'Braid' Game End Unravels
Don't get me wrong, Braid is good game. Heck, it's a great game, probably one of the most original I've played in a long time. But you've already heard that from every other game reviewer on the interwebs. And while I could spend hours praising its unique use of time (or maybe I should say successful use of time...Blinx, I'm looking at you), challenging but fulfilling puzzles, refreshing art style, and imaginative twist of an ending, I'd like to spend some time on some fair criticism of the game, namely its epilogue.
I consider myself a reasonably well read person. I've studied literature, analyzed tone, performed critical analyses and "dug deeper" to find hidden context and symbolism, and I still had no idea what the heck was going on by the end of Braid. I can appreciate attempting to raise the story of video game beyond the likes of space marines and magic fairies, but the epilogue's attempt to cram even more thinly veiled subtext into the game seems out of place and unnecessarily obfuscatory (see Jonathan Blow, I've read books, too).
Not only is the story presented in the epilogue cryptic and unrevealing, but I had to solve extra puzzles just to reveal more cryptic and unrevealing story elements! Why not put up the cryptic and unrevealing text first, let me solve a puzzle, and then replace the text with the translation for us normal college level literature students. Or better yet, replace it with some audio commentary on what on earth you are trying to say. Is our character sad that he lost his girlfriend? Is he a young child representative of mankind? Is his girlfriend the Atomic bomb!?!
Whatever the case, I would have been so much happier had the game ended with the beautifully executed "true" ending. And don't tell me I've achieved "Closure" when I've achieved nothing of sort! Sigh, at least Braid has given all of us elitist gamers a reason to talk down to all the lesser plebians playing Bionic Commando: Rearmed (why won't you jump, damn you!). And perhaps Braid can best be summed up by in it's own borrowed words:
"It worked"
"Now we're all sons of bitches"
Dustin Anglin
If you are in to game design or are of the notion that games are an emerging art form, you need to check out the 9/1/2008 1UP FM podcast with Braid game creator Jonathan Blow. It's a bit pretentious, just like his game, but well worth listening to if you are at all interested in games as a serious art medium.
Apparently, we are all wrong about the burning city on the opening screen. Or are we....?
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