The story is as such. The city of Grendale is under attack by gremlins. You, as Kindle, armed with your cane and flanked by your trusty owl companion, Wick, have to save the kingdom. This basically involves you lighting lamps and fire-places to keep the pesky gremlins away. You also club the crap out of a heap of gremlins in the process with the help of the occasional brownie (fairy that is, not food).

Lets fire it up

Enough of the story, let’s talk gameplay! Emberwind plays like the classic 2D side scrollers from the 90’s with the arrow keys moving in all directions and space bar to smack things. The only extra key used is ctrl which allows you to interact with objects or tell your fireflies to find hidden items and entrances. The level structure is pretty straight forward with you either being able to run and gun it or take your time to explore for more reward. I thoroughly recommend exploring though.

Map goodness

You find some nice extra skills and power ups for just a little more time invested. Besides, it’s fun! Be sure to check for secret levels too!The world map is easy to navigate, if a little linear but you can move back and forth through the levels you’ve already completed and give them another shot.

We I started to play, the first and foremost feeling was nostalgia. I used to play these games all the time when I was younger, whether it be an arcade or the computer. I found it so easy to just fall into the old feeling of jump, smack, grab; which leads me to my next favourite thing – gremlin smashing. There is nothing more satisfying than smacking a gremlin. That terrified squeal as they get caned in the face or the surprised look after incineration. Brownies place throughout the levels make this even more interesting and fun. There are several different types of Brownie, each with a different special ability. My favourite was the whirlwind and fire dude. Nothing funnier than a whole line of gremlins getting thrown into the air by a miniature tornado then waiting for them to land 1 by 1 and smacking em in the head.

Boss fights are handled a little differently to other games with a quasi tug of war going on between you and the boss.

Boss fight tug o war

Everytime a hit is scored the balance tips in their favour. So rather than dying after a couple of smacks, a fight can be more drawn out and a little more interesting. Though there were times when I felt the tug of war was a pain in the arse as I kept taking damage and not quite putting the bad guy away.

But there were things that I hated and this wouldn’t be a review if I didn’t find some hate.

Though the gameplay is easy enough to learn there are still some issues that will annoy. Sometimes when Kindle gets excited he tends to run, add a jump to this run and he rolls into a ball. This in itself is fun, even useful, until you end up rolling across the screen and into the water to drown or amongst the bad guys to get the crap kicked out of you. Very uncool.

Let's play hide the gnome

I have a love/hate relationship with water. I love the way it changes the sound when you submerse, music included, but I hate the way it punishes you for a missed step. I understand it is part of the game but there were times when I called Kindle a few choice words along with the dev’s name (I’m looking at you Chris!). A leap of faith at the wrong time can cost you time sanity and perhaps that favourite Brownie you were towing around. I also found myself being lost in the scenery from time to time, mainly foreground stuff with railings where bad guys lie in wait; like ships. Danger to those who jump with gay abandoned to suddenly realise you’re amongst the bad guys.

I have to say that despite these things I enjoyed the game and I’m not saying that because a mate made it (unmarked bills please). The good definitely outweighs the bad without a doubt. It is colourful without assaulting

Fat lewts FTW!

the senses, sound is epic when it needs to be and the dialogue can hand you a few laughs from time to time.

Overall Emberwind is a solid game. It may not be in the league of Shadow Complex or have the annoying time mechanic that Braid has but it is a solid little game. It is perfect for an oldie like me looking for nostalgia or something for the youngsters that is easy and safe to play. Two thumbs up and nice work guys.

Narcolepsy was a common problem amongst German paratroopers

So when the hype around Turning Point began I was interested. A different slant on how the Second World War went down always intrigues me. I didn’t buy Liberty when it first came out, in fact I pretty much ignored it but I saw it for like 15 bucks and thought what the hell. And hell it was. I originally installed it on my pc at work, jacked up the resolution, of which there is only 2 settings, and watched it chug away, loading every 10 seconds.

It’s obvious from the outset that this game is for a console but I don’t recall it getting released on one. Maybe it was and I blocked it out. The language and feel of it solidify it in this realm and so my scepticism grows.  The animation is bad at best. Clunky with terrible moments of stretched textures that look more like they should be in a TAFE project. I press on though, hoping that the action will make up for this short fall. I jump from girder to girder and eventually end up bitch slapping a Nazi off the building site, taking his gun at the same time. This event involves the use of a wrestle mechanic which I truly hated in COD 3 but here I find it ok.

