The critically acclaimed Braid is finally hitting the PlayStation Store in Europe. I'm pretty sure that although the lot of Xbox 360 owners over there got their taste of the game, PlayStation 3 owners were twiddling their thumbs awaiting what the big deal was with regards to this 2D sidescroller. Although our very own European contributing writer Gary wasn't too impressed with the likes of it, people everywhere have glamorized the game for being absolutely amazing.

Jonathan Blow's (sounds like a porn name, right?) game is now available for download on the European PlayStation Network for a measly €9.99 - a nifty early Christmas gift from Hothead Games, eh?

In Braid, you'll explore the human condition and manipulate time with hero Tim, in the beautifully painted world that makes the game what it is. If you're not at all familiar with the game that's been dubbed "The Best Games of 2009" for the PS3 by Metacritic, Braid takes the player on a journey through an array of worlds to solve puzzles and rescue the princess in what I would like to dub "a shaved and fashionable mixture between the Prince of Persia and Super mario, using his genius to save a princess." Each world provides the player with a different power to affect the way time behaves. In some worlds, you're be able to conjure parallel realities, and in others you will be able to rewind time. Below are some of the key features that Braid has:

• Untraditional platforming. You can never die and never lose, but challenge is always present and focused on solving puzzles, rather than forcing you to play and replay tricky jumps.
• Puzzle-rich environment. Travel through a series of worlds, searching for puzzle pieces and solving puzzles by manipulating time: rewinding, creating parallel universes and setting up pockets of dilated time. The game play is always fresh and new and the puzzles inspire new ways of thinking.
• Aesthetic design. A painterly art style and lush, organic soundtrack complement the unique game play.
• Nonlinear story. A nonlinear fiction links the various worlds and provides real-world metaphors for your time manipulations; act out these themes at your own pace, exploring playful “what if” universes.
• Forgiving game play. The game doesn’t force you to solve puzzles in order to proceed. If you can’t figure something out, just play onward and return to that puzzle later.
How excited are you guys in Europe to have this game? And this isn't including you, Gary.