Zero Punctuation tangles with Braid

by Richard Mitchell { Aug 28th 2008 at 1:15PM }

The latest Zero Punctuation tackles the time bending XBLA title, Braid. Yahtzee's opinion is somewhat mixed, taking note of the well designed puzzles but also noting that the game reused certain puzzles and that some puzzles require players to restart a level if failed, which Yahtzee describes as a "dick move." Another complaint is leveled at the story, which the review cites as pretentious and unnecessarily confusing. Overall though, the gameplay seems to triumph over any flaws. Check out the video after the break (NSFW due to language).

Tags: arcade, braid, live-arcade, xbla, xbox-live-arcade, zero-punctuation, zp

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Magic Whiskey @ Aug 28th 2008 1:27PM

Y'know, I'm not exactly sure..but did Yahtzee just tell Dustin off in this one?

Sean @ Aug 28th 2008 1:50PM

Yes... Yes he did.

Etchasketchist @ Aug 28th 2008 1:51PM

I'm pretty sure he was talking to Adrian. Fuck that guy.

Momer @ Aug 28th 2008 1:56PM

Ya, I was confused, I don't really get what he was saying there... o.O

ogvor @ Aug 28th 2008 4:37PM

Considering he is preparing to spend over 120$ for a piece of plastic in the shape of a Lancer instead of getting some awesome games, then yes, I thought it seemed like it was aimed squarely at gamers like Dustin.

pibs @ Aug 28th 2008 1:42PM

Glad my name isn't adrian lol

Tony @ Aug 28th 2008 1:44PM

It starts getting weird when you can level some of his complaints against games against the games he himself made lol

RockerAnimeFreak @ Aug 28th 2008 1:47PM

Good Review Yahtzee! might consider picking this up. After all I did get Castle Crashers on launch morning.

and my fave quote "I'd like to think about it as having the nicest beaches tax."

Nick @ Aug 28th 2008 1:58PM

Loved the review - the man really CAN be spot on. He is really harsh, but that's his strength as a critic.

Even games he loves he's able to pick apart while still loving them.

He would SERIOUSLY suck to live with though.

I can see SERIOUS points in a review of Castle Crashers though.

Long range attacks.... >_

AngereMailMan @ Aug 28th 2008 2:04PM

so its that good???? i wanna but it but no one i know is getting it and i think my gf wont like the fart and excrement and i think that will be too much for my 6 year old nephews

any ideas

PeacefulOutrage @ Aug 28th 2008 3:04PM

It's cartoon fart and excrement, which if your nephews don't know what that is, they must have an external colostomy bag and be really, really sheltered.

cranium @ Aug 31st 2008 3:01PM

are you asking about Braid or Castle Crashers? Braid is an amazing must-buy. Castle Crashers is racist. ...or so the internet told me

NvM @ Aug 29th 2008 8:54AM

I did kind of roll my eyes at poop jokes, but the forest level is the only part with potty humor, if anything your gf would like the cute and goofy style.

dylan @ Aug 28th 2008 2:08PM

As usual, he hit the nail on the head.

spamsphen @ Aug 28th 2008 2:14PM

having the nicest beaches tax *flips off America* lmfao, that was priceless.

Vcize @ Aug 28th 2008 2:14PM

How anyone can complain about having to "restart" the level in this game is beyond me. Restarting the level consists of walking to a door, that's no more than 5-10 seconds away, and walking out it and back in it with basically no load times. "Resetting" anything you need for the puzzle is a non-issue, since every piece takes only a few seconds to "set up" to get once you figure it out.

Couple this with the fact that this is only even an issue with maybe 4 out of the 60 pieces, and a particularly dumb person MIGHT spend an extra 45 seconds total over the course of the entire game due to this complaint.

As for the story, I didn't "get it" the first time around either (I think my brain was too fried from figuring out those last couple puzzle pieces, heh), but once I did figure it out it was pure genius, and wrapped up the whole motif of the game beautifully.

Vcize @ Aug 28th 2008 2:18PM

Note that I'm basing this off of X3F's write-up of the review, as I haven't actually been able to watch the review yet (NSFW and being at work don't really mesh), so if these were just minor gripes mentioned in passing in his review then nevermind.

Andrew @ Aug 28th 2008 2:27PM

Why is it that some people just CAN'T accept any criticism of games. No game is perfect.

Vcize @ Aug 28th 2008 2:50PM

Hey, way to jump to conclusions there guy.

I am one of the most cynical and critical people you'll find on here. I'll write a review about a game that I love to death, that is one of my favorites of all time, and I'll spend 3/4's of the review harping on the few problems I had with it, and they're usually pretty small problems.

So, it's pretty bad when *I* think that the guy was bitching about nothing, since I'll bitch about anything. Seriously, 45 seconds over the course of a 5-6 hour game, and that's only if you f*ck up more than the average person.

HalfAzn @ Aug 28th 2008 2:15PM

"...it left me confused and unsatisfied. Much like my girlfriend every night."

hahaha. I love these reviews.

RotNRollHunter @ Aug 28th 2008 2:18PM

The thing I found funny with this game is that a lot of the levels are rip off's of the origional game boy game Donkey Kong (a Rehashed continuation of the arcade classic) that came out sometime in the mid '90s. It to was a puzzle game involving getting keys to doors and timing enemy jumps just right and pulling levers to move conveyor belts. I loved the time element though making it worth the price.

Mauricio @ Aug 28th 2008 2:21PM

Hey, Dustin. I believe that was your face Yahtzee just kicked sending you crying back to Gears of War.

Etchasketchist @ Aug 28th 2008 2:22PM

He's right about the pretentiousness of the story. J.Blow has great gameplay, art direction and level design skills. But when it comes to narrative, he only has great ambitions. He should either 1.) get a real writer/narrative designer who can make an actual compelling story or 2.) give up on story all together and just go for pure gameplay.

*double spoiler alert*
If it's a game about the atomic bomb, I'm sorry but COD4 was a more effective story about atomic warfare. So was Missle Command.

phr3qu3ncy441 @ Aug 28th 2008 2:33PM

i just found it rather mind blowing that the story was supposed to be about the atomic bomb... considering it didn't seem like it was at first. i thought the end level as is was pretty clever. but atomic bombs?

Dennio @ Aug 28th 2008 3:39PM

i love how he addresses the price issue. I live in Canada and have to pay more for games, even though the dollars are very similar now (always within 10c, 1c difference last time I checked). Microsoft should address this, I know Sony already has hear in Canada, and I have to listen to by Sony friends prance around every day since last year.