Braid

Rating: 3 out of 3 Stars (why only 3 possible stars?)
Genre: Puzzle; Sub-genre: Artsy, Platformer
ESRB: Unrated? (call it "teen" for use of the word "bitch" a single time, I guess)
Estimated hours of gameplay (thorough play/quick play): 6/2
Developer: Jonathan Blow
Wiki page

I hope I sound smart for enjoying such an arty game. Because I'm sure any belief in that concept will quickly dissolve with each passing word in this review. So, check this shit out, yo! You can rewind time and shit! Ohhhhhhhhh! But seriously, while the ability to rewind might be called the chief "gimmick" here, it's done so thoroughly and with several variations. And just about every level has a moment where you go, "Wait, what?" and gets you rewinding and going through your steps several times. This is the kind of game design that doesn't show itself in modern gaming too much: trusting the player to figure things out. While it IS a puzzle game, it does so with actual puzzles that fit the tone and pace of the game. Not just some bullshit non-puzzle like you'd see in a game like God of War where you just have to figure out what floor panels to step on, and CERTAINLY not like those awful point-and-click adventure games that make you click the whole screen until you stumble on the answer. And you know what else? I think anyone can figure out these puzzles. Not because they are easy, no. But they have just the right kind of challenge and the levels flow and direct the player very naturally. It always feels like a reward to solve a puzzle. Like you figured the damn thing out! Yes, you are so Goddamn smart!

Feeling out the variations is very fulfilling, like Rachmaniov's 43rd Opus

I listed the gameplay hours at a loss. The amount of time it takes to solve each puzzle is dependent on how fast the player can figure things out. As a small little indie game, it can possibly be done in a single long ass sitting by a crazy gamer like myself. Maybe a less versed gamer would take longer, I'm not sure. These ticklers grasp at the brain's ability to discern things quite naturally, but I did feel some things did speak to me. Like how jumping on a bad guy INCREASES your jump height. At any rate, it's completely unapologetic in that it will slam you with a level that would take five seconds to solve if you already knew how to do it, but might take an hour just scratching your head. I definitely had moments like that. Without giving anything away, one involved me discovering, "I can jump on that!?" It wasn't bullshit. I didn't see something that was right in front of me. Son of a bitch! Actually, the thing I got stuck on the most was the last level. Not the level itself, just getting to it. I didn't realize the ladder in the middle of the world selection screen went into the attic. Had to stop by Gamefaq's for that. D'ohhhhhhhhh...

Fuck this!

So the story... um, not my cup of tea, unfortunately. Which sucks because it's more sophisticated than pretty much any video game out there. It's told all out of order and with this weird surreality around it. But when I saw the scene above, I instantly gave up on it. You give me all this high brow artsy, confusing bullshit and then you just jam an obvious pop culture reference in my eye? Ugh! Pop culture references are low brow! And comedic, generally. This is completely... ugh! I know it's an indie game, and we all have to remember how much "better" games used to be, but whatever man! Fuck this! I glazed over everything, but that's partly due to my eagerness to get back to time travel platforming wackiness. I will say that the ending is decidedly intriguing. You don't see story endings like this at all in video games, and not very often in any other story. Man, there should have been a high brow reference, if any at all. Like, "Did you know that in his time J.C. Bach was more popular than his father, J.S. Bach? How odd, the whims of fame!" And... uh, that would have been like an arrogant joke about how popular this game ended up being. Yeah, something.

I'm smart! Classical music!

Oh, music, right. The music in this game is very fancy and soothing, yet contemplative and involved. Not your typical blather you'd find in a video game that just plays short little cues to scripted events in the game. It's no Castlevania 3, which is what I wish I'd find from these Indie developers who get so stuck on the days of old and hate the modern era, so I don't listen to it on its own. But within the game, it flows into the foreground while sinking into your subconscious and riding with you on your adventure.

This guy's gimmick is that he uses a whip while moving left to right. Tell me how games are all the same NOW, please.

Conclusion:
Really anyone can enjoy this game. Especially when I see the success of Portal going around, it should translate here. Just so long as you aren't scared off by artsy-ness of it. But it's already made a million billion dollars, so don't worry your dainty fingers too much with it. Go play your Call of Battlefields or whatever kids play these days! Nyah!

Is it this one?