[PC] Trine Review

[Ghostbear]

Trine Review

Title: Trine
Platform: PC
Developer: Frozenbyte
Publisher: Nobilis
ESRB: Everyone
MSRP: $29.99
Editor: Jeremy 'Ghostbear' Spurlock

What's Hot: Gorgeous, charming art; Highly Polished controls that work well with a mouse/keyboard or controller.

What's Not: CO-OP is local only. An odd difficulty jump at the end of the game. The game is short for the price.

I am not typically enamored with platformers, I generally find them a frustrating experience. The subject of today's review, Trine, charmed me from the very beginning.

You start off as the clever Thief, sneaking her way to treasure. When she sees an artifact and approaches, but gets frozen in place! A similar accident happens to our amorous Wizard and hungry, but well intentioned, Knight. Once the knight shows up our heroes find themselves merged body and soul into a single unit.

This is where the angle of Trine becomes apparent, you'll have to switch between the three different characters to master the games puzzles and challenges. Do you swing from platform to platform with the Thief's grapple or perhaps create your own platforms with the Wizard and move them around as you see fit? Perhaps the Knight can knock that wall down for you. What is likely to happen is that it will take a clever combination of all three characters to succeed. Physics is at play here, so objects will behave like you expect them to. Create a platform up high and it will bounce when it hits the ground for instance. There are various wheels, and things that can only be described as carousels that you'll need to manipulate to win.

Your characters also level up in the game enhancing their abilities. Want to be able to have more boxes conjured at the same time or perhaps you want the Knight to do more damage with his sword? You earn experience by picking up green vials located throughout the levels and from some of the enemies you defeat.

Speaking of doing damage, there is a fair amount of combat in the game. I found I mostly handled these sections with the Knight, using your sword and shield to fend off the undead while looking about for the best way out of there is exciting and fun. There are some clever ways to kill your enemies as well: you can drop conjured boxes on them with the Wizard, or shoot them with arrows with the Thief, you can even drop on top of them as the Knight.

Let's talk about the art for a moment. This game is beautiful starting at the menu and that trend only continues throughout the game. Its fairytale aesthetic is the perfect look for this game. While the game is ostensibly 2D, I never felt constrained by that due to the fact that I would catch myself marveling at the exceptionally detailed backgrounds with their twinkling lights or molten lava flowing around you. The background and foreground weave around you seamlessly as you jump, swing, and levitate through the levels.

The audio in the game is also fantastic. The narrator sounds like he is telling his grandchildren bedtime stories and the characters are great in their depictions. The Thief sounds lithe and confident, the Knight bumbling and brave, the Wizard lecherous and intelligent. Typically, I don't notice music in a game unless it really stands out and the music in this game really reinforces the fun, lighthearted tone introduced in the beginning.

I played the Steam version of the game and Steam has added support for Steam Cloud, so if you play the game from multiple computers you'll get to continue the same game from anywhere you have an internet connection. There are also Steam achievements and I have to admit, some of them are a lot of fun to get. A PSN release is upcoming, but has been delayed so keep your eyes peeled if the PC is not your platform of choice.

In closing, I had a great time with this game and can easily recommend it to anyone who is just looking to have fun and enjoy a fairy tale. Play it alone, play it with friends, but play it.

Score: 4.5 out of 5 CoGs


Jeremy says , "Trine is an utterly charming and fun experience, if you want to save a few bucks wait for the PSN version, as it will be cheaper, but ultimately it's an experience that I did not regret spending the money on."

[Sazime]

I still want to grab this, online co-op or no. I am curious though, any replay value? Is it worth playing multiple times?

[Jackel]

I'll probably wait for a sale on this one. No co-op means it'll have to be a sale price or wait until they patch it in.

[Ghostbear]

Originally Posted by Sazime

I still want to grab this, online co-op or no. I am curious though, any replay value? Is it worth playing multiple times?

I think it does, certainly playing on a tougher difficulty would make me solve puzzles a bit more efficiently.

[Wilkz07]

looks neat. will check steam for it. how do you play co-op local ? share a keyboard?

[bryan]

Looks awesome, am waiting on a sale tho.

[H.Bogard]

I don't get it. Why is local co-op a flaw? If I had to choose between local and online, I'd pick local co-op. So much lesser hassles... I cannot fathom for the life of me why everyone gives this game shit for focusing on offline co-op.

Originally Posted by Wilkz07

looks neat. will check steam for it. how do you play co-op local ? share a keyboard?

Keyboard + mouse, a controller and another controller.

[Kelegacy]

I'm definitely waiting for a sale. Even at $20 on the consoles, if it's a really short game I can't bite.

[Ghostbear]

Originally Posted by H.Bogard

I don't get it. Why is local co-op a flaw? If I had to choose between local and online, I'd pick local co-op. So much lesser hassles... I cannot fathom for the life of me why everyone gives this game shit for focusing on offline co-op.

Local co-op is not a flaw, ONLY having local co-op is something I cannot ignore.

Originally Posted by Kelegacy

I'm definitely waiting for a sale. Even at $20 on the consoles, if it's a really short game I can't bite.

It took me about 7 hours to finish the game.

[Ghostbear]

This game is $4.99 today. Buy it!