Let's get away from all of these Halo & CoD threads, the typical shi-te you can expect from the 10 year olds on this site.
*ahem*
So, after having watched out for Trine a couple weeks, I was estatic to see it would be out on Steam. I pre-ordered and waited patienty for the 7th---wait no, the 3rd--- oh shit it's coming out at Noon! I started playing right away after the download, which took a solid half hour.
But let's get to that shortly. When I had first heard it would be on Steam, I looked for a demo, and of course there was one. I played through it at least 5 times 'till I was convinced this was going to be a fuckawesome game. You have 3 heroes, a Knight, a Thief, and a Wizard. Each one with their own abilities.
In the demo, the Knight has a sword and shield to slash and block with, simple enough. The Wizard can conjure mechanical boxes out of thin air to use as platforms, or to even crush the Undead! The Thief has a bow and arrow, along with a grappling hook to hook herself onto wooden surfaces and swing around.
The demo was fairly long, giving you the prologue and then an entire level, please note that it gives you 1/15 of the total game levels in the demo alone, surprisingly large compared to other demos.
But, onto the real game! My first impressions were the same of the demo, the visuals were fucking beautiful, and the sounds fit perfectly. The music, composed by Ari Pulkkinen (http://www.aripulkkinen.com/home/) are all acoustic, so it fits into the Medieval age, and works its way into the scenery without remorse---lovely.
The visuals are so stunning, it's unbelievable. The game runs well even on a shitty computer, and there are 6 different graphic levels you can use when starting the Trine launcher. The scenery balances itself out so well that it makes itself beautiful to look at throughout the entire game.
The story. The story is that of 3 previously mentioned heroes, who find a magical object called the "Trine". As they all approach it and touch it, their souls become bound together, as do their physical forms. This means that you can switch between any of the characters as you please, to solve the puzzles any way you want, which is exactly why the game isn't extremely repetitive.
You level up by collecting 50 Experience Vials, which are scattered around each level, and awarded after slaying some Undead. Each hero has their own special abilities, which can be upgraded from the character screen (I). You can also collect different magical objects to boost your heroes' skills, you get these from hidden chests in each level--- there's 2 in each level!
Your main enemy throughout the entire game are Undead, ranging from giant Chain-mail warriors, to the lesser versions, to the typical bone-and-sword warrior, to the standard archer. You do run into a couple different enemies, however, such as giant lizard-creatures with crystals in their backs that you have to attack. However, this is one of the biggest problems in the game for me. At some points, I'm just wishing there were Undead, but moreso than that, I'm just wishing they'd fuck off and let me solve the damned puzzle, or at least let me jump from X to Z without getting hit! There are 3 difficulties to start off with, Easy, Normal, Hard, then Very Hard once the game is completed. Let me tell you, the game's fucking hard when wave after wave of skeleton are coming after you. Don't even try to kill skeletons with the Magician unless you're absolutely safe. The archer's extremely strong, and if she grapples onto a nice platform above her and swings around, she can kill skeletons in her path. I find the most effective way to kill the Undead, however, is to simple use the sword and shield wielding knight.
The biggest problem with the creatures are the god damned bats! Throughout the game, you'll encounter swarms of bats! Some of them take 1-3 hits with a sword, and there's usually a nice bunch of 10 bats. They hit for roughly the same amount a skeleton with a sword does, which is fucking outrageous.
As you progress throughout the game, some Chests will be in your way, that only a moron could miss them. These chests pretty much always contain something that gives your hero a new ability--- such as the Knight and his Maul. When you get the Maul and upgrade it once after leveling up, you can charge that badboy up and unleash some lightning! Or, you can begin firing burning arrows from the Archer. These are found when they're needed, such as the Archer having to light torches.
The whole game was stunning, and a wonderful 6-10 hour playthrough on "Normal" difficulty. The most irritating clusterfuck in the entire game is without a doubt, the last level. You approach a large tower, and of course, the final boss is pissed off, and doesn't want you to get to the top of the tower. What does he do? Raises the lava, and you have to work your ass up the tower! But it's not as simple as jumping from platform-to-platform, the bastard actually creates boxes, giant spikes, and ramps to impede your progress.
But, even with this shittacular ending, which won't be spoiled here, this game is a definite must-buy/pirate. Between the stunning visuals, and the ability to solve each task how you'd like, you'll definitely love it.
You can choose your own path to beat each level, that's how it's not so repetitive as stated in the review. If I'm not mistaken, you could play through each level as only one of the Heroes, though it'll obviously be harder. There are always 2+ directions you can go to still complete the level.
