1st Opinion: (Demoed Braid) Rob LeFebvre, Portable Editor
Wow, it’s not often that I get to post about two things I love. This means, of course, innovative video games and Ben “Yahtzee” Crosshaw’s Zero Punctuation series. The Z.P. series is brilliant, and he skewers crap games and overblown gamers with aplomb. He also occasionally praises a game (though can also point out some of a good game’s flaws, which in my book gives him mucho street cred).
I demoed the Braid game from XBLA when it came out, and at first was thinking, “Meh, another platformer.” Then I spent a couple of levels figuring out that I had to use the X Button to reverse time. Then I spent some more time reading the story, which read like a moody set piece and an ironic statement about the platformer genre, as referenced by Mario and Co. (The princess is not in this castle. Maybe she’s in another one. If you buy the full game, you might get to figure it out). Simply brilliant.
I haven’t bought the full game yet. I’m saving my pennies for other things in my life. Like food for my children. But if I were to purchase one game from XBLA this month, it would be Braid. And if you listen to the video above, you’ll know why. Innovative. Gaming. It’s always a winner, in my book.
2nd Opinion: Jason Evangelho (Bought Braid), Executive Editor
Since Rob heaped deserved praise on Yahtzee, I’ll stick to my opinion of Braid. I plunked down the $15 for it upon release, and subsequently sunk 3 hours straight into it’s brain-busting puzzles. (Though with the chaos around here, I haven’t yet completed it). Initially I expected Yahtzee to destroy Braid, but instead he blames the majority of gamers for more titles of this ilk not being released.
Here’s my piece: I’m ecstatic that more and more of these downloadable titles are challenging us. Recent games like Braid, PixelJunk Eden, and even Geometry Wars 2 are pushing us to hone our reflexes, and alter the way we progress through the typical platformer. And because of that, I say it’s money well spent. Braid may not offer much in the way of replayability, but it’s a title every serious gamer should have simply for the uniqueness and challenge level it presents.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled hilarity.
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