Braid
Braid is a puzzle platformer on the Xbox 360 Live Arcade. It is a game I found similar to Portals in the way that you have to use an extreme amount of logic to solve each puzzle. The difference from Portals here is that instead of a portal gun, you are given the ability to control time.
The game has 6 “Worlds” which are divided up into rooms of a house. In each room there is a door which leads you to a small room with books that give a background story to the game. Then on the other side of the room features the doors that take you to each world’s 5-6 levels. On each level there are 1-3 puzzle pieces that you can collect (I would recommend it for the points) en route to finding the exit door on the other side. There are 3 enemies to watch out for: weird human-cat hybrids, meowing rabbits, and fireball machines.
The control scheme is very simple here as there are only a few commands. (X) sends time in reverse, (LB) makes time go faster in reverse (speeds of 1x, 2x, 4x, 8x), (A) jumps and (B) performs actions like opening doors. The game automatically does things such as picking up keys and opening doors with them.
An interesting feature of this game is that every level features different gameplay. Your abilities change in each world. While you always have the ability to reverse time, on one world you can cast a shadowy partner to re-perform actions you recently did, on another you can use an object to permanently slow down a portion of the level, and on another everything moves in reverse.
The gameplay has a minor plot revolving around a man named Tim that we can assume is the character we play as. Tim is looking for his long list love “The Princess” that he is trying to win back. I won’t go much deeper so I don’t spoil it, but things become much darker than they normally appeared.
Achievement-wise, this game is fairly simple sparing one achievement. The achievements are given for completing each level and solving each puzzle, which you should do anyways. The final achievement is to beat the game on a “Speed Run”, which requires you to complete all 6 puzzles in 45 minutes, and that my friends is a toughie if there ever was one. Achievement Difficulty: 1/5
Overall, this is a great game that unless for certain people, I never would have played. I can say that this game has changed my perception of platformers and XBLA games forever. 5/5