Written by: Beta on January 2, 2012.

A majority of popular games released recently have been centered around drab war torn locales with an understandably overabundance of the uses of a lot of grey, beige, and brown colors. The race to reality has taken away some of what I originally loved about gaming. I remember when things got tough, being a product of divorced parents, I could throw on Super Mario Brothers 3 or the original Legend Of Zelda and escape into a living cartoon that I could control. At that time gameplay trumped all, but visually those games were like nothing I had really seen before, since I had an Atari 2600. At this point, games within the indie scene are recapturing that feeling and if they have an opportunity to partner up with larger publishers to get their vision out then we can get fun and interesting experiences that have higher production values.

Trine 2 is a product of that merging. Frozenbyte, the development company from Finland, created the original Trine which started as a PC game and made it’s way onto the PlayStation Network. They have also had a bundle of games in the “Humble Indie Bundle”. The “Frozenbyte Bundle” was the third bundle in the series which splits the sales amongst the developers, bundle organizers, and a specific charity. Buyers get to determine what price they pay, and about 97% of the games are DRM free. Eerie and atmospheric top down shooter Shadowgrounds, Shadowgrounds Survivor, and Trine were all available. Respected Japanese publisher and development company Atlus published this incredibly beautiful looking 2/3D platformer.

Just off the bat, I noticed how good looking the art-style and graphics were. There are liberal uses of bright colors, yellows, blues, reds, purples and lush green plants in the environment. Every room that the characters moved through, too me, resembled a comic book panel. The setting is around the medieval times where there are three characters to control at will. Each have their own abilities, attacks, and with a mechanic similar to RPG’s, there is also a leveling-up system. A majority of the gameplay consists of puzzles that impede your path of traversal. With a few enemies and environmental hazards thrown in for good measure.

Amadeus the Wizard has the ability to use his magic to manipulate objects on the screen, along with conjuring boxes and planks in which to create platforms. Zoya the Thief attacks with arrows and has a grappling hook that shoots out to attach itself to wooden structures. This allows Zoya to swing over spike pits, enemies, or reach higher platforms that hold the orbs which are collected in order to level-up. Pontius the Knight is the brute. He is definitely the muscle of the trio sporting a sword and shield, and when called for, a sledgehammer which destroys some enemies in one hit and is used for smashing certain boxes and walls. The control of the powers and the game in whole is on point. When playing as Pontius the right analog stick is used to point which direction you want the shield to block. At times while playing I forgot that you could use this feature, but when I did it it was incredibly effective and helped ease any frustrations I had with trying to figure out the puzzles. With the combination of the “R-2″ or “L-2″ buttons, and the right analog stick, you can summon boxes and planks by moving the stick in a square motion on screen. There are options to play on or offline with up to three different people each as one of the characters, but in my initial play-through I chose to play alone. This is a completely viable option. Any frustration I had during my time playing was a result of over thinking things as most of the puzzles have simple answers, but are still challenging.

The battle system is fairly simple and usually devolved into me mashing the square button, but the battles were ultimately a nice distraction from the puzzles in the game. Boss battles involve not only attacking directly, but at times using the environment to destroy the beasts which include giant fire breathing dragons. Audio wise the sound EFX were great and the soundtrack was enjoyable, with the music coming in at the right places and having a magical, almost “Lord Of The Rings” inspired feel to it. It was never distracting and definitely added to the atmosphere. There are three different difficulty levels. Trine 2 has a good amount of replay value, due to the inclusion of co-op. Also there are chests that include poems, and special artwork to collect as extras as you make your way through the main quest.

If you are looking for a pure gameplay experience with some wonderful visuals mixed in, then I suggest buying Trine 2.

Trine 2 9/10
Gameplay
Presentation
Replay Value

Overall
Average score from all categories.