I'll take mine with a twist of lemon please

You can render the guy immobile by snapping his neck or something similar, or use him as a human shield. The latter is kind of fun but where he pulls that pistol from I’m not sure I want to know. So as I plod along through the beginnings of this game I notice a few things.

First, there is specula on things that there should never be specula. Things such as pants shouldn’t shine like that. Bullet time doesn’t magically start when a grenade goes off and Germans are not that stupid. Seriously, why does enemy AI have to be so retarded? As an FPS player I like to be challenged from time to time. My first encounter with a story element is a Bronx sounding Italian telling me to get rid of that German crap. Funnily enough, that German crap is better than the equipment he provides me with so I’m a little pissed when I have to use a Thompson and an M1 garand. I vow to find a replacement as soon as I’m able. So this exchange occurs and I hold very little hope for any significant story. My second sortee into the unknown is to guard a check point to hold off the nasty Nazis. This was a terrible scripted section of game play that a 2 year old could have completed.

Bombing by colours

Now granted you were still learning the ropes but this is ridiculous. I walk through that one easy enough and its on to the next bit of fun, how to blow up a tank. Essentially you just crawl up underneath, click on the flashing red bit then take part in a supremely stupid mini game of match the wire. Whatever fucktard designer thought this was a clever idea needs to have their imagination revoked, permanently. So I connect blue to blue green to green…..AGGGHHHH!!

I manage to persevere through about an hour or so more of gameplay before I give up in disgust. I seriously want to stab myself in the eye with a fork. How the hell this game can get to publish is beyond me. How the hell anyone thought this was a good game is beyond me. If I was part of the dev team that made this travesty I would hide in a small closet and bash myself with a rubber mallet until the memory of this was gone, then wash my soul just to be sure.

Ahh, sure. I'll kill him.

The funniest moment I had with this game is a toss up between 2. The first was when I killed an enemy in a door way and he proceeded to rap dance his way up and down the door frame. Wish I had a screen shot. The second was the introduction to the 4^th mission, where you had to kill the president. A gravelly voice declares, “Get….Fuck I can’t remember his name….to do it. He’s the best shot!” zoom into dudes expressionless pixelated face…….

If there is anything you do this year I beg of you not to buy this game. Save yourself, save humanity and never let this crap see the light of a DVD laser.

61% of People Agree: Stats Never Lie

Hello and welcome to our first ever RAM.  I hope that this one will lead the way for many like it, which will offend some, resonate with others and appall the remainder.  Let’s get right into it shall we?

I recently made the plunge into a paying iPhone app user, and picked up several games.  I thought about doing some OtC articles about them, but then realised they would mostly all turn out the same and just waste people’s time which I’m all about saving.  So instead I figured I’d cover just about all of them with this one topic, 99% of iPhone games are crap.

One thing you’ll soon learn about me is that I love my stats.  So now that I can see you rolling your eyes and passing this off as another angry hardcore gamer who accidentally picked up the iPhone, set your own pedistal aside for 5 minutes and read on.  There are over 21,000 games currently listed in the app store.  So I’m saying that of those there are just over 200 that are worth spending your money on.  Can YOU name 200 iPhone games worth paying for?  I think I’m actually being generous.

What will also come as a surprise, is that I’m not going to rant on all the games that are crap…there are just too many and it would take too much time, but instead call out to some of the few gems and give some warnings so you don’t fall into the same traps that I have.

Flight Control
I’m pretty much obliged to start with this one, seeing as how it’s developed by those good ‘ole Aussie blokes at Firemint.  I don’t need to go into detail on this one, the game is a perfectly developed product for the iPhone as it plays to its strengths, knows the market, and doesn’t even entertain any weaknesses.  The only downside is that after playing for several hours that it can get repetitive, but the price performance on this one is through the roof.  Here’s hoping more developers take the hint from these guys on how to make iPhone games. (NO, I don’t mean blatently rip it off!)

If only more iPhone games were this good

Archon
They got this half right, as most of the original strategy is still there.  I loved the original so hard it would be illegal by today’s standards.  Maybe that’s why I felt so betrayed when I bought this and tried to play it.  I say try, because that’s all I could do with the current controls.  There’s no skill to be had here, it’s totally wiped out by random, clunky, and outright bugged to shit controls.  Don’t even touch this for .99 until they fix it, cause trust me, it’s TOTALLY broken.

iPhone Archon Tragedy

Sally’s Spa
I’m going to take a large hit to my street cred with this one, but I have to tell it like it is.  This is another example of a game that knows what the iPhone is, what it does well, and doesn’t try to tie it into submissive poses that JAV stars would be shocked by.  It’s simple, effective and very well polished.  It even innovates a bit within the genre and pulls it off rather well.  My only complaint is with the ramp up, as it’s great going until about 3/4ths of the way through where it really feels like it plateaus too early.  Still though, worth every penny.

