @reneyvane: non ils l'ont publié le 1er octobre et je crois que tu l'avais déjà linkée. ;) (5 Weeks ago)
CraCra Y a un souci sur les forums ? (8 Weeks ago)
nostradamus very few with religious beliefs are naive or zealots, but for sure don't find amusing their beliefs being thrown in for clout. maybe STFU with that discourse? (11 Weeks ago)
Driftwood Download is now functional again on Gamersyde. Sorry for the past 53 days or so when it wasn't. (> 3 Months ago)
Driftwood Another (French) livestream today at 2:30 CEST but you're welcome to drop by and speak English. I will gladly answer in English when I get a chance to catch a breath. :) (> 3 Months ago)
Driftwood GSY is getting some nice content at 3 pm CEST with our July podcast and some videos of the Deus Ex Mankind Divided preview build. :) (> 3 Months ago)
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All comments (26)
One of the best this year. A massive part of the "games as art" debate.
Although I have to say, maybe it's a little TOO intelligent. Still, that's hardly the worst criticism you could hear about something.
There isn't a straight narrative, this isn't just a copy of Mario with time features.
The bad thing about the trial is that the story begins off very simple to ease you into the game. The puzzles become increasingly interesting and difficult along with the story which becomes so much more than just "the princess is in another castle".
Combining the elements including gameplay, graphics and story it's one of the most complete pieces of art in videogames.
Honestly, the ending is superb.
As a game i was not impressed by the demo and as such i'm not going to fork out 1200 msp on it. At least not until i hear or see something more convincing than the "games are art" argument.
Perhaps i'll change my mind if i buy it, but won't know that until it happens ;)
Also on the video...not an optimal run of those stages ;)
Removing all other parts of the game but gameplay I'd say it's STILL a great puzzle game. In fact I'd go out on a limb and say that a lot of people ignore everything but the gameplay and still enjoy it. I had many a head-scratching moment (haha, almost on every level) but managed to solve every puzzle and was chuffed every time.
The whole "games as art" debate isn't meant to detract from games. It's about people taking games more seriously and recognising that more emotions can be felt than the joy of shooting someone in the face (which I enjoy anyway :P).
Braid is incredible because not only does it weave meaning from video game conventions and symbolism, but on top of it it's a really frigging tough game to wrap your head around sometimes. Even if you don't respond to the meaning in here, the game is just SO DAMN CLEVER. It challenges you to think about what you're doing and to employ your theories and strategies, and if you miscalculated you just rewind and try again. There's nothing random about it, once you figure it out, it works.
Of course then if you think for two seconds about what the game is telling you on a whole, you have to be some heartless bastard not to be moved by it. It uses what you know - or think you know - about game mechanics and about video game stereotypes and speaks to you in a way that... really, only a game could.
I mean while Metal Gear and.. you know.. Halo or whatever take a break for story time and borrows from a completely different medium to get that across, Braid IS its story. "Braid the movie" COULD NOT POSSIBLY BE DONE.
So to be honest, whether you ultimately like Braid or not, you're really doing yourself a disservice if you don't just buy it and play it through. The worst possible thing I'd wish on anyone in this case is to be spoilt some day by someone on a forum who expects everyone to have played it already, and thus ruin what has to be the most mindbending final level ever.
But yes, spending some more time with the demo (after my last post i played it some more) i can admit that some of the puzzles are pretty clever. I personally don't give much for the aesthetics of the game, but that's subjective, and well, the story, so far as i've been able to partake is really not my cup of tea.
The funny thing about the ending is that he (Jonathan Blow) only thought of it, and put it into action in the very final stages of making the game. If you're interested in hearing Jonathan Blow talking about the game listen to the most recent podcast from Destructoid. I found it pretty damn interesting.
I realise that I'm pretty much spamming this article, but I don't care, Braid is worth it.
Whereas a lot of modern games try and emulate films Braid tells a story through actually using video games' ability to be interactive. You interact with the story, rather than just watching/reading it.
My reservation about the game is that it's very much like a David Lynch film when it comes to interpretation, you can interpret it in any way you like because of the loose nature of the narrative. As much as this is a great thing (and very intelligent for a video game) personally I struggle with things that are left so open, but that says a lot more about me than the game.
I think it's clever that there kind of exists a story in there that people can pretty easily experience somewhat similarly and share their thoughts on, and then there's more in addition to that.
I also found the gameplay to be pretty dry and tedious, although I've never been a fan of the whole rewind time mechanic.
I won't argue with anyone who did enjoy it, but personally, I didn't enjoy the game much. Back to Castle Crashers for me :P
And the time feature is fantastic .. so many good ideas ...
Music and visual art stand out from all the mediocrity I see these days! I want MORE!!!
Endlich weiß ich wozu man dieses rückspulen gebrauchen kann. Nicht schlecht!
I love the musik in this game....nice.