Trine: A Puzzle-Platformer Fantasy Adventure

Trine is a game that I really did not expect a whole lot from. I picked it up on Steam a long time ago while it was on sale and it just sat untouched in my library. I finally pulled it out when I had a friend over and we were looking for something to play, and I’m glad I did.

Plot

Trine takes place in a land that has fallen into ruin. The King has died with no heir to take his place, leaving the kingdom politically unstable. An undead army has also risen to take advantage of the instability and take the kingdom. With most of the kingdom abandoned, it is up to three unlikely heroes, bound by the mystical artifact known as the Trine, to save the kingdom and bring peace to the land.

Presentation

Trine is an absolutely beautiful game. From the forests early in the game to the dark caves towards the end, everything is absolutely gorgeous. I’m not sure how to describe it any more with words, so I’ll let these screenshots and the trailer above do it for me.

The music is equally impressive and sets the mood perfectly. It really evokes the fantasy adventure feel that the game is going for. In addition to the music, the game has a narrator. The narrator does an amazing job making the game feel like it came right out of a fantasy story book. The voice actors for the characters are also very good. The banter between the characters brings a lot of personality to the game.

Gameplay

At its core, Trine is a side-scrolling, puzzle-platformer. Your goal in each stage is to get to the end while solving various puzzles and traversing enemies, booby traps, and other obstacles. What sets the game apart are the characters you can play as. You have a choice of three characters that you can switch between at any time: Zoya the Thief, Pontius the Knight, and Amadeus the Wizard. Each character has certain skills that you can use to make it  through the levels. Zoya has a grappling hook that you can use to swing across obstacles. Her weapon is a bow. Pontius can lift heavy objects and throw them. He can also use his weapons to break walls or boxes. His weapons are the sword and shield and a hammer. Amadeus can make boxes, planks, and floating platforms and can levitate objects with his magic. He has no real weapons, though enemies can be crushed with his boxes. Whenever one of your characters dies, you are switched to one who is still alive. All your characters are revived at each checkpoint.

Trine also features a leveling system. Each level gets you points that you can spend on giving the characters new abilities. For example, Zoya can get fire arrows, Amadeus can conjure more objects, and Pontius can get a flaming sword.

My Thoughts

Trine is a much better game than I expected. Considering I paid less than five dollars for it, I didn’t think there would be much to it. I was happy to be proven wrong.

The platforming is generally responsive, though occasionally you can accidentally run off the edge of a platform if you aren’t careful. Zoya is clearly the best for any platforming segments due to her grappling hook. The puzzles are generally fairly easy, but fun to solve. Trine makes good use of its physics engine to make the puzzle solving process enjoyable. The combat is nothing spectacular. You will usually just hide behind the knights shield until you can get some hits in or shooting them from range with the thief’s bow. If you want a real challenge, try to fight by crushing all the enemies with the wizards boxes.

I really like all the different uses that items have in the game. My favorite example of this was when I was some dark caves. I was shooting some fire arrows at a few enemies when I accidentally hit an unlit torch that I didn’t see. As expected, the torch lit up and allowed me a better view of the environment. It was a really nice touch that showed a lot of thought from the developer. I love it when items have more than one use.

There are also tons of hidden items in chests scattered throughout the levels. Hidden collectibles have become less common in games and I love it when I find games that still include them. Most of the items give you a certain bonus, like the ability to breath underwater or improved defense against attacks. I love exploring every inch of levels and being rewarded doing so. I really wish more games would incorporate this.

One downfall of the game is that it doesn’t have any online component. While Trine is good as a single player game, it is best played with a friend or two, since each of you gets to control a character and work together to solve the puzzles.

I would definitely recommend getting this game, especially if you happen to see it go on sale on Steam again. If you can get a couple friends together to play it, you’ll definitely be in for a good time. Trine is available on PC, Mac OSX, and Linux via Steam as well as Playstation 3.