Customer Reviews

Trine [Online Game Code]

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Trine is a really fun game. If you enjoyed Castlevania Symphony of the Night then you will love this. I wasn't sure if I would enjoy a 3D scroller as opposed to the 2D ones which I grew up on but I really do. The plot is great, the music is great, and the search for trophies and total completions give this game a lot of replay value

I really hate reviewing puzzles games, in a way they're like first-person shooters or action games, okay fine, all games are hard to review because it's hard to gauge whether a game's difficulty or fun is because you just haven't mastered the game yet and need a bit more time learning the ropes or if the game is just poorly designed and you look at your next task and wonder "what designer thought this was a good idea?" I tend to see it quite often in games but it's usually found in puzzle games as well, what might be too hard and frustrating to figure out, somebody has solved it in 12 seconds flat and saying you suck. So how do I review Trine, the 2D puzzle-platformer-actioner that combines physics-based puzzles with exploration and occasional enemy fighting? It's fun but I find that's the case in small doses: play for too long and the puzzles start to annoy at their oft-occuring forms, the combat can be slightly frustrating and the physics makes already tricky platforming even more laborious yet there is something very whimsical about the whole experience.

The basic story of Trine is that 3 adventurers, the Thief, the Wizard and the Knight stumble across an artifact known as the Trine, an artifact that can bind souls together. So when all 3 touch it, it binds their souls in such a way that only one can be in the real world at a time, the other 2 are trapped within the artifact. So the 3 of them have to make their way across various locales to find a way to undo the spell and get everyone back to normal.

I'll just say Trine is one gorgeous looking game. It almost reminds me of Folklore, another PS3 game, in the very lush and almost bloom-y lighting to the flora that populate the world or the small caverns at the bottom of areas, the game just looks really great. Unimpressive however is the end level cutscenes which strictly consist of a map and a narrator. It either smacks of laziness or lack of budget but something a bit more rewarding for accomplishing a level doesn't seem like a tall order. Music as well kind of has that whimsical fantasy feel about, like something Danny Elfman would do for a Tim Burton movie. There is some voice acting and though the characters don't get much depth, the Thief's my favorite with the sexy voice, cool design and I'm sure she's a cutie under that bandana covering her face.

Then we get down to the gameplay involving the puzzles and switching characters. It starts off really cool as each characters has different strengths so the Wizard can conjure blocks to act as stepping stones, planks for bridges or triangles to act as floating platforms or an upgrade lets the Thief grapple from them. The Thief's main ability is that grapple ability as she can tether herself to a wooden platform above her and sort of get a Tarzan thing going on but the timing of it can be tricky. The Knight has a sword and shield and is the main damage dealer though he can also pick up heavy objects and use them as flying damage dealers or smash open blocked passageways. The puzzles in some cases seem designed to try out each character and one approach might just be as successful as another.

But the problem comes with the sort-of deja vu feeling of the puzzles and more than once you'll come across one and be like "oh it's this type, guess I got to do this" and unlike Braid, Portal or the recently released Limbo where you're going to be racking your brain over it, it's a bit too simple here whereas other solutions are almost vague. Couple puzzles had me so stumped I looked online and when I read the solution, there wasn't a "oh crap, how did I not think of that, I'm such a dumbass", I went ".....they honestly thought somebody would think of that solution on their own?" The game does have a light RPG mechanic where you can level up the character's abilities and gain items to benefit characters though these aren't like RPG's where they're readily accessible and easily found, you have to go on a treasure hunt for these things and if you find yourself frustrated as to why your knight's sword is taking 8 slashes to kill a generic skeleton whereas 3 or 4 from his completely wipes you out, well turns out those items could've helped. Sure there's replay value to find them all, but they make the game's combat a bit more enjoyable whereas not having enough equipment for those bonuses just makes it kind of tedious.

When Trine originally launched, it was priced at the incomprehensible 20 bucks. Not saying Trine isn't worth your time (aside from the frustrating bits) but the price seemed way too high but now they dropped it to 10$ and now without question it is worth the price. While I do have some misgivings that I hope will be changed in the just-announced sequel, those looking for a unique and whimsical playthrough should check it out.

