The first time I started this game, I said "Wow." you see a beautifully drawn world, with a style all its own. The backgrounds are pieces of art that have been given life. The clouds billow and shimmer. The colors undulate peacefully against the soft, beautiful music that one wants to listen to for hours. No two pieces are the same, and each area has its own. There were so many things I loved about this game that it's almost difficult to put anything into words as I try to type them all at once.
The controls were fantastically designed, and they work very, very well. The mechanics of twisting time are implemented perfectly. Sometimes, though, you will try to move when time is a factor (which it always is in this game *badum-tish*) and you will pause for a second as your character looks up or down, which does nothing (which I also liked, since it shows how far your control over the character goes). But as the game is, if you do something wrong, at the touch of a button, you can easily rewind, whether a few milliseconds or a few minutes, and simply try again.
The puzzles. My god. These are some of the best puzzles that I have ever seen. The solutions are all revealed by logic, rather than some stupid method of trial and error (although the very first example of this, in the first area, is the only puzzle in the game that can be solved this way, if you are lucky). This game trains you to think outside the box for solutions that are innovative and you would have never thought of, had you not been forced to sit and think, since you cannot reach Closure (capitalized since there is a 60 point achievement waiting for players at the end of the game, a very nice touch, with that name). This is truly one of the few games in history that actually rewards gamers who use their heads rather than their trigger fingers. These puzzles are very difficult, but it's hard to measure that here. In terms of time to complete them, then yes, they do normally take a while to figure out. But the solutions are, every single one, right in front of you, the kind of ones that make you smack yourself on the forehead and say, "I never thought of that!"
The story is mature, ripped from Mario but retooled for an older generation, and lengthened a lot. The story itself, like the game, is non-linearly revealed, with the beginning of the game coming at the end. This game will turn you inside out before it drops your chin to the floor, and that happens before the climax.
The fourth level, in particular, is a shining example of a good idea put to great use. As you move forwards and backwards, time will move with you. This creates some sticky situations where, once more, a bit of thinking will set you right soon enough. I loved the first stage of this especially, "Jumpman" simply for the odd nostalgic value of playing through the first Donkey Kong stage in a way-past-nonlinear manner.
The final level, played after all 5 other stages, is brilliant.
The final level is fittingly called "Braid" and it is one of the crowning achievements in game development up to this point in history, in my opinion. I wish I could tell you about it, but it has to be seen to be believed, and I'm not going to ruin it for you. The story after that gets a bit convoluted in my opinion, but this doesn't mar my enjoyment of this game.
Yeah, there's little replay value, but I think that for the sheer depth and density of gameplay here (like a diamond) it's worth the price.

Fuck the price. Get 15 dollars. Hell, go buy a 360 if you don't have one, or go to a friend's house. Play this game. An absolute must-have, in my opinion. Definitely one of the best games of the year, if not simply the one of the best on XBLA by far.