When Richard first described this little Finnish title that he was keeping an eye on, I must admit I was not excited. I caught some bits like “platformer”, “thief”, “heard the mage was pretty cool”, something about Crayon Physics Deluxe, but I was worried that it would just turn out to be some generic side-scroller. Thankfully, the preview we received from publisher Nobilis quelled those fears.
The game is set in a war-torn fantasy world where many lords are vying for a vacated throne left by a deceased king. A party-loving mage and a stupid knight both happen to be near the royal treasury when a thief breaks in. There is a mysterious and powerful artifact in the now unguarded treasury, the Trine, and before the mage remembers what the Trine actually does, all three characters (the mage, the thief, and the knight) get merged into one soul. Luckily, you can switch among all three at will to take advantage of their merits through the course of the adventure.
Now that the background is out of the way, I want to describe what made the (what I suspect will become the demo) preview so cool. First, the physics engine that they’ve implemented is not intrusive, and there are little things all throughout the game that it affects and adds to the experience. In fact, it was not until I visited the official website after playing the preview that I realized they actually had a realistic physics engine. It blended in to the game that well. Simple things like the way pulleys and objects of different weights move, or how the height of your jump determines whether you pin a skeleton or destroy it, or the way the rickety bridge wouldn’t be rickety at all if you run across with the lightweight thief as opposed to the heavily armoured knight all contribute to the intuitiveness of the game. I just knew what would occur if I did something and it made playing the game a joy.
In addition to the physics, the three different characters are unique enough that switching among them is necessary. It is much easier to combat the common skeletons with the knight, but getting place to place is the specialty of the thief and her grappling hook. She didn’t jump higher than the knight, which surprised me, but she was certainly more agile. I also did not find a use for her arrows in the preview that I played. The mage was the coolest character but the one I used the least. He can levitate and manipulate objects with his magic and he can create things out of thin air. For example, by holding down the left mouse button and drawing a box, a box will appear where you drew it, and then you can levitate it like other objects. It imbued me with a sense of wonder when I discovered that I could stand on top of a box that I just created and levitate it, essentially letting me fly. It takes a few tries to learn how to balance on the box while levitating it in this way, but it was really enjoyable.
The thing that the different characters bring to the game is the uniqueness of experience that I really enjoy in games. One of my biggest disappoinments with Oblivion was that it advertised uniqueness of experience, but since everyone could do everything and there were no class definitions, everyone ended up experiencing the game in the same way. With Trine, the different characters let you get around obstacles and solve puzzles in different ways, and more than once I felt sheepish and clever that I solved a puzzle in a way that was not intended.
Other than that, both the graphics and the music are enjoyable. The light effects are pretty though some of the animations looked unpolished in this version. The music is appropriately whimsical. The voices of the narrator and the characters are average and a bit too familiar, but they do not detract from the experience either. I don’t want to dwell on the presentation of this unfinished version though.
In the end, what will determine the success of this title will be the different puzzles developer FrozenByte will throw at us. While I feel I got the entire premise and depth of the game in the level and tutorial that I played, it will be the level design that will keep the game interesting. The various discoveries I have made, such as making a box with the mage and then being able switching characters, provides for some interesting possibilities, and it will be up to the designers to invent clever puzzles that will require clever solutions. Importantly for me, these puzzles should also allow multiple solutions, so that Richard and I can discuss how we solved them and then commend each other for our creative solutions over tea and crumpets.
The preview of this original action platformer promises a little action, moderate brain teasing, a lot of adventure, and most importantly, loads of fun. I can’t wait to see the final product!
Trine is slated for release in July 2009.
Don Tam is a game enthusiast who currently resides in Toronto. He currently owns a two-year old PC, a Xbox 360 Pro and a DS Lite (black). His favourite games include Gears of War, Rock Band, Civilization IV, and pretty much anything Blizzard caresses with their gentle, godly hands.