Sally's Spa, relaxing insanity at its Finest

Hero of Sparta
If ever there should be a game for me, this would be it, right?  WRONG.  I love my Greek mythos, thought 300 was awesome, dig hack and slashes, heck if you’ve seen our video review of Rise of the Argonauts you know how much I want to have a GOOD game in this setting.  This game is a classic example of many out there, however, in that it pushes the iPhone to do things it’s not meant to do and the experience completely dies as a result.  The iPhone isn’t modern 3D hardware, and its valuable screen real estate is not meant to be eaten up by software controls like fake D-Pads and on-screen buttons.  If you want to make a game like this, make it on the PSP or even the DS, but stop taunting me and making me totally waste my money.  The design in the small bit of the game I suffered through also reeks horrendously of the “borrowing without understanding” fragrance.  Yes, quick time events can be fun if used correctly.  But here’s a news flash, if you make me do the exact same one every 2 minutes of playing, then YOU’RE DOING IT WRONG.

Think God of War at 5 FPS and not fun

Pocket God
I can already hear you, “But this isn’t even a game!”  Like Sims 3 is really that much different?  It’s a game in that it’s interactive entertainment; sure maybe you don’t win or lose or have a set beginning and end, but just because there’s no score doesn’t mean it’s not a game. (Woah, Prisoner’s Dilema 101, lookout!)  This was one of the first games I saw on the iPhone that made me go, “Wow, that’s really cool.”  I think it’s also fantastic how they actually use the money they earn to keep adding more into the product, so what you get for that little $ just keeps on growing.  Kudos Pocket God, you’ve made a lot of people happy which, in the end, is what it’s all about.

Playing God has never been so portable

Summary
So what’s the point of all this?  Last I checked we’re still in a recession, which means even where my $1 goes matters, heck if I was just going to throw away my money I would rather donate it to a good charity.  I want this epidemic of crap to stop, and to make it stop developers and consumers both need to change. I make it a point to always end on something to do or change, a challenge for friends and foes alike.  This time I’m going to be a bit different and call for some action from both ends of the spectrum.

Developers, stop taking advantage of the misinformation that consumers face on Apple’s app store, stop trying to sell your games for far more than its worth only to drop it in price a week later, stop pushing the iPhone to the point where your games are unplayable, and for the love of god and all that is holy stop posting up what you know is garbage in the hope that some idiot buys it anyway.

Consumers, yes that means most of you, band together and demand proof of quality before you purchase anything, EVEN IF IT’S ONLY $1.  Stop throwing away your hard earned money in the hopes of finding out if a game is worth anything or not.  Reviews on the app store are WORTHLESS.  All but the most popular of all titles have less than 100 reviews which are easily stacked by marketing, and Apple (yeah that’s right I’m coming right at you here) has a self-fulfilling agenda with placing only the highest rated positive reviews at the top or on the featured page (After all, they make money for every copy sold as well, so there’s NO REASON for them to give an honest representation).  The only way we as consumers can be sure, is with a Lite product.  Sure, they might still be able to pull some fun and games on us, but a lot less then right now.  If we all stopped buying games that refuse to put out a Lite version then we’d catch 99% of the crap in the first place, letting the sales go to the 1% that really matter.

So there you go, Internet.  Do what I ask and the app store might evolve into something with less spam and contain useful information, or don’t, and let it continue to fester and spread like a modern day mobile bubonic plague.  Either way, I’m eagerly awaiting your flames of hate, just be warned they only serve as fuel to my fire.

Double D out.