When I first started playing Trine, my first impressions were that the wonder and awe. The game opens up with fantastic narration and clever storyboard screens to introduce the whimsical story. Once I was in control of the Thief to begin the adventure, I was deeply satisfied that the game took a realistic art direction rather than many of the cartoony games that are out. Although Trine is a 2D side-scroller, this is the core gameplay mechanic, very similar to games like Little Big Planet and this certainly does not detract from the wonderful and super details world that you will explore. You will encounter mushroom forests, dark and shadowy dungeons, burning iron forges, and many other levels brimming with production value. There is plenty of eye-candy in this game as you progress. While playing, you ar able to control the Thief, Warrior, and Wizard. Each character has a personality that brings a little depth to the game, for example the Wizard is frustrated that he is unable to learn the Fireball spell, tries to create a fireball potion instead to impress the ladies when the potion backfires and he falls into a sleep for a fortnight instead. Hence he agrees to the quest in hopes that he may learn this spell.
The bread and butter gameplay involves platforming a la Little Big Planet as I mentioned above, however there are skeletons and a few other monsters that appear in set spots try to kill you. You will need to switch back and forth among the three characters utilizing their individual strengths in order to reach certain areas or avoid traps. The Wizard can create boxes and ramps out of thin air to step on as well as telekinetically manipulate objects in the world. The Warrior's shield blocks spikes, arrows, and sword blows, and his sword takes care of the majority of the enemies. The Thief has a powerful bow with unlimited arrows to mop up enemies the Warrior leaves behind and a grappling hook that can allow her to reach higher areas or swing over chasms. This leaves the player to decide upon how to reach certain areas and accomplish goals in the game and solve puzzles. The player can switch among the three characters on the fly with a single button. The game joyfully describes this instant transformation as a side-effect of the artifact each character is striving to obtain.
Trine is a pleasure because of the colorful sights, sounds, medieval music score, and sparring use of humor joined with puzzle solving, action, and copious amounts of treasure hunting and secret finding. It's even more fun with a friend playing cooperatively. In searching for a good co-op game to play with my wife that wasn't huge on shooters, I stumbled upon Trine. After watching a gameplay video, I decided that Trine was excactly what we were looking for. Firing the game up for the first time we were instantly drawn into the world's sights and sounds and could not stop. The game has plenty of levels and does not leave the player feeling shorted at all at the end. Upon a fairly lenthy completion, I am currently playing through a second time solo to collect missed trophies and items. If you enjoy side-scrolling platformers, hunting for secrets in games like Super Mario Brothers or Little Big Planet, but always wished you could swing a sword or battle hammer around while you did it, this is definitely the game for you.

If you are the type of person who can't put a game down when you're into one. Do not buy this game. I thought it was a great game and played through it when I had a few days off work. I stayed up too late and beat it on the 2nd night. The game is not short, I just could not put the game down. It was a TON of fun and now I'm playing through it a 2nd time trying to get all the goodies in the game. Do yourself a favor and get this game.

One of the best games of the year -
This game is challenging, fun, deep and beautiful. The controls and physics make for great gameplay, and the trophies through PSN will keep you coming back for more. I loved this game, played through until I got the platinum trophy. It's no Call of Duty - if you're looking for fun and challenging puzzle platforming then you've arrived. Icing on he cake - the soundtrack in genius, it's the extra touch that demonstrates the attention paid to all aspects. Have fun!

might not be the most fun game... pretty simple... and is best played stoned at midnight or later. I love how it has a narrator and it seems like I'm playing through some epic tale, almost like a bedtime story, my girlfriend will sometimes just sit and watch because of the storybook feeling it has. The puzzles are cool because they follow physics rules, which I think is really cool to have in a game since I am an engineering major haha... The only thing I could make better is to change up the puzzles a little more and not just change the scenery, and same thing with the enemies... i get tired of killing skeletons forever, finally found some spiders but still! Is it that hard to add some more skins?

Either way, awesome game despite my criticism... programmers did a great job making the game pretty seamless and smooth... doesn't seem clunky like a lot of other games these days.

The game is entirely too boring with repeat after repeat after repeat of the same ole thing. Graphics are decent, but no story, no diversity.

I don't really understand how it's possible for a game like this to exist. I mean, I do, really, because it's not on a disc and nobody in their right mind would allow something like this to be released that way. I'm just saying that I don't really understand how the guys at Frostbyte (or whatever they're called) could delay this game for months and months after it was supposed to come out- and already had on the PC- and have it still be kind of broken. How is it broken? Kind of. Although I think a better question might be "how did it get through certification?".

The answers are, in order, that the framerate gets a little crazy at times for no apparent reason (guess what: unplug your Playstation Eye kids!), and by crazy I mean practically nonexistent. For a game that relies on your precision and skill this is kind of unacceptable. Apart from that though, the actual systems at play here are also kind of broken. The shooting isn't very good, the wizarding isn't very good, and sometimes even the swinging isn't very good, and that's like two thirds of the whole game. So. Your call.

It seems to be the case that Frozenbite reached a certain point in the process of making this game- or porting it to the PS3 as the case may be- where they realized that they just needed to kick this game out the door as soon as possible and get around to fixing it later. I mean, the trophies in this game didn't even have icons other than the standard Sony ones until they patched it out a month later. It all just leaves me wondering when they'll get around to patching in the fun, because that's what they've also forgotten to include. So the second answer is I don't know.

Nobody's enough of a masochist to buy this game for themselves at this point. If you want to pay money for a terrible, broken port of an actually good PC game, go buy the Orange Box. Maybe everybody at Frozynbike should play it too. I'm sure they have a Wish List.