Despite the price and the length, Trine is a beautiful puzzle game that is refreshing from start to finish!
First, a few words about the environment. While it is a 2D side-scrolling game, it doesn't feel like one. It feels more 3-D than most 3D games around. As you progress through the levels, you can look into the background and see all kinds of great design work. Additionally, this is a physics-based puzzle game, so the environment is very interactive. You can use objects around you to kill enemies, or you can stack them up to create bridges or towers to climb. You can block off dangerous areas or cover up spikes by throwing boxes onto them, allowing for safe passage. The game also has a magical, fantasy feel to it that permeates everything you see. It has lots of bright colors and crazy environments, complete with flying fireballs, swinging spikey balls on chains, destructible doors and walls, lakes, and everything else you could possibly want. In short, Trine is packed full of eye candy.
Next, the characters. The premise of the game is that three characters accidentally bound their souls together using an artifact called the Trine. This allows the characters to switch between one anothers' physical forms freely. In game play, it is very easy to change characters. You can do it "on the fly," and unlike some games that claim to allow you to do things on the fly, Trine literally allows you this freedom. You can fly through the air and, even in mid-flight, you can change from one character to another instantly if you choose. This instant-switching brings about some pretty great solutions to problems that would be laborious if you were trapped in one single character for extended periods of time.
The three characters are the wizard, the knight, and the thief. The wizard is more of the puzzle-solving character, using his conjured boxes, planks, and floating platforms to allow access to previously inaccessible areas. The knight is the sword-and-board (or big hammer) guy who can take a beating and dish it out as well. Once he gets his hands on the storm hammer, it's good game for any skeletons you come across. The thief, my favorite character, is the agile, arrow-slinging character. She can switch between shooting multiple arrows or exploding fire arrows, with which she can also light torches in dark levels. The coolest aspect of the thief, though, is her grappling hook. She can latch onto any wooden objects with the grappling hook and fling herself over large distances. Later, when the wizard learns to conjure floating wooden platforms, the grappling hook comes to life with new vigor, allowing you to soar to new places that were previously unreachable.
The game itself is essentially a skeleton-laden, 5 to 10 hour long obstacle course. Some of the puzzles are repetitive, but some are also a bit challenging. The most fun part, though, is that there is never one single way to get through any particular part of a level. Overall, I rated the game an 8.5 on the basis of its great puzzles, awesome visuals, and cool characters. The drawbacks to the game that are keeping it below a 9 are, in my mind, three things. First, the game could be cheaper. $30.00 for a game that lasts between 5 and 10 hours is a bit steep. However, you can see what you are paying for. A lot of time was spent making this game look and play great. The physics engine is near perfect, and the environments are glorious. Second, it could have been longer. Then again, it may have gotten exhausting after a point, so it didn't feel like that much of a drawback. Third, it could have had more challenging parts. The last level was a little tough, and some of the puzzles were puzzling just at first, but it never took too long to figure out how to pass an obstacle.
My recommendation, despite the minor drawbacks, is that this is a game you should purchase and play all the way through. It is a great game!