Between Braid and Portal, I am up to my eyeballs in puzzle-solving, and I am loving every minute of it. The mind-warp the two games are combining to create may result in the spontaneous proof of the Riemann hypothesis for all I know, or it may rip the fabric of the universe and send us all into eternity. No matter what happens, I am in a gaming Shangri-La at the moment. Fortunately, the real world requires me to leave this utopia for work each day, which gives me the chance to do other important things -- like eating and sleeping. If you do not yet own these two titles, I cannot endorse them any more fully.
I promised a few closing words about Super Paper Mario, and here they are. As always, I rushed to the defense of Luigi's honor by using him in every situation possible. In many games I play, the motto 'speed is life' motivates my style; in a Mario-themed platformer, I amend that creed to 'jump height is life.' Without fail, the man in green is always the guy with the edge in that department. The overall tone of the game is, of course, pretty light-hearted, but it had a couple of serious moments. I was a caught a little off-guard by the ecological message of the Land of the Cragnons, although I recall laughing when a character mentions tossing garbage into a river at the start of the chapter. That continued a theme of games fudging the line between good and evil, and I still need to write up something about that trend. I had wondered about the romantic plot thread running through the chapter conclusions, and my suspicions were confirmed as the game progressed. I found something resembling an actual love story inside a Mario game refreshing, even though its ending is somewhat bittersweet.
Game well over the coming weekend, and may you time your rewinds perfectly.
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