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My Top 10 of 2008 in No Particular Order: Braid

Posted by Bob Mackey

It's the end of another year, and that can only mean one thing: it's list season. Inevitably, you're going to see top ten lists by the thousands; and, as an official member of the enthusiast press, I'm afraid I can't violate my directive. But, to make things a little more interesting, I've decided to assemble my 10 favorite games of this year in non-hierarchical form because--let's face facts--it's hard to pick a favorite. And unlike other top 10 lists, this one will be doled out to you in piecemeal over the next several excruciating days! Please enjoy.

As far as downloadable games go, Braid was a pretty big deal; I don't think a day in August went by without me reading several blog posts by people caught up in creator Jonathan Blow's amazing world--oh yeah, except for those days in August when Braid wasn't out. Nevertheless, there's really nothing else on XBox Live Arcade--or any other platform, really--that's like Braid; though its originality would be irrelevant if the game played like crap. Luckily, Blow's deconstruction of the platformer is an immaculately-design work of genius, a mechanical, visual, and aural delight from start to finish. And somehow, even with my embarrassingly poor competence at video game puzzle logic, I stuck through to the game's mindblowing ending.

Please stop me if you can't take all of the well-deserved hyperbole.

What amazes me most about Braid is that no one--as far as I can tell--has actually figured out what the game is about--and Blow ain't telling. A somewhat recent--and very extensive--interview with Blow on 1UP FM shot down a few of the more popular interpretations of Braid, and gave all of us a greater insight into the function of Blow's brain matter. It's a must-listen if you're like me and plan on digging into the Braid once again during the holidays to try to pull out something that might resemble a definitive meaning. What other games out there deserve a second playthrough just for their philosophical substance alone? Answer: not many. And that's what makes Braid so great.

Related Links:

My Top 10 of 2008 in No Particular Order: Audiosurf
Derrick's Top 13 Games of 2008 - Part 1
Ceci N'Est Pas Une 1-Up: The Surrealist Future of Postpunk Gaming

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Posted Dec 09 2008, 08:00 PM

Filed under: xbox 360, top ten, braid, bob mackey, xbox live arcade, jonathan blow, top ten of 2008

Comments

Roto13 said:

Braid's PC version needs to hurry the hell up and come out now.

December 10, 2008 12:10 AM

About Bob Mackey

For a brief period of time I was Bull from TV's Night Court, but some of you may know me from the humor column I wrote for Youngstown State University's The Jambar, Kent State University's The Stater, and Youngstown's alternative newspaper, The Walruss. I'm perhaps most well-known for my bi-weekly pieces on Something Awful. I've also blogged for Valley24.com and have written articles for EGM, 1UP, GameSpite and Cracked. For all of my writing over the years, I have made a total of twenty American dollars. It's also said that I draw cartoons, which people have described with words such as "legible." I kidnapped the Lindbergh Baby and am looking to do so again in the future.

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about the blogger

John Constantine, our superhero, was raised by birds and then attended Penn State University. He is currently working on a novel about a fictional city that exists only in his mind. John has an astonishingly extensive knowledge of Scientology. Ultimately he would like to learn how to effectively use his brain. He continues to keep Wu-Tang's secret to himself.

Derrick Sanskrit is a self-professed geek in a variety of fields including typography, graphic design, comic books, music and cartoons. As a professional hipster graphic designer, his recent clients have included Nerve, Pitchfork and MoCCA, among others.

Amber Ahlborn - artist, writer, gamer and DigiPen survivor, she maintains a day job as a graphic artist. By night Amber moonlights as a professional Metroid Fanatic and keeps a metal suit in the closet just in case. Has lived in the state of Washington and insists that it really doesn't rain as much as everyone says it does.

Nadia Oxford is a housekeeping robot who was refurbished into a warrior when the world's need for justice was great. Now that the galaxy is at peace (give or take a conflict here or there), she works as a freelance writer for various sites and magazines. Based in Toronto, Nadia prizes the certificate from the Ministry of Health declaring her tick and rabies-free.

Bob Mackey is a grad student, writer, and cyborg, who uses the powerful girl-repelling nanomachines mad science grafted onto his body to allocate time towards interests of the nerd persuasion. He believes that complaining about things on the Internet is akin to the fine art of wine tasting, but with more spitting into buckets.

Joe Keiser has a programming degree from Johns Hopkins University, a tiny apartment in Brooklyn, and a fake toy guitar built in the hollowed-out shell of a real guitar. He writes about games and technology for a variety of outlets. One day he will stop doing this. The day after that, police will find his body under a collapsed pile of (formerly neatly alphabetized) collector's edition tchotchkes.

Cole Stryker is an American freelance writer living in York, England, where he resides with his archeologist wife. He writes for a travel company by day and argues about pop culture on the internet by night. Find him writing regularly here and here.

Peter Smith is like the lead character of Irwin Shaw's The 80-Yard Run, except less athletic. He considers himself very lucky to have this job. But it's a little premature to take "jack-off of all trades" off his resume. Besides writing, travelling, and painting houses, Pete plays guitar in a rock trio called The Aye-Ayes. He calls them a 'power pop' band, but they generally sound more like Motorhead on a drinking binge.