I just tried a little platform game for the PC called Braid.

It was originally released on the Xbox 360 arcade last year, and has just been ported to the PC and released.

It is a very nice traditional style platformer with a few twists. Instead of lives you reverse and forward time whenever you like. So if you make a mistake and die, or miss a jump, you can just reverse back a bit and try again. It is a great game mechanic that works really well.

The main aim of the game levels are to collect puzzle pieces and assemble them, and to work out how to negotiate the levels to reach hard to get to areas with a puzzle piece, or the next door to the next area/level just out of reach.

I've already played through the first world and really enjoyed it. The difficulty doesn't initially seem too high. But then you find yourself looking at a puzzle piece and not knowing how to reach it, then looking at the movement patterns of the enemy (which you kill by jumping on them mario style, and in turn gain more height) to see if you can utilise them to get higher or further across a gap. Using the reverse time feature to keep trying to time a move perfectly is just as frustrating as platformers of old where you had to repeat bits to try again. But it does remove some of the frustration as you don't need to redo a tricky bit you just managed to finally do.

The game artwork is in a very nice hand painted style which is light and colourful and enjoyable to walk through. And the music is a chinese style that is also light and airy and together reminded me of the feel of ICO.

If you like platformers then I highly recommend you take a look. The game works perfectly with an Xbox 360 controller if you have one.
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I downloaded 2 collections of puzzle games from BG, and Braid is also included in one of them, didn't test it yet though, but I know the game.
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So, you guys did play and finish it?
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Didn't even try yet
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Ah, come on you guys, the game is well worth it!
It's like RodLand meets Mario meets Prince Of Persia Sands of Time, imho. With more puzzles and even more time-based puzzles

And don't care about the "rescuing the Princess" bit, it's not about that, that's just a methaphor for the simple casual player that want's to finish&forget about the game.
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I just played it, it's indeed very nice. I only needed a bit of time before I discovered the time forwarding/backwarding

I also played Crayon Physics Deluxe today, just great
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Oh yeah, Crayon Physics is great too.

Have you also tried World of Goo? That is a great little puzzle game. Peggle is also pretty good.

There have been a lot of games released by smaller games developers recently. Thanks to the Xbox 360 and other online communities that are giving individuals and small companies a platform to release their projects on.

Another I really enjoy playing is Plants vs Zombies. I mentioned it elsewhere on the forum. You really need to try that. It got some great zombie horror film humour.
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I downloaded the 2 Physics, Puzzle Games torrents from UG, they also include World of Goo and Tower of Goo. Oz played it last time. I also know Plants vs Zombies, but don't have it yet.
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Don't try it, please, don't, never!



It's awfully addictive, so many items, mini-games, puzzles... arghhh!
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So true. Reading about the game, or seeing a couple of screenshots has you wondering what all the fuss is about. But as soon as you start playing it you suddenly realise how addictive it is after you look at the clock an a couple of hours have past.

And it just keeps introducing new things all the time so it never get boring. First you are in the front garden defending your house, then you are in the back garden with the introduction of water and swimming zombies, then you find yourself on the roof! It just keeps going. And then you get introduced to cultivating your own plants and buying additional plants, tools, protection etc... It just gets more addictive the more you play.

It soon becomes clear why it got such good reviews and scores in the press.
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