Jeza’s Take

I’ve been a Fallout fan from way back so when Black Isle passed into the wilderness part way through developing Fallout 3 I consigned my hopes to the ash can of society and mourned its passing. Thankfully, after 5 years, Bethesda came to the rescue, or did they? I watched with baited breath as Liza started us on the 30 minute Fallout 3 ride. From the outset it reminded me of Oblivion and I must admit I wasn’t surprised, why wouldn’t they use that engine? The tutorial can feel a little cheesy but is well integrated into the game letting the player get a reasonable feel for the mechanics. As you progress from baby to child to young adult you get the chance to choose your stats and skills as well as learn how to shoot a gun. Unfortunately, as the first rays of sunlight touched our faces leaving the vault, our time was up, but I will tell you it made me want to play more, a lot more. The dialogue was great, voice acting well done and the player interactions were just right. My only real grievance is the 3^rd person view, you look like an absolute retard from behind. Seriously Bethesda, you do all that great work and then give the player model poor proportions and a gimpy animation? WHY!? I could go on but I’ll save it for the longer review. Let me say that after the first 30 minutes, big thumbs up.

Liza’s Take

I got to sit on the big red couch with Dan and Jeremy of Teh Learning Curve to play Fallout 3. I had originally thought it would be just another FPS, which I don’t really get into, but after doing a bit more reading about the game I realized that it’s just as much of a role playing game as it is a blow-their-heads-off type of thing. I really loved the beginning of the game, although all of the numerous appearance options felt kind of overwhelming at first – I felt like going through them all! So to the tune of Jeremy’s and Dan’s witty remarks I entered the world of Vault 101. I loved all of the social interaction in the game as I grew from toddler to teen. I only had 30 minutes to play the game and spent it all in the Vault. It was just as time was running out that I found the storyline leading e to the outside world – and then the session was over.

I can’t speak for the action outside of Vault 101 because I did not really have time to see any, but gameplay inside Vault 101 was very enjoyable for me, as someone who likes games that do focus on social interaction and the role playing aspect as opposed to just the FPS aspect.

Dan’s Take

I hadn’t played a Fallout game since Fallout 2, and as an old Fallout fan I was excited to see how the third title in the series came out.  Fallout 3 certainly doesn’t disappoint in the first 30 minutes, with a masterfully crafted introduction that really takes you by the hand and teaches you the game while immersing you in an interactive story.  The game uses the same engine as Bethesda used in Oblivion, so of course it looks and sounds great, and the quality voice acting was a nice treat.  There really isn’t much I think I need to say about Fallout 3, other than if you have a PC or 360, like any of the earlier Fallout games or open world style RPGs like Oblivion then this is right up your ally.  If you’re looking for a more in-depth first person shooter, then the game has equal merit but don’t expect the non-stop action of Halo 3.  In any case, as I hate trying to make up criteria for who would or wouldn’t like the game it comes down to this.  Fallout 3 is a great game, I enjoyed my time with it and it deserves a place on any gamer’s shelf.

Paradise Falls but will it rise again?

It was with great pleasure that I sat down to play the extra hour of Fallout 3. After the tantalising 30 minute intro with Liza, I was champing at the bit to get out there and get amongst the post apocalyptic goodness. Fallout started way back in 1997 with great success, quickly followed by Fallout 2 and Tactics. In 2003 though, Black Isle died taking the original design of Fallout 3 with it until Bethesda breathed life back into the franchise. So with big shoes to fill I hit Fallout 3 so damn hard it would rattle the teeth of a whale.

Changes from Black Isle to Bethesda - Remove red and green shader, replace with orange

After completing the tutorial I headed into the big bad world. My first impression of the world was wow how cool is this! The crumbling structures and broken ground give the just the right feel of the scope of destruction. Unfortunately, after playing for a while it starts to feel a little drab, so drab in fact that the prospect of seeing some colour would be a pleasant change. It does come from time to time in the form of a toy car or a doll but it is few and far between. I pressed on through the post apocalyptic destruction, looking for my first real fight.

The actual game brought many aspects of the concepts to life, but one thing it left out was colour.

I found it soon enough when I went to a destroyed high school and ran into some raiders. Initially I tried to FPS the fight but soon changed to VATS (Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System). This greatly reduced the difficult I had with shooting the incoming bad guys and allowed me to choose where I could shoot them. Not necessarily hit them but I could give it a go without using twitch reflexes. I welcomed this with open arms cause I am by no means a twitch player. Now the thing about the VATS is that when you trigger it after loading your firing configuration, the game goes into slow motion. Far enough, I can handle that the first time, second time too but I started to question the merit of doing it everytime I use the system. I can understand a slow mo for critical hits but please don’t slow it down everytime. Maybe half speed, or even three quarter speed but not slow mo everytime! Another shortcoming of the VATS is that there wasn’t a great deal of advantage with shooting dudes anywhere but the head. Sure you could cripple an arm or a leg but it didn’t have that much of an impact. Wow that super mutant slowed down a little or at least it took 2 extra seconds for that Deathclaw to show me my insides. Occasionally you had the opportunity to shoot a grenade on a guy’s hip or the weapon out of the hand but they were few and far between. And seriously, a sniper rifle should have some fucking range! Other glaring things were odd collision models and bad BSP’s. There is nothing more frustrating than aiming at some dude, then wasting several rounds of precious ammunition, not to mention action points, on blasting away at a door frame. If I can’t hit it don’t let me try to hit it! One final thing about the combat, the animations for NPC reactions to fire is generally good but I do feel that a little bit more variety in the death animations could have made a real different. There are some nice touches where bits of people are spread all over the place but there is something rather odd about severing a guy’s head with a combat shotgun.

