Alongside horror, fantasy is a genre that is likewise very near and dear to me, particularly those in that of a more medieval setting. While I hadn't played the first, Trine 2 seemed like it was going to fit that bill and it has been a while since I've played a good puzzle/platformer game.
Trine 2 comes to use from the developers Frozenbyte. Having not played the previous Trine, I personally went in not knowing what precisely to expect. After getting some background information on the game's universe and the characters and the idea of he trine itself, some kind of MacGuffin-esque sounding magical item. My first impression of the game initially came from the writing, which I could best describe as hoaky. My taste for the writing in fantasy generally comes from game series such as The Elder Scrolls which, while laden with some silly and humorous moments here and there, generally keeps itself serious in its tone. The three character's I was presented with (Pontius, a knight, Amadeus, a wizard and Zora, a thief) had dialogue that seemed mostly based around exchanging witticisms and jokes. Pontius in particular seems to be the source of the humor, being generally oafish and concerned with food.
But I'm admittedly hesitant to consider that a negative point in the game. The tone of the game is clearly directed at a younger audience or those who would probably consider themselves young at heart. For those who like a bit more of a serious tone in stories in their games and not particularly find of more childish writing might find this unappealing about the game. I did at first, but it eventually grew on me, and I actually found a bit refreshing as a break from the games who like to go for the tone of gritty realism these days. In a way, it reminded me of being a kid and playing games like Spyro again. The writing is silly, sure, but it was nice to go back to that sort of imaginative, child's fairytale sort of feeling. Admittedly, as I played, the character's did begin to have their own charm and grow on me.
But, of course, the gameplay is the most important thing, and Trine 2 certainly has a lot of good gameplay to deliver. The game keeps on a sidescrolling trend in the gameplay, revolving around puzzles that require alternative between the three characters in order to progress. It struck me as a really unique way to go about it. Each character has a different strength or ability that plays into the constructions of the puzzles, though some of them can be done with any of the characters and don't require any specific skills.
The combat itself is equally as fun, which in my experience, is not always the case with puzzle-platformer games, since that's not the main point of the game. You aren't playing it simply to fight your way through hordes of enemies, and so often times dealing with enemies feels more difficult when you have to. The combat of Trine 2 can still have it's difficulties, but in terms of the general flow, it's very solid and nicely paced. The entire game is nicely paced as well.
What I enjoyed in particular was that the boss battles are treated like puzzles as well. While the standard enemies you can easily hack and slash your way through, or pierce with arrows and crush with magic and so on, the bosses required some thought and often, as I played, had to be defeated through indirect means. Sometimes I even simply had to find a way to escape from them without actually fighting them. In a sense, all boss battles are puzzles, in a matter of speaking. But Trine 2 tried something different having to notice the patterns in the boss's behavior and look for what their weaknesses might be. While I enjoy that as well, seeing something that felt different and worked well was exciting, too.
My only negative criticisms would be what I had previously said would be the writing. While I don't think it's particularly bad, it's definitely one that might not be suited to every player's tastes. The voice acting, to me, is not incredibly impressive, either. It's far from the worst that I've heard in games, but far from the best. Though, with Trine 2, it seems like the game where the story and the characters are ultimately secondary to the experience and so it's not of the utmost importance.
Visually, I feel the game is really stunning. Most of it looked nice, but ultimately kept moving. Every now and then, though, I did have to stop and actually just enjoy the look of some of the levels and areas this game had to offer. They all feel very different from one another and it certainly does have a character of its own, with all the different, vibrant colors and unique plants and animals that populate the areas. It's most certainly a gorgeous game to look at.
Trine was a game I was unsure of, though I had heard some praise for the first, despite ultimately never setting out to play it. Getting my chance to play Trine 2 is one I don't regret. Try as I might, I felt like the truly glaring flaws were difficult to come across (with the exception of perhaps the double jump not quite working in my favor when I felt it should have). If anything, it's convinced to play the first Trine as well.
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