Trine is the first iteration of the trilogy which bears the same name. It is a 2.5D action puzzle sidescