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Trine is a physics-driven 2D-platform game set in a beautifully crafted 3D fantasy environment, offering fun and intuitive gameplay. Too many statements in one sentence you say? Wait and see.


Once upon a time...
In Trine you take the roll of 3 heroes: a thief, a knight and a wizard. After touching a magical artefact called the Trine, their souls and bodies are melted together, starting a journey far and wide to find a solution for their awkward condition. While doing so they stumble across an army of evil creatures led by a single demon, and find out that to reach salvation, they need to purge the land from this threat.

The story isn't exactly ground breaking, but it's enough to stitch the loose ends together. During the game the 3 protagonists talk and rant on each other, and given the cheesy voice acting this leads to a few hilarious conversations.

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Trine is a platformer pur sang, but with a twist.

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An unlikely band
During the game you control all 3 characters, with the unique feature to swap from character to character on the fly. Each of them has their own strengths and weaknesses, and it's up to the player to figure these out.

The knight is the most straightforward hero of the 3. He can use a sword and shield to fight off enemies, or use a big war hammer later on, leaving himself more vulnerable to attack but doing a lot more damage. The knight can also pick up objects and toss them away with tremendous strength, crushing walls or bones on the way. The knight is rather slow and heavy though, lacking agility.

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The knight, smashing away with his mighty battle hammer.


That's where the thief comes in. Fast and agile, she is perfect to overcome tricky obstacles and get out of difficult situations. She can use a very lethal bow to fight off enemies, and has a grappling hook to fly through the levels just like Spiderman himself. Sometimes though, you face a situation neither the knight nor thief can handle, requiring our 3rd and final party member.

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The thief is a master at moving around in a fast and fluid fashion.


The wizard is the practical man among our band. He has the ability to levitate objects, allowing him to move crates or dangerous objects around. But more importantly, the wizard can create his own objects from thin air: draw a cube with your mouse and you'll get a box. Draw a line and you'll get a plank. To accomplish this, the game uses an advanced "gesture recognition" system, which detects what shape you're drawing and converts that shape into an in game object. Sounds fantastic right? It is.

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Pointy object in the way? Ledge too high? No problem.


Additionally, you level up during the course of the game by collecting experience bottles, unlocking more skills and abilities. These bottles are often hidden in difficult to reach spots in the game, making it a challenge to collect all of them. After you level up you can spend the points you gather on extra skills or upgrades for your existing abilities. For example, the knight can get a critical hit bonus or a weapon enchantment. The thief gets possession of fire arrows to erupt torches and enemies into flames, and the wizard gets more boxes and planks to use, and ultimately a flying platform which in turn can be used by the thief to grapple onto.

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Gimme some treasure!

Last but not least you can collect items during the game by discovering chests. These chests are hidden well and often take a bit of a search to find. The items you find may have subtle changes towards health or protection, or more advanced enchantments like changing the outcome of a certain skill or ability. None of these are life changing, but it's a fun extra nevertheless.

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The inventory system is rather basic, but it does the job just fine.


Let there be physics
All these skills and possibilities lead us to the game's biggest strength: the physics engine. Everything in the world is interactive: from a box laying around to a movable platform or a breakable wall. Additionally you can create your own objects with the wizard and stack them however you like, creating big towers to get up a high ledge for example, or dropping a heavy box on top of an enemy's head.

Needless to say, this allows for completely free play: how you want to overcome an obstacle is entirely up to you. For example: imagine a wooden ledge with 3 skeletons standing on it. Jump on it and crush them with the knight's mighty blows. Or swing underneath them with the thief's grappling hook, taking them in the back. Or create a heavy plank above their heads with the wizard, crushing them all. Or use a fire arrow to destroy the platform, leaving the skeletons to the mercy of the pikes underneath. Or combine all of these, creating a box with the wizard, throwing it at them with the knight and finishing them off with an arrow or two.

