The Don's Craptastic World A meta-level binary dude embedded to a multimedia proxy world!

Trine – A platform game utilizing physics

I'm not easily swayed and fascinated by a game. The last one that really, and I mean REALLY, fascinated me was Baldur's Gate 2 and Fallout. Since then there have been a lot of good and very good games, but no diamonds so far. That is, until now. Trine, man I tells ya, 'tis game just amazes me.

Perhaps it is because this game so much reminds me of my childhood where I used to play The Lost Vikings, I'm a sucker for nostalgia all right. It should be mentioned the new Monkey Island Remake "The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition" is just as awesome!

Or perhaps because this game simply is so awesome. Trine is almost just like The Lost Vikings. You get to play a mage, who conjures boxes, bridges and platforms, who moves objects with his hands, a thief who uses exploding arrows and swings with her rope, and a warrior who uses brute force to smash through the enemy hordes.

The only difference between The Lost Vikings and Trine is that Trine uses "real" physics in order for you to solve the puzzles and that you have instant access to all 3 heroes from anywhere whenever you want. That means you don't have to move the mage first, then the warrior, then the thief. You move as "one". Press "1" the mages comes out, Press "2" the thief goes, Press "3" the warrior appears.

The story behind Trine is somewhat fuzzy. The 3 characters are captured inside a crystal, which is why you have access to all 3 of them anywhere, anytime. Evil spreads throughout the world, you have to beat the evil in order to be freed from the crystal. Quite cliche I know.

Throughout the levels you earn experience and you can loot items from chests. Earned experience results in level gain for each character. Earned points from level ups in turn can be spent to expand each characters abilities. Looted items can be distributed freely between characters in order to make them more powerful.

I can't stress physics enough, it's not the focus of Trine but it is a huge part of the game. You WILL have to make use of it's physics to solve the puzzles.

The only downsize is, Trine is way, way too short. Only 20 levels and the game is done. How fast you do each level depends on the difficulty your set and your ability to solve puzzles. Still I feel 20 levels are too few.

Anyway if you seek a great, amazing platform puzzle-solving game then Trine is just that. I made a few 720p HD game play clips while I was playing it. Enjoy!

Game Play #1: Part 1/2, Part 2/2
Game Play #2: Part 1/3, Part 2/3, Part 3/3
Game Play #3: Part 1/3, Part 2/3, Part 3/3