14 DAY TRIAL // The gaming industry is dominated by big-time corporations like Activision-Blizzard, Electronic Arts or Ubisoft, but that doesn't mean that smaller studios or even just one man can't break the mold of conventional video game design and development.
Jonathan Blow is such a man, as he thoroughly demonstrated with the launch of its massively successful puzzle platformer Braid onto the Xbox Live Arcade. The small game generated a huge amount of fan response, with the intricate game mechanics, the superb graphics and open-end story, and, since it appeared for the PC a few days ago, we had a chance to take the main protagonist, Tim, out for a spin in search of the Princess.
13:00 Finally, I have the chance to play such a critically acclaimed game. I only went through the demo found on the Xbox Live Arcade, so this will be my first full encounter with Blow's platformer.
13:10 Immediately the gorgeous graphics kick in, with the detailed backgrounds that seem something out of a story book. So far the gameplay mechanics also seem very good, with the normal platformer controls of moving and jumping.
13:15 These may seem classic at first, but when you press the Shift key for the first time and see the time-rewind mechanic in action, the whole scope of the game grows exponentially. The ability to unwind and make your mistake never happen is something that will surely attract a lot of people.
13:25 The puzzles are pretty challenging I must admit, as you definitely need some time to figure out what you need to do in order to complete the level and, most importantly, to gather all of the puzzle pieces found in each of the worlds Tim progresses through.
13:35 The first world is nearly done, but I still need to find out two puzzle pieces that were inaccessible for me the first time around. Luckily, I can still put together some of the pieces and see the overall picture. Blow has indeed put quite a lot of effort into the game, as I now need to use the actual puzzle image as a component in one of the worlds.
13:40 The trick worked and now I've passed the first world. Not very long, but still extremely interesting. You might get the feeling that you are actually playing some sort of a Mario 2.0, where all of the puzzles and the enemies have gotten a severe revamp.
13:50 And if the whole Mario-theme wasn't complete, you will also encounter the infamous Piranha plant, which sprouts out from a pipe in order to chomp at anything that might get in its way. Luckily, the time rewind feature gets you out of the jaws of the vicious plant and back to where you were some seconds ago.
14:00 My one hour is up, but Braid has definitely left an impression on me. The graphics and art style are great, the gameplay mechanics are very solid and puzzles extremely challenging sometimes. I have a feeling that a few expletive words are going to go in the direction of Jonathan Blow, but it's all in good spirit.
All in all, Blow did a terrific job on porting the Xbox 360 title to the PC platform. The controls are fluid, the graphics look amazing and the overall feel is extremely solid. I can't wait to get back in Tim's world and start exploring new territories.