This entire mechanism is the big strength of the game, allowing for uncomplicated and highly satisfying, fun gameplay. But as we all know, images say more than words. Therefore, the trailer for PS3:




Thy shalt not pass!
The combat in Trine is very enjoyable, but unfortunately there are only 3 different types of enemies. Most opponents are skeletons, coming with or without shields, bows or sometimes one breathing fire. Later on you'll also face a few spiders and highly annoying waves of bats. I can't count how many times I've been jumping into the air swatting at them with the knight, but I'm certain it must've been a hilarious sight to see my knight struggle against 3 damn bats taking chunks of meat out of him.

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Whack away at your foes or pass them unseen - the choice is yours!

Now and then you'll also encounter a boss fight, but their weaknesses are so obvious they can't be seen as dangerous. The difficulty of the game in total is pretty low by the way, but more on that later. First up is another great strength of the game - the graphics.


Marvel at my beauty
The graphics of Trine are in one word gorgeous. The game might itself might be 2D, but the world and environments are fully 3D rendered, leading to downright beautiful sceneries. As you can see on the screenshots and video, the entire world is very colourful and lively: swarms of butterflies flying around, leaves waving in the wind, the scenery bathing in the lighting... Some places in the game are truly stunning. A few times I found myself just standing still, admiring the atmosphere, which I can't recall doing in any game since entering Arcadia in BioShock.

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The beauty of the graphics is simply dripping off the screen.

The world itself consists of 15 levels, taking you through beautiful forests, creepy mines and dungeons, deadly ruins full of traps and an iron forge so hot your face melts off. This variety stops the game from ever feeling repetitive: each level has its unique obstacles and mechanisms to pass through.


Close your eyes and listen...
Backing up the graphical beauty is the phenomenal soundtrack created by Finnish composer Ari Pulkkinen. The music in Trine is light and playful, adding perfectly to the fantasy setting of the game. Every level again the music helps to support the overall atmosphere, giving every level a unique look 'n feel. Additionally the music is so relaxing that I find myself putting it on during work sometimes.

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If you can, pick up the official OST.


Jump, shoot, smash and repeat
One of the big advantages of the gameplay in Trine is that it has a high replay value. Although the levels themselves don't change, there's a ton of possibilities to solve every situation, allowing you to play through the game multiple times without ever getting bored. Additionally the game is ideal to play between playing other games: a level can be completed in roughly 30 minutes, making it the perfect game to play between your hardcore [insert game here] sessions.

One last note on the difficulty of the game: I started out on normal the first time and found myself cruising through the combat for the most part. You might wanna start on hard mode right away. As for game time: I completed the game the first time in about 10-12 hours, taking into account that I always take my sweet time to look around everywhere. So if you rush it, you might end up at 6-7 hours, but c'mon, who rushes a game like this?

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Swimming is possible, but in certain areas not recommended.


Multitrine
Unfortunately Trine doesn't support coop multiplayer over LAN or internet. The only way to play this game together on PC is by attaching multiple keyboards and mouses (or just gamepads), but after several tries I couldn't get this to work. Some googling taught me that playing multiplayer on pc is an ass to get working, which is a pity. PS3 players on the other hand shouldn't have a problem. If you wonder what the game plays like in multiplayer, have a look and cry if you don't have a PS3, like me.




Conclusion & the numbers
Overall, Trine is a triumph for indie gaming. The game offers uncomplicated and very fun gameplay in a beautifully crafted 3D environment. There's a few minor edges to it - a rather basic inventory system and the lack of coop over LAN or internet for example - but these are but puny details compared to the fantastic physics-driven platform / puzzle gameplay you get. If you're looking for a fun and original experience without going hardcore, Trine is an absolute must.

The pros:
- very fun and intuitive gameplay
- 3 different characters, freely swappable
- combining powers is fun!
- great physics engine
- beautiful graphics and atmosphere
- fantastic soundtrack

The cons:
- basic inventory system
- story being a bit too thin
- lack of coop over internet / LAN

Scoreboard:
Gameplay: 49/60
Graphics: 18/20
Sound: 17/20

Final Score: 84/100

Trine is for sale on Steam and other digital platforms for the price of ~20 Euro. It has been discounted many times already to up to -75% and will most likely do so again in the future, so it might be worth waiting for the price to drop down again. If you're interested, do check the trailers on Steam, and go for it! You won't be disappointed.

~ Furyan