Braid costs fifteen legitimate, hard-earned American dollars…
Monday, August 11th, 2008…and I, for one, am mad as hell!
How dare the tyrants at Micro$oft charge me a 50% increase over the standard Xbox Live arcade game price? It’s ludicrous!
It’s not like I’m paying for an independent developer’s finely crafted product, painstakingly produced and hauntingly beautiful in its ambiance.
I can’t say it any better than this:
What’s that? Fifteen dollars is too much money to pay for a downloadable game? Fine. Whatever helps you sleep at night, you stingy bastard. More Braid for me.
I’ve found it difficult to come up with a consistent method for assigning a value for a game based on its cost. I’ve mentioned my year-long love affair with Picross DS on several occasions, a game that — at a mere twenty dollars — has sated my appetite for portable gaming single-handedly for hundreds of hours. At the other end of the spectrum is the spectacular Portal, now available as a standalone purchase for $20. Portal takes only a few hours to complete, but the innovative gameplay and mind-bending experiences surely contribute to the game’s lasting value.
It should probably be noted that Penny Arcade’s On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness: Episode 1 cost $20, a price point that effectively raised the bar for how much a developer can charge for an Xbox Live Arcade game. But that was also $20 well spent in my opinion; the Penny Arcade team put together a petty damn creative game with hilarious scenarios and dialog and stylish artwork, and their endorsement of Braid seems more like a rallying of arms for creative game development than an attempt to justify PAA:OtR-SPoD:E1′s hefty price tag (and bafflingly long title).
I haven’t even talked about the moments in Braid that provoked a verbal “aha!” where the last cog in an untouched corner of my brain sprang to life, turning what was once a mind-numbing riddle into a clever puzzle unlike anything I’d solved before. I didn’t mention the brilliant, dark and distinct writing, or the myriad brilliant uses of the game’s core mechanic — time manipulation — and how it comes to a brilliant and heartbreaking crescendo in the game’s final, eponymous level.
I didn’t mention how important a game like Braid is to the medium as a whole. But I probably should.
Braid is one of those rare titles whose impact will be felt throughout game design for years to come. But more importantly, it’s a very heartfelt and personal story presented through a beautifully ethereal musical score and endearing hand-painted imagery. It’s unlike anything you’ve played before.