Combat in Trine is never difficult, but always proved to be an irritation. What ever my situation is was always environmental hazards that were my downfall, all enemies ever seemed to do was prevent me opening boxes until I dispatched them (and then watched them respawn to doing it again). I began questioning the inclusion of fighting at times, suspecting it was only really introduced to give the knight a more substantial role.

 

 

 

For me the fun of the game was in the physics puzzles, and thanks to Frozenbyte’s application of the PhysX engine these were intuitive from the start. All the tools I needed to solve the conundrums were introduced slowly through out the course of the game. This gave me the opportunity of coming to grips with more difficult mechanics without needing my hand held, building my skill set steadily so that (with the exception of the last level) it never seemed overwhelming.

 

Frozenbyte also managed to achieve something other physics-based platformers struggle with, making the jump feel solid. While I loved 'Little Big Planet' its jumps always felt floaty making precision jumps unpredictable. Trine has managed to capture 2D games of old, making jumps feel controlled, an important trait in a platform game.

 

 

Trine’s plot is not its strong point, generic high fantasy and littered with contrived ideas solely facilitate the key game mechanic. None of this ever effected my enjoyment of the story, or more accurately of the writing and its wonderful narration. A large part of this is because Frozenbyte is in on the joke, the game is joyfully aware of its own ridiculousness.

 

By toying with the stereotypes and crating a storybook atmosphere, Trine manages to be entertaining through out without denigrating itself to the point I felt stupid for liking it.

 

 

Like its 2D ancestors, "Trine" is a fairly short experience there is enough variety to justify multiple play throughs, especially if you are playing multiplayer or after Trophies. Unfortunately while Trine is if a fantastic evolution of a much beloved genre, at £16.99 it may a hard sell to the majority of modern gamers. In an environment where expectation for downloadable game prices trend towards the lower end of the spectrum it may be a difficult barrier for the people to get over.

 

If you are interested in the game and have the money, I recommend you disregard you preconceptions of price and pick it up, as it is one of the best recent examples of its genre.

 

 

 

 

+ Well designed levels
+ Excellent puzzles and platforming
+ Beautifully presented