Getting critical recognition with none of the perks must be really frustrating - and yet the world of art and literature is full of those who only achieved fame after making the less than stellar career move of dying. Fortunately, those in the games industry have recently proven that you can make a truly unique gaming experience, wow the critics and achieve great success without needing to have a headstone carved - see Portal and BioShock for further pointers on this method. Braid, by rights, should follow in this vein, but has done everything in its power to remain obscure. Being an Xbox Live Arcade release does it no favours - worse, it's one of the more expensive titles on the platform. Yet it's worth every penny and every Xbox gamer, from the screechy Gears of War veterans to the grizzled Pinata farmers owe it to themselves to try this little gem.

Perhaps the thing that's most impressive about Braid's innovation is the genre it has chosen to shake up - the 2D platformer. The screenshots may imply that it's a simple Mario rip off, and while it does offer homage to the grand master in every chapter (not only is "The princess in another castle", but even certain level designs will seem familiar), it's thankfully not sticking resolutely to the template of a twenty-three-year-old game. Instead, to collect all sixty puzzle pieces and finish Braid, you are forced to solve devilish puzzles, using your ability to rewind the action. You see, you can never actually die, and by pressing the X button on the pad, you can rewind the game as far as you require. While this may seem like a simple tried and tested gimmick, it's actually the main mechanism of Braid's puzzle solving and as a result it's possible to manipulate the world in all kinds of strange ways, making previously inaccessible pieces reachable.

Here's an example: fast-paced bullets block your way through a tunnel to a piece - you counter this by rewinding time to make another cannon (some marked items are unaffected by the time travel) knock the bullets out the air, clearing your path. As more abilities are granted, the puzzles become smarter and the genius of Braid is apparent from the way you can be truly stumped by a situation, only to find the solution deceptively obvious when you return another time. The puzzles' solutions are often so cunning that you can't help but boast a massive grin when the self-congratulation of solving them kicks in.

Braid isn't a long game by any means and if you're the type who impatiently runs for a walkthrough the second you find a tricky spot, then you'll likely be done and dusted with the game in one evening, wondering what all the fuss was about. This is truly a title to be savoured, with a storyline that is vague and surreal enough to provoke the kind of pretentious discussion usually reserved for classic literature and arty cinema. It's the kind of title that can get the medium recognised as an art form, if only it gets the chance to be played.

It's also delightfully easy on the eye. When you think about outstanding graphics, you immediately think of brilliant 3D environments, but Braid's lavishly drawn backdrops and charming characters (the dinosaurs that tell you forlornly that your princess is elsewhere look intensely huggable) fit the dreamy mood of the title perfectly, facilitating the gameplay mechanics in a non-obstructive way. A gentle folk soundtrack with music box style tracks perfectly supplements the confused timelines of memory and nostalgia to fulfil the game's emotional promise. Indeed, it's the presentation and the 'wow' factor that will secure Braid's deserved place in your memory once all sixty jigsaw pieces are securely in their rightful place and the sound of familiar gunfire returns to the Xbox's sound chip, just a few short hours after the journey begins.

A game that's every bit as original as Super Mario Galaxy and Portal, Braid is a short-lived gem. If the gaming public lets the 1200 point price point put them off then they deserve the shuffling innovation presented by annual updates and vacuous sequels. Braid has come from nowhere to innovate in a genre that's remained virtually unchanged for two decades - that's worthy of the £10 asking price, even if it is on the svelte side.

Reviewed by Alan Martin for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).