Severing heads is fun, but does seem to happen with unjust frequency.

The AI on the whole is good but from time to time it can confound you with some seriously retarded behaviour. I’d expect a super mutant to be dumb enough not to notice a car on fire, soon to explode, but a Brotherhood captain? Also Dogmeat, your faithful canine companion that you may pick up, is as useful as tits on a bull when it come to fighting more than one enemy. I’d have to say Dogmeat’s crowning moment was when he charged into the midst of several super mutants, followed by the massive explosion of a vehicle then the short text saying ‘Dogmeat is dead’. My response, ‘No shit’. Dogmeat now waits for me outside Fault 101, permanently.

I was a little disappointed that the level cap was only twenty but I have to say that when you hit it you can really kick some major arse. There is nothing more satisfying that drilling 3 dudes in quick succession with your assault rifle. But I wasn’t even half way through the main storyline when I hit the cap and I really didn’t seem to have much to look forward with regards to upgrades on my character. You see levelling in FO3 is half the fun for me. I can spend ages weighing up the pros and cons of a new trait I want to pick and where I want to spend my skill points. Once I hit the level cap I missed that fun, until I discovered bobble heads. Perhaps the developer had a higher purpose in mind. With downloadable content being the new thing of our time perhaps as you purchase new content you level cap increases to accommodate this. As I write this review I see that there are several new downloadable packs for FO3 and in each one it talks about a higher level cap. I can only hope that the content scales to the new level.

The collector's edition comes with a RL bobblehead, if you can find one.

Despite a couple of issues, I love this game. A session that should have been an hour turned into eight straight hours of playing. From what I gather you can complete the main story in this time but I went for the complete fallout package of meet and greet the locals. I could crap on about this game for ages but rather than spoil the fun for you guys I’ll recommend that you play it, seriously. I won’t say that this is my favourite fallout, I still think fallout 2 is better with tactics being a close second but I can see this game setting a very high bar for more fallout madness to come. Also, if you haven’t had the pleasure of a fallout experience then this is a good place to start. Don’t forget, if you need a kick of nostalgia or want to see the origins of this baby, then fork out $25 bucks and get the collection of the old ones.

Stylised slides amuse and hide loading times.

Fun?

Who would have thought that you don’t need a trigger to feel the satisfaction of shooting. In PvZ there’s a passive shooting mechanic (the plants) that produces a respectable body count all the same. Good times are guaranteed with not only shooters but also catapults, demolition, buffs and nutty unlockables. The laughs escalate along with the carnage when your situational weapons overpower the enemy, showcasing clever and silly warfare stunts. PvZ is fun, and funny.

I cared little for the Zen Gardening feature but it led to the secret of how to tweak zombie appearance, as seen in the graphic to the right.

Value?

I derived a solid 25 hours of playtime before finishing the Adventure mode levels twice and all other mode levels once. I later spent another five hours trying to beat my own best records on a handful of challenge levels before deciding I’d had enough.

More than half of all levels will take just five minutes each to clear, while some take exponentially longer (“Bobsled Bonanza” and the second “Survival: Fog”).

In all, I found 149 semi-unique levels, and that’s double-counting the 50 levels of Adventure mode, which stays compelling for a second full playthrough (thanks to extra hardship imposed by your neighbor). The third round of Adventure though played just like the second and was an immediate bore.

What’s the game missing? Stats. I found myself wanting to know how many zombies I’d stopped, the volume of my sunflower production, and comparisons across levels and against friends. The basic download version offers no such numerical pat on the back but at least the Steam version supports achievements.

