Has anyone heard of Trine or tried out the demo? Developed by Frozenbyte, Trine is billed as a physics-based, action/puzzle platformer with three different swap-able player characters – Wizard, Thief, Knight – who each have specific abilities to help you solve puzzles and defeat the undead that populate the game world. The wizard can create objects out of thin air, the thief is agile and can latch onto solid objects and the knight is a tank. Trine is an amazingly scrumptious feast for the eyes. I want to live in that world…well, except for the critters trying to kill me.
I was so enamored of the trailer, I created a Steam account to download and play the demo. Alas, the game spit on my video card (which I suspected it would) and I couldn’t get past the opening cinematic. Color me sad. So, now I need to live vicariously through someone else’s experience with the demo. Help a girl out! Is it worth plunking down the $$ for a PS3? So far, no other game – except Last Guardian – even comes close to making me want to buy a PS3. Here’s hoping the rumored price drop is more than just a rumor.
Trine is currently available, for a few pieces of silver, as a download on Steam and the PlayStation Network.
Update: According to Joystiq, Atlus will publish the XBLA version later this year. I want to marry Atlus!
I didn’t know any of these things, Toger, I thought Trine was just a Diablo clone. I am downloading the demo as we speak – stay tuned!
As for the PS3 price cut, everyone except Sony insists that it’s coming this quarter, and that it’s gonna be $100. If so, I think it may finally be worth the ducats.
I wouldn’t say it’s worth plunking down money for a PS3, I’d rather cite Brutal Legend or The Last Guardian for that, but I did have a lot of fun with the demo. The art design is quite nice, as is the narration, and the use of physics is well integrated into the level design. It seems a bit too small of a product to get too worked up about, but it’s good fun. I’m actually going to plunk down 30 bucks right now for it in hopes of a fun Fourth of July distraction.
I agree with Loki, based on the demo. It’s charming, very beautiful, and has good acting that goes well with the game’s slight flavor of silliness – pudgy knight, womanizing sorcerer, thiefess who needs to put on pants – but worth the cost of a PS3? Not by itself.
We gotta get you a new PC, Toger.
Thanks, Steerpike! I just need to install the newer video card that I’ve had for longer than I care to admit because I’m lazy and don’t play that many PC games that need something more than I’ve got. hmm, I’ll be at my friend’s house next weekend. He has a PS3, I think I’ll convince him to download it. :evil grin:
I don’t need to wait for no steenking PS3 price drop – Atlus is publishing Trine on XLBA. I <3 Atlus!
And having played the Steam demo, I’ll add that this game seems like it’d be more comfortable with a console controller, so XBLA is probably the way to go. We heart you, Atlus!
I’m going to have to heartily disagree with the game being more comfortable with a controller. I tried to use my Logitech gamepad initially, but I couldn’t really figure out what the onscreen directions were attempting to tell me. The mouse and keyboard are fare more flexible. Much of the game demands somewhat precise control over where you’re shooting/moving objects. The mouse seems to work very well for that aspect of the game.
I played it quite a bit this morning and it’s fun and fairly light, but the enemies in the game are incredibly obnoxious. Rather than entering an area that has a bunch of enemies already in it, they simply spawn with little to no warning. There doesn’t seem to be an logic in when or where they appear, so you may be in an area of the level that seems conducive to puzzle solving, when you get about fifteen enemies spawning before you get past it. It requires you to switch to the knight, who has the best fighting ability, but there may be a few skeletons that spawn on higher ledges and start firing arrows at you, requiring you to switch over to the pantless thief who is the only character with a ranged weapon. In addition, any hit on an enemy sends them reeling back, which would be okay if it didn’t often send them flying over a ledge requiring you to wait until they craw back to wherever you are. In the end, the fighting seems merely an incredibly obnoxious distraction given that the majority of the game is centered around puzzle solving.
Thanks for pointing us in this direction Toger. Having played and enjoyed the demo I arranged to be given the game on DVD and it continues to be good lightweight fun.
I agree with Loki about mouse/keyboard working fine as controllers, but not about the combat: it may not be particularly challenging but it does contribute to keeping you on your toes as you problem-solve, and of course having to strategicallyswitch characters is part of the core of the game.
My only irritation factor is my computer’s intermittent refusal to “see” the disc!
I just got Trine on steam two weeks ago when it was on sale for $5. Very enjoyable lighthearted fun; it seems like it is best suited for a keyboard+mouse combo, mainly because of aiming arrows, creating objects with the wizard, and the instant switching to a particular character with the 1, 2 or 3 keys.
I kind of like having enemies spawn unexpectedly: it forces you to formulate quick strategies. Using the Wizard, make a quick wall with a box to buy you a few seconds while you switch to the Knight and fend off attackers from the other side, afterwards switching to the Thief to grapple out of danger, Batman style.
I was sorely tempted to pick it up then, but I already knew it wouldn’t run with my current vid card. So, I shall just have to wait until I’ve hooked up my PS3 (yes, still in the box as I need to reconfigure my media console). Meanwhile, my backlog loudly mocks me.
I’d like to see a list of everyone’s backlog and see who wins (loses?)