Macworld Review: Braid

Timing is everything. In Braid, a time-bending, darkly psychological puzzle platform game by Jonathan Blow (distributed by Hothead Games), time is your main tool to guide Tim through his strange odyssey. A complex and genre-defying masterpiece, Braid is difficult to label and even more difficult to beat.

When you first launch Braid, you're confronted with what looks like a darkly backlit and haunting silhouette of a little tie-wearing man with a cityscape behind him. After a couple of seconds, you realize this isn't a title screen but the first level. The beautiful art style and haunting soundtrack are key features that thread throughout the game but begin when the game is first launched.