Videogames have been around for quite a while now, and like all forms of entertainment, the more they mature, the more widely accepted and enjoyed they become. Slowly but surely, the entertainment earns recognition for its creativity, cultural impact and the meaning it imparts to those who enjoy it. In short, gaming – just like photography or film before it – becomes not just a form on entertainment, but a form of art as well. Art is one of the most controversial words in the English language, and people have been debating what is or isn't art and what the word means for centuries.

Art is subjective, and whether you consider Braid to be art is entirely for you to decide, not me or anyone else. My job is simply to tell you that art or not, Braid is one of those special gaming experiences that come only once every year or two, the kind of game whose influence may not be immediately apparent but is destined to be far-reaching. It is the sort of game you owe it to yourself to play...you may love it, you may hate it, it may be a simple platformer distraction to while away a few hours, or it may affect you on a deeper level. The bottom line is that Braid is a game you need to play and an experience you need to have.

But let's rewind time a bit shall we, and not get too far ahead of ourselves. What is Braid? Put simply, it's an independently developed game by a guy called Jonathan Blow and a small, talented team that includes artist David Hellman, whose unique style gave us the webcomic "A Lesson is Learned but the Damage is Irreversible". Blow applies his experimental style to a familiar if old-school format: the 2D platformer. In fact Braid will instantly trigger visions of Super Mario Bros for many gamers, complete with goomba-style enemies and vicious plants emerging from trademark green pipes.

What makes Braid different is its use of time manipulation to solve a variety of puzzles. The game's protagonist, Tim, is on a quest to rescue a princess, and just like poor Mario before him, Tim finds that the princess is always in another castle. So Tim must solve both literal and metaphoric puzzles, obtaining pieces for a jigsaw puzzle by solving tricky puzzles in the game. Completing the jigsaw reveals a picture – of what, well, it's up to you to interpret – and adds a piece to the ladder that allows you to ascend the tower to your final goal, the princess.

The beauty of Braid is that it can really be interpreted however you like, and its meaning will be different to different people. It is entirely possible to play the game as a simple platformer, grabbing puzzle pieces, unlocking new worlds and eventually finishing the game. But Braid has many layers of meaning, and understanding and interpreting those layers creates a much deeper experience for those who seek it. It sounds a bit pretentious admittedly, but the fact is that Braid is ambiguous and open to interpretation by design, and encourages you to engage the game as more than just a sequence of levels and challenges. It isn't something forced down your throat though, rather something that you'll just naturally do as you play the game, so don't fret!

It's easy to talk the talk though, and much harder to actually back up the grandiose claims with substance. Braid doesn't miss a beat, however, providing thoroughly enjoyable gameplay to complement the experience it seeks to evoke. The controls are simple yet precise, the levels are Spartan yet meticulous in design, and the use of time as a gameplay mechanic is almost flawlessly realised throughout the game's six worlds.

Each of the worlds introduces its own time-based gameplay device, ranging from a magical slow-motion ring that you can drop at will, to a world that rewinds if you walk backwards. There are several core concepts that remain constant throughout each of the worlds, like the ability to rewind or fast-forward time, and objects that are immune to these crafty chrono-changes. The key to success is working out how to apply these constants within each world's unique rules – for example one world allows you to create a shadow of yourself if you rewind, and this doppelganger will re-enact your moves, allowing you to do other things while he performs the tasks you require.

Braid boasts some of the best puzzles you'll ever have the pleasure of solving, and if you cut your teeth on classic puzzle-platformers like Puggsy, Rolo to the Rescue or the Lost Vikings, Braid will be a heady mix of nostalgia and innovation. There is a purity at play here that defies many modern conventions: every puzzle is solvable from the minute you see it, and there's no items or upgrades to collect before you can tackle a puzzle. It's all about thinking outside the box – the level design gives you all the clues you need, and then it's just about applying what you know to finally grab that puzzle piece that lies tantalisingly close but just out of reach.

Puzzle games tend to be frustrating though, and Braid is hardly immune to this. The game does a phenomenal job of alleviating this though, by automatically saving your progress whenever you obtain a puzzle piece, and by allowing you to easily access any location you've visited to have another go at a puzzle. Simply walking from the start to finish of any given world unlocks these series of checkpoint locations, which show up as doorways in each world's hub. These hubs also contain story books that tell Braid's story, so the whole thing comes together very nicely, and if one world is giving you too much trouble, you can simply go to another and try some puzzles there. Or you can just rewind the current area at 8x speed for a quick reset instead!

Of course, it isn't possible to talk about Braid without acknowledging the amazing visual and audio design. The art design is like a children's story book brought to life, a beautiful blend of cartoony and hand-painted pictures. The animation is silky smooth, and the backdrops are multi-layered, giving the 2D visuals a distinctly deep, 3D feel. In fact as you play, it's hard not to imagine that Braid is a classic SNES or Mega Drive game given a lavish, high-definition coat of paint. Accompanying the dreamlike, fantasy visuals is a haunting orchestral soundtrack that sounds exactly like what Danny Elfman would create if you told him to score a nursery rhyme. The sound effects are minimalist and a little weird too, and it all comes together to create a charmingly quaint, yet oddly ominous aesthetic.

So Braid is a phenomenal game and an amazing experience, but all good things must come to an end, and for Braid, that amounts to a 4-6 hour adventure. Just like everything else about the game, your mileage here will vary depending on how good you are with puzzles and platforming, but the average gamer should probably be able to complete Braid within 5 hours. It's worth mentioning that the game has an amazing ending that will quite possibly blow your mind and rock your world...you'll probably even want to replay the entire final world just to try and get your head around it.

The puzzles are all unique, however, so once you've solved them there's little reason to revisit them, although there's a good chance you'll want to replay the game to get a better handle on the storyline and what it all means.. Upon completion, you can tackle a series of speed challenges for specific portions of the game, or try and complete the whole thing in an under an hour. It does add to the longevity of the title if that's your thing, but it's hardly a selling point. There's also some secret stars hidden throughout the game, but at this stage nobody is quite sure what – if anything – they do.

For some people, Braid's 4-6 hours of playtime won't justify its higher-than-usual price-point on the Xbox Live Arcade. Braid weighs in at 1200 Microsoft Points, or about $20, versus the average price of 800MS Points, or roughly $15. Honestly, you'll either be comfortable with the price-point or you won't, but the fact remains that Braid is certainly not an "average” game by any definition, and that there's a lot of absolute crap on the Arcade that isn't worth even half of the 800MS Points it demands. Thankfully Braid comes with a robust demo that allows you plenty of scope to play the game and make up your own mind, so do yourself a favour and download Braid – it's an experience unlike anything else on the Xbox Live Arcade.