Another spectacular,mesmerizing,gorgeous,endearing and completely charming entry. A definite Downloadable GOTY
A definite Downloadable GOTY
I loved the first Trine. The game came out of nowhere and blew me away. My friend and I finished the game on co-op although I had to plow through the last agonizing and infuriating level by myself, but that's beside the point.
If anyone ever played and loved Lost Vikings on Sega, this game is definitely for you. This Nvidia phys X physics engine is still limited to a two dimensional game but I can see it expanding further. Although this time around the engine can pump out even pretties graphics and textures which I didn't think was possible.
The soundtrack is amazing, it calms down your nerves and makes you forget about all the worries in the world. The author was the one who made the soundtrack for the Angry Birds by the way. The narration is realistic and believable. The game once again feels like watching and playing a fantasy tale. At times, I simply wished to simply run forward and sink in the world of Trine without any enemies or obstacles. I just wanted to enjoy the foreground, the background, the physics, the tessellation particles, etc.
As with the first game, you collect vials and then use them for upgrades. 90% of the vials are more or less easy to obtain, much like in the first game; and there are several ways of obtaining almost every vial. You no longer retain your upgrades and abilities from the first game, so you have to reacquire the old ones as well as obtain only a couple of new ones.
Apparently the story takes place a few years after the first game. The awkward alleged womanizer wizard Amadeus is older now and is now a family man. Pontius is still the dumb and fearless fat knight and Zoya is still the same slender thief.
The trio is quickly reunited for a quest to save the kingdom, again.
The thief is still my personal favorite character to play. The acrobatics are still rewarding to conduct and you want to pat yourself on the back every time you manage to shoot the grappling hook as you fall to your death and suspend yourself in mid air. The thief will be the one to get most of the vials, artifacts and other miscellaneous collectibles (like drawings and poems) from hard-to-reach areas anyway. However, later on the wizard becomes extremely effective since you are then able to conjure several items and be able to float yourself and the entire party across impassable lands.The physics and the general precision is once again impeccable. The story now introduces orcs as opposed to the same old boring skeletons and other creatures. There are a handful of bosses still and they are fun to battle. The melee system is still as refined as in part 1. You can block, swing, shoot arrows and use the environment to your advantage (for instance dropping a rock onto an enemy while playing as a Wizard)
The game CAN get frustrating sometimes, especially when you attempt again and again to jump on that ledge or attempt to swing over and get that orb or vial. It's not the fault of the controls per se, it's the physics and the gravity that often prevent you from conducting flawless maneuvers.
The game apparently also has more replay value than the first one. There are more unlockables and extras this time. Once you finish the game, you can start a new game + and experience some new things, allegedly. PLUS, this time we get online co-op. Yes, thank you very much. Whereas the first game only featured a 2 player offline co-op, someone always had to be the brains and play as the two characters most of the time. Not this time. Now you can play as one of the three characters. You can use either text or voice chat to coordinate movement. I strongly recommend playing this game in co-op mode. It might get repetitive at times, but no puzzle is every the same so there is still enough variety, plus I don't think I saw a single piece of environment being recycled.
In general the game is quite easy. It does not call for a repeated frustration. There are plenty of checkpoints that will resurrect your dead companions and there are almost always more than one way of overcoming an obstacle.
Get this game, and enjoy it. The reward far exceeds the value (only $ 15)
The bottom line is that this game makes you regret that the world of Trine is only confined to a video game.