Braid

Braid

PC/Xbox360/PS3/OSX/Linux
Released 2008

Developed by Number None and Hothead Games

Designed by Johnathan Blow

Braid is a puzzle platformer with some intriguing mechanics, beautiful backgrounds and a look and feel that is at once familiar and foreign.  It has a combination of unique gameplay, gorgeous and somehow textural visuals and a swelling soundtrack.  I feel that, if one of these three pieces was less well executed, Braid would be far less engaging.  However, none of them were, and it is.  Engaging, that is.

Braid's gameplay is puzzle-oriented and a straight up platformer.  Oh, and you control time, which makes for some very intricate and difficult puzzles.  In addition, your power over time changes with each section of the game, giving it a very different dynamic.  From jumping on the strange hedgehog/human-faced enemies to speaking with an adorable dinosaur, the basic gameplay is straight-up Mario.  But, in addition, you can rewind, fast forward, do four-dimensional loop-the-loops and all other hoo jiggerypokery.  The puzzles are different, like something I've never experienced before.

The art appears in two parts, a moving foreground and a slowly panning larger background (painted).  the foreground visuals are 2D and fairly static, with some well-integrated particle effects, but the backgrounds are where the game really shines.  The paintings are incredible atmospheric, setting the mood for the entire game (that gets enhanced by the haunting music).  The backgrounds are really beautiful, and gives the game a truly unique look and feel.

The music, composed by a variety of peoples all from the label Magnitude.  The soundtrack is ethereal, moody and melancholy, and really sets the tone for the detached and dreaming game-scape.  You often rewind time, and the music plays back backwards, enhancing that detached and strange feeling.  This is one game soundtrack whose integration into a game is essential for the game.  At least for me.

~græy

Flower

Flower

PS3

Released 2009

Developed by thatgamecompany

Designed by Jenova Chen and Nicholas Clark

So here we go with the single-sided discussion of movie scores, video game music and background tunes.
Starting with one of my favorite things in all of forever. That most forever number one favorite is That Game Company's Flower.


(pay no attention to the song they picked...)

An independent and small game design studio, TGC (that game company) has some kind of spooky zen hoodu that weaves intense visual stimulation with a dichotomous sparse-but-lush take on music, gameplay and storytelling.  And not only are these elements of their releases at a very high level of execution, they have somehow managed to mash all these disparate and usually disconnected elements into an incredibly intense and holistic emotional experience.
And-by-gee-golly-hot-spankin-griddle-meat, the music is incredible.  Vincent Diamante, a composer and all-around artsy person composed the game's music and sound effects, and aside from just loving the hell out of it, the way that the two work together is something unparalleled and something truly novel.
In flower, you control the wind, blowing a single flower petal through a landscape.  You explore that world, touching other flowers and causing them to bloom, eventually bringing color and life back to a grey world.  As you touch the other flowers, a single instrument voice plays a note, the instrument depending on the color and type of flower you bloom.  As you restore color and life to that landscape, the music grows from a thinly composed part into a full and lushly orchestrated piece, all seamlessly.  At any rate, I'm not really doing it any justice by describing it, even with my most bestest mouthwords.





Well, that gameplay video doesn't really do it any justice either.
My personal taste for video games, well, for just about everything, is how immersive the experience is, and I am completely immersed in Flower whenever I pick it up.