In the almost two years that I've had my 360, I've only purchased like two XBLA titles, and rraaarely even play those.  Up until this point I just hadn't seen any that peaked my interest enough to fork over $5-$10 for em.  I've come close, just never committed.  I always had a regular release title that I was more interested in playing at the time.  Until now.

I had seen a few posts on Braid coming out on XBLA a week ago or so, but it just looked like another bland platformer at first glance.  Then earlier this week I saw a post on X3F acclaiming it for it's beauty, originality and sheer addictiveness.  After playing the demo, and then almost immediately forking over the 1200 ms points for it, I have to say I concur.

Braid is a puzzle platformer for Xbox Live Arcade, but not your normal puzzle platformer.  There are several parallels with this platformer and super mario brothers, but only on the very basic level.  They're both platformers and they both have levels, worlds, castles and princesses, but other than that Braid goes off in a very different direction.  You have no "lives", only an intuitive ability to rewind time.  If you die, you rewind time and avoid the obstacle.  The ability to rewind time is heavily incorporated into the game and how you solve the puzzles.  When I say puzzles, I mean them in both senses of the word.  Each "level" is a puzzle figuring out how to collect actual puzzle pieces located in various spots.  You collect all the pieces, and put them together, you complete the "world".

For an XBLA game, Braid is gorgeous.  Not in the usual 3d graphics, textures, physics sort of mentality, but in the standard sense of the word.  Backgrounds look painted, and fit very well with the feel of the game.  The music is also great and completes the game atmosphere.  With the music and art involved in the game, think "renaissance platformer".  Yes, it sounds "different" to say the least, but it works.

Long story short, if you have a 360, Braid is a highly addictive, entertaining XBLA title that should not be missed.  At the very least, download the demo and check it out for yourself.

Update: Hilarious penny arcade comic for any of you bitchin about it costing 1200 pts.

Update: X3F (xbox360fanboy.com) further goes on to acclaim Braid one of the rare gems in gaming.

Update: Gamespot says, "A moving story, serene visuals, and brilliant puzzles make Braid an adventure that you absolutely should experience."

Click the "read more" link below to check out some of the gameplay footage:

The gameplay in this vid can be found in the demo as well.