Title: Trine 2
Developed By: Frozenbyte
Published By: ATLUS USA
Based on: The original Trine game released in 2009 on various platforms
Console: PC/Mac, Playstation Network and XBox Live Arcade
Genre: Platformer, Puzzle
Subtitles: English
Classification: This game has been classified E 10+ by the ESRB
Review Conditions: This review was done on a Playstation Network version of the game. Between versions there should be little if any difference.
Special Thanks: Special thanks goes to ATLUS USA who kindly provided me with a PSN Download Code.
Plot
Continuing on from the first game, all three of our intrepid heroes – Amadeus: a wizard with the ability to conjure and manipulate physics and his heart not fully set on adventure, Pontius: the brave knight who is eager to get into action and is more than happy about questing and Zoya: A thief/entrepreneur who is the ranged attacker of the group and is in adventure for treasure…. have resumed their somewhat peaceful lives and making a living for themselves. As you may expect, the “Trine” once again appears before them and drags them to a brand new mysterious world where the story of a feud between two twin princesses (Rosabel and Isabel).
This plot is not only revealed through progressing through the dozen or so stages included in the game, but also small tidbits included within collectible items such as poems and paintings. While it is creative and it does reward you just that little bit more for taking the time to obtain the collectible items, it is more or less a plot to get you heading from A to B and there is nothing all that much to it. With loading screens best being used to introduce the story of what has happened previously and the three characters talking amongst themselves while traversing through the stages really helps bring Trine 2 to life – although it wouldn’t be something to write say…. a novel about.
Design
When I did my review of Rayman Origins last year, I thought that was the best side-scrolling platformer that tried pulling off the comical style of artwork… Trine 2 is the complete opposite of that game and you know what… I will give it the “Best of” realistic design for side-scrolling platformers. The designs in this game as a whole are lush and vibrant and without a doubt containing some of the best environment designs I have seen rendered in a long time. Backtracking from the last sentence a bit, it is possible to conclude that they were trying to capture the fantasy appeal and I think they did a strong performance of it. The environments were crammed full of detail where no bit of screen was left unturned, through the selection of stages they had they did a good job of offering a diverse range of environments which didn’t leave you feeling like they were overusing the one theme and the monsters you face included fantastical creatures including gigantic frogs, goblins and witches which were all designed to both blend with the environment and help set the tone of the area you were in.
This is considered a physics side-scrolling platformer, so like other games such as LittleBigPlanet physics is a big deal and the design makes great use of it as well. Everything from the smallest blade of grass to a magic floating bubble were all affected by physics and had in my opinion very few hicups which was good when it came to the gameplay which will be discussed momentarily. However, where there was perhaps a minor problem was that the game was overdesigned in some parts that it took away from the gameplay a bit. There were moments where you might end up thinking something was a platform and it wasn’t or vice versa or a puzzle was perhaps a bit too vague but these were what I found to be learning curves more than anything.
Sound and Voice
With the exception of a couple of rather bland tracks, the soundtrack for this game ended up pretty good in my books that worked well the the level designs in order to set the appropriate mood. However, the music at times I found to be a bit too soft resulting in the sound effects really playing an important role to the gaming experience and they also were of great quality with everything from the gigantic frog to landing on a giant leaf having its own contributing sound effect and really added to the whole immersible fantasy experience they were attempting to deliver. One thing I really did enjoy was the voice acting, which sold itself to me with a mixture of that older fantasy style of voice with that satiric writing and hints in the voices.
Gameplay
As mentioned a couple of times above, this game is your traditional 2D Platformer with a heavy physics element to it, a considerable amount of action and is not about just getting from A to B but using C to get to B. Each of the three aforementioned characters – the Wizard, the Knight and the Thief have their own characteristic playstyles which respective skill sets and weapons which you will need to utilize effectively in order to survive the journey. In the single-player campaign this means you will have to switch between the three as you go over the multiplayer modes where you either control one character each (3P) or switch between an unused one (2P). The Wizard Amadeus is the one you will be using to solve more physics based puzzles as he has the ability to both conjure boxes and levitate but with the disadvantage of physically no attacks, The Theif Zoya uses a bow which you can use to slowly aim and attack enemies with the advantage of a grappling hook to escape enemies or advance past large gaps (Only on wood annoyingly) and finally the Knight Pontius which comes equipped with several weapons to take out enemies at a slight disadvantage of not really doing much with the puzzles. This game is all about mastering all three and not just staying on your favorite.
To discuss the puzzles a bit more, in the initial stages there is nothing all that much to them, to of course get you used to the three characters unique skills – thus you will find yourself switching between them quite often. There are quite a lot of puzzles to solve from the get-go such as trampolines made of mushrooms, reaching high places using the characters various skills or even using the ol’ balance trick in order to water some plants (Plus a horde full of goblins and other enemies to boot). They don’t necessarily have to be done by the most obvious character, so you could potentially knock a wall down by having Pontius use brute force or have Amadeus levitate a heavy boulder to crash into the wall that blocks your path. The game even offers you an achievement/trophy for completing a level without switching characters once (None of the trophies are plot related but instead encourage you to find ways to manipulate the phyiscs engine to do different things). The non-linear means of solving these puzzles which adapt to the different level designs and the structure of the levels themselves means playing through them is rewarding and should offer a moderate degree of replayability both in single and multiplayer modes.
While the puzzle and platforming systems were enjoyable, the game gives you another few options in order to customize your gaming experience. Each of these three characters have unique skills which can be unlocked through a very RPG-esque level up system via collecting blue orbs collected by traversing the levels and defeating enemies. While it is nothing all that game breaking it does offer the ability to diversify your character usage by giving Zoya the ability to attack with better and more “dangerous” arrows or allowing Amadeus to levitate enemies which can turn into a minor physical advantage through dropping them on instant kill spikes. Reallocation is possible but I thought it was more fun just to jump in and live with any mistakes I made in skilling. This fortunately does not cause too much complexity on the controls which you are introduced to early on and despite the occasional mix-up, provided acceptable control of your character and his/her skills.
Overall it was a fun gameplay experience which while perhaps being a bit shorter than I would have liked, offered some hard to get (But oh so rewarding) silver and gold trophies, a non-linear platforming experience and actually posed a challenge at a fair few moments throughout and had you think outside the box.
The Final Word…
With many of the first games I ever played as a child being side-scrolling platformers, I have always been a big fan of them however am always looking for innovative means in which game developers help expand the genre that played no small part in having me enjoy gaming as a whole. While until hearing of Trine 2 I had never actually played the original game, I can safely say this series as a whole is one of those innovations, and Trine 2 was the star performer of the two.
Final Score
Storyline/Character Development: B-
Design: A
Music/Voice Acting: B+
Gameplay: A-
Replayability: B+
Personal Opinion: A-
Overall Score: A-