Trine

Blizzard Entertainment is better known for Warcraft and Diablo now, but once upon a time, they worked on games far from the PC franchises that have brought them so much fame. Games like the classic Lost Vikings. Frozenbyte has taken inspiration from this old Blizzard masterpiece and crafted Trine, an action-puzzle game that is incredibly different from previous efforts. Frozenbyte has shown that they are not a one-trick pony, and that they can craft games that are wildly different from previous efforts. After all, Trine is about as far from Shadowgrounds as you can get!

Trine's story is about a Warrior, a Wizard, and a Thief. They are not named at all, although their motives and personalities are certainly explored. Each member is fueled by a specific goal: the Wizard by the elusive fireball spell, the Warrior by the desire for food, and the thief by greed. The story is typical fantasy nonsense, and acts as little more than filler to explain the beautiful environs you end up in. There are talks of artifacts, dragon graveyards, and the undead, but none of it is particularly unique. An in-depth and complex story is not at work here.

First off in Trine is the visuals and audio. The visuals are stunning. Not in the high-poly, Crysis sort of way, but rather the vibrant and well-designed way. Each level has a distinct color and architecture scheme which leaps out at you, especially on the highest settings. One unfortunate side effect that I found, however, as that high anti-aliasing caused significant input lag, even on a high-end computer. Either crank up your resolution or be willing to live with some jagged edges if you aren't running a cutting-edge machine. The audio is not particularly amazing, but is not bad at all. It fits the purpose while being completely unobtrusive, and this extends to the music as well.

The gameplay of Trine is very, very similar to Lost Vikings. You have three characters that all have specific actions to further your movement through the game. Mixing and matching each character is necessary, as it is impossible to beat a level using only a single character. The characters are:

The Wizard, who lacks any true offensive capability. He can create boxes, platforms, and floating pyramids. The only way that he can hurt enemies is by dropping large objects into their heads. The wizard can also levitate items around for placement. Used primarily for moving around difficult areas, and not much for anything else, as he is fragile.

The Knight, who can power-slam just about anybody he wants. Weapons are a shield and sword as well as a large hammer. Can block attacks from enemies and pick up objects to fling at enemies. However, the Knight has the least mobility out of the group and sinks in water, although he has a large reservoir of health. Great for taking out enemies, not much else.

The Thief, who can deal damage at a range and move around the environment using a grappling hook. The thief straddles the line between Knight and Wizard, and is exceptionally good at quick movement through areas. Is relatively fragile as well, but deals good damage with the bow once it is upgraded.

For normal gameplay, the Thief excels far and above her teammates, and this unbalances the game a bit. Her high ranged damage output along with great mobility makes her an exceptional jack-of-all-trades, relegating the Knight to situations with a large number of enemies and the Wizard to impassable barriers. It would have been nice to see them balance out more rather than having the Thief be so much better than the rest at combat and movement.

The puzzles in the game are clever, but unfortunately, revolve almost entirely around the Wizard and Thief. There is not much in the way of puzzles for the Knight, partially because he is so focused around just smacking things down. It would have been nice to see puzzles that force the Knight to use some of his unique abilities like blocking, lightning generation, and grabbing of items. Unfortunately, only blocking sees any use and it's extremely minor, as skillful use of the thief can overcome it.

This problem is the main problem behind Trine. It does not feel balanced. It's not as pronounced on the higher difficulties, but by making most of the puzzles solvable through multiple solutions and making the Thief the most powerful member of the team, Frozenbyte pushed towards the Thief's solutions rather than working together as a team. It's a large disappointment, as the potential for more deep and balanced gameplay is definitely there if more care was taken with the design.

One of the most interesting elements in the game is the three-player co-op. There is no online co-op, however; you must all play on the same computer. Thus, if you really want to play co-op in Trine, you have to hook up some controllers to your computer and all play together. The controllers work as fine as the normal WASD + Mouse scheme, thankfully. You may want to hook your computer up to a TV or larger screen if you intend to play co-op, as trying to play on a standard monitor may get a ltitle busy.

Trine is a fantasy puzzle game that is definitely more than the sum of its parts. The audio is unobtrusive, the visuals impressive, and the gameplay slightly unbalanced, but it all comes together in a way that is supremely enjoyable and addictive. You can sit down and finish each difficulty in a few hours, but as you go through the game, you'll find yourself unable to tear yourself away. Just one more checkpoint, one more level, and one more difficulty are the name of the game here. In the end, Trine is a little expensive for the amount of gameplay that will be had, but it's definitely a must-play for anybody who enjoys action or puzzle games.

Marco Cecilio, NoobFeed