Braid is an homage to Super Mario Bros. with the gameplay mechanics of Prince of Persia, plus a storyline that is both compelling, confusing and surprising.

And all that weirdness adds up to a must-buy from Xbox Live Arcade.

The game starts out simply enough. You play as Tim, who bops on baddies and solves puzzles to get through levels and collect puzzle pieces. But Tim can also manipulate time. So dying isn’t a problem, but the time reversal is for more than just avoiding death; it also is used to solve puzzles. And as you move on to different worlds, different manipulations of time come into play and the puzzles get more and more complicated.

The game designer’s official walkthrough says, “Don’t use a walkthrough.” And he’s right. Some of the puzzles are tough, but when you finally figure them out, it’s a joyous revelation. I confess to finally looking up how to get one of the puzzle pieces because I spent quite a lot of time and frustration and finally gave in. But the longer you can resist this urge, the more rewarding the game will be for you.

The story works on multiple levels and truly helps make this a thinking person’s game. It’s short (there’s a time trial that challenges you to finish the whole thing in 45 minutes … good luck with that), but so was Portal and that was still great.

And the score, though it gets darker later in the game, is beautiful, especially in the first level.

All in all, Braid is a treat for the eyes, ears, fingers and brain. And if you stick with it until the end … well, you’re in for quite a ride.