Virtual Hairdo

I downloaded the trial version of Braid on the XBox 360. Nick was watching when I fired it up and started exploring. We had a few that's pretty cool moments, and the ha, ha, I like that reaction to basic time manipulation.

Then came the oh my god moments and the holy shit parts. Don't forget the wh- wha- what? How... holy crap! parts.

If this was a PC game I think I'd probably buy ten copies just to make sure I could play it. And maybe I'd buy a PC and a small generator so that in a hundred years' time, the people of the future can experience its genius. It's sheer brilliance.

The tricks you have to come up with are mind boggling to an unprepared mind. There are rules that remain fixed and unbroken, and then there are rules that you can bend and manipulate. The game doesn't punish you for making mistakes, you can just sweep up the pieces and look at what you did wrong. You learn and think, you start forming abstract methods of doing things and goddamn I love it.

One of the early stages (in the trial at least) has a time manipulation effect that flows from naught but dreams themselves. The art style is really cool and the soundtrack fantastic. If Crysis had gone for ingenious game play and not just lifelike graphics and a naff script then perhaps it would have been a breakthrough rather than just a benchmark. Alright so not everyone who picks up a keyboard and mouse or controller wants to have their thinking widened and challenged by a game, but it's been far too long since a game challenged me to think differently in the way that Braid has done.

There's more news to blog about, but right now I don't have the luxury of typing about it for hours since I'm at work today, upgrading and fixing computers.