REVIEW – Okay, I don’t understand the timing of this release. Trine 2 was basically one of the launch titles of the PlayStation 4 as it was released back in November 2013. However, we had to wait a year for the first game to pop up on this platform, albeit with a twist: the game came to Sony’s console mixturing the positives of both the first and the second episodes…

…and I should quickly expain how this happened. Frozenbyte‘s game was released back in 2009 for PC and later PS3. Then, the sequel came out with a brand new engine, which ended up being recycled in the first game, which basically got a major facelift five years after the original release, dubbed as Enchanted Edition.

Another classic

Well, seems like I got another retro-feeling game to talk about – genrewise, it is another one of those sidescrolling platformer games, which of course, received puzzle elements in addition to that. Without it, Trine would basically be a run-of-the-mill game.

The tasks end up as challenges as we progress through the levels, without hitting that certain difficulty brickwall – having creativity is again a good plus to have in order to succeed. Throughout the levels, we will find opposition to defeat, although it is completely up to us to find a way to crush them, this is a good plus to Trine: EE.

Three for one

There are three different characters to choose from, which can make things interesting – each one of them have different skills and perks to differentiate themselves from the others. So there’s a thief, a knight and a wizard – going by the simple fact of an existing online multiplayer, you can play this game without being forced to solo.

Zoya, the thief has a bow and arrow as an offensive weapon, but he can cling onto wooden things and get through gaps like Indiana Jones, giving Zoya access to unreachable locations. Pontius is the knight, who’s basically the attacker. Having a sword, a shield and higher health justifies that, but don’t ignore him, because by defeating enemies, heart containers can refill health. The third character is Amadeus, the wizard: he can move/create boxes, planks and platforms in order to progress.

This described how each character is good for a different thing and cooperation between them is essential to progress. This is where another positive move steps in: there’s always the feeling to keep going even if we end up getting stuck somewhere. Don’t forget to grab the green XP bottles and the silver orbs for checkpoints – the latter one will be pretty much our main focus in later levels!

In the previous segment I mentioned how we can defeat them spiders, skeletons and other enemies with our own ways – let’s get from platform A to platform B with the thief and knock that skeleton down in the process. That thing I would only describe with the word priceless. The other funny solution was when I literally improvised throwing a box on an enemy…

Really enchanted

Dubbing this definitive version Enchanted is completely reasonable.
This game goes against other current-gen re-releases of other games, because it’s not just a simple upscaled graphics-adding all DLCs move, in fact, Trine: EE was moved onto the second game’s engine. However, this obviously improves the graphical aspect nicely, which is clearly visible if we compare the PS3 version directly against the PS4 one – for example, the lighting effects are drastically improved. There’s another huge improvement over the previous release, and that would be the addition of the online multiplayer.
The gameplay is also slightly improved. It’s much more smooth, dynamic and enjoyable as we progress through the levels with the three heroes, while discovering the almost disturbingly colorful world. Don’t worry, it’s not going to be much of an issue, it’s probably just my opinion.

Not bad

Although the original game is a bit outdated, this release makes it worth to get because of the multiplayer, the upgraded engine and the general tone of the game. Not a bad game, but it might be a bit abstract and colorful for some. In its genre, it’s simply great, we have to think not once to get through some obstacles… time will be needed, because sadly, Trine: EE is a bit short.

-V-

Editor: Frozenbyte

Developper: Frozenbyte

Genres: adventure, action, platformer, 2D

Publictation: December 2014