Inner Working Reviews: Trine

Introduction:

Indie titles bring so much to the scene of gaming. They aren't pressured by big publishers urging them to get games out on time and thus have the ability to take more risks and experiment with almost no downside. These Indie titles have small development teams that can even go down to only two developers.

Steam is the leading platform for releasing Indie titles and the only one on the PC. They release new Indie titles every week and some make thousands of dollars in no time at all. Trine is one of those success stories. The specialize in the idea of going back to the basics and make their games in the top down and side scroller style. 

Story: 8/10

As with most Indie title games the game's strong points is simplicity. The Undead hordes are upon the world coming to attack the castles and the domain of man. However the three characters you play have little to no interest in the Undead. The Thief starts off as, well, any thief would, breaking into a castle to steal the treasure. The Wizard is a drunk ladies man who often finds himself chasing after the Thief. Lastly you have the Knight, Brave as he is dense his mission is to find glory within his kingdom. They all end up touching a magic trinket known as the Trine which puts them all into one body. Despite the oncoming horde of the Skeletons their mission is to return into their separate bodies.

Gameplay: 9/10

The game combines elements of puzzle, platforming, and level editing. You can actively switch between any of the three characters, as long as they are alive, and each have their own special abilities. The Thief has a high maneuverability  with a grappling hook and speed. She also bears a bow and arrow which can be upgraded for more arrows per shot throughout the game. The Wizard has the ability to create box's, ladders, and floating platforms for any given situation. Lastly you have the Fighter who's one purpose is to fight. He sinks like a rock during the swimming levels and is very slow (probably because of his large belly) However he has the ability to fight against the hordes when they come in large numbers. He carries a shield which can be pointed in the direction of your mouse pointer. The level design is very unique as a 2D plat-former in 3D space and you never get bored by any of the visuals. Their are a few boss battles but are very overlooked as they are defeated fairly simply even on the hardest difficulty.

Functionality: 10/10

Functionality always works best if your not thinking about it. I never had Trine crash on me once and i've played through it 3 times. The graphics level can be intimidating to some of the lower end graphics cards but a quick tune of the settings can speed up the game quite well but if you can run the game at the highest graphics possible as it is one of the most beautiful stylized games i have ever seen and you'll find yourself pausing to look into the distance. 

Immersion: 6/10

This is where Trine's weak point comes to light. As fun as the game is, its quite hard to get immersed when you are constantly switching play styles through the game. Once you learn the moves of each character it becomes less of a "get from point a to point b" and is more of "get  from point a to point b in the most interesting way". 

Overall Score: A

This is a fantastic example of what the Indie crowd can come up with and has been renowned for being one of the best Indie titles of the modern era. The main reason i chose to review this game is because Trine 2 is being released in 2011 and to my viewers i would definitly suggest playing Trine for the great ending before trying Trine 2.