A final word on Gardening: After many Japanese RPGs, I’m fatigued by even the concept of garden maintenance in games. So it was that, anticipating a big convenience boost to my PvZ gardening routine, I began cursing and rapidly consuming cold beer when I bought the pricey Golden Watering Can only to discover it reaches a mere four plants at one time. I’d been had. Later my mood improved when I discovered I could get the garden snail high on chocolate.

What’s it to her?

(To male gamers)

A question posed by a Learning Curve staff member last Friday at beer o’clock: “Would my girlfriend like this game as a present?” My answer: A video game as a gift to a woman? No, dude, this is earth — go away and come back after your antennae fall off.

However, would your girlfriend enjoy seeing or playing your copy of this game from time to time, and credit you with intelligence and maturity for owning it?

Affirmative, mate! PvZ can help sway ladies toward respecting your gaming pixel addiction. How? Women will appreciate the neckties and stylishly ripped pants of the grunt zombies, will laugh at the subtle rolling eyeball of the miner zombie when he reverses direction, and will hum along with the cutesy credits music video.

If you’re still not convinced then show your girl the music video or Zen Gardening instead of the levels. Local surveys conducted after beer o’clock last week suggest this game is a man’s dream PR machine. The game’s positive tone is perfect for deflecting date rage when you play Eve on Saturday nights.

This title could end up ranking among your personal Top 30 for fun and value. Even if it doesn’t though, you can bet your non-casual dollars that your girlfriend will crave your brain a little more after she sees this anything-but-garden-variety showdown.

Braid is a puzzle/platformer developed by Jonathan Blow over the course of 3 years with his own money. The art was done by David Hellman, several times in fact, till Blow was happy. Braid picked up a few awards for being innovative 2006 and then some more in 2008 when it was released properly. Here endith the history lesson, on with the review.

I was impressed with Braid, truly impressed. It’s been quite some time since I’d seen a decent 2d platformer, and as I continued to play the game the story got to me. Really got to me. Never have I come across a more pretentious piece of crap than this damn story. Thankfully the game play and art work saves it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for good story line, but when the writer continues to furiously masturbate about how clever he thinks he is, all I want to do is pull out his right lobe and show him where his creative thinking went wrong with a pencil.

Braid is a cool game with an awesome concept. The rewinding of time along with time inert objects, crazy monsters and classic urgency makes for a good mix. Watching Tim play it though was an exercise in self control. As he said himself he isn’t good at puzzle games and I’d like to confirm that fact. Make it a Law.

So Tim (the games hero not our hapless couch companion) lost his wife/memory/what the fuck ever. He goes around finding these jigsaw puzzle pieces, defeating bad guys, turning back time Cher style, killing more bad guys and finding that the princess is in the other castle. After you collect enough puzzle pieces you can arrange them to actually form a picture. Neat. The problem was that I didn’t see an end in sight.

I should sum up though. Braid is a pretty good game. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Apart from a couple of pet peeves it fully deserves the thumbs up.

Jeza’s Take

I sat down with Tim and Joel to play Braid for the first time. Let me tell you I knew very little about the game except it was a puzzle platformer with time control. Tim takes the reins and starts our journey. First impression in this is a very nice looking game. The art is cool but for some reason doesn’t follow the rules of convention. The game play is simple 2d side scroller action with the twist of time manipulation.The puzzles were quite reasonable to start off, with the added bonus of the jigsaw level made for a change up, but as some of the pieces became increasing more difficult to obtain, and Tim continued to die I sort of lost interest. Maybe it was because I wasn’t driving. One thing that did really annoy me was the constant having to read the books to get the story. Would it kill you to have the story in one book instead of the character having to continually read the next book? Despite this misgiving, Braid is a solid game and worth the time investment.

Tim’s Take

I’d like to say Braid is just impossible or unnecessarily frustrating, but I think the real truth, the harsh kernel of the matter, is that I just plain fucking suck at anything involving timing or puzzle solving. It is, as I mentioned, a struggle for me to work doorknobs on a daily basis, so asking me to position my beautifully-rendered little man in the right position while navigating backwards through the flow of time AND taking into account objects which hurtle incessantly forwards through time at the same… well, time, is basically a recipe for enough swear-words to embarrass even Jeza’s horrendous floozy of a mother. Perhaps, unlike me, you are possessed of enough co-ordination to handle simple taks, and you will find much more success in the freakishly temporal world of Braid. In any case, at the price of $15 it would be a crime to pass up this beautiful and innovative game. And we know what happens to criminals.

Dan’s Short Review

Jeza’s Short Review