all games are not created equal

This is actually a really hard comparison.  Both games brought something new to gamers and both were and are a lot of fun to play.  Both take a new angle on the puzzle-solving game and made it fun.  Braid has a lower price point, but price point really doesn't matter.  What really tips the scales to Portal is one simple thing.  Portal has personality that Braid doesn't quite have.

Throughout Portal, GLaDOS talks to you as you complete the levels and it's hilarious.  I'm sure some of the driving force behind some people finishing the game was just to hear more from her.  And not to mention the finale of Portal during the credits, which will probably go down in gaming history as one of the best songs ever written for a video game.  I hate saying broad statements like that, but that song really was something special.  It fit the personality of the game perfectly and left me with something I'll never forget.

Braid is a fantastic game, yea.  But it just doesn't have that GLaDOS charm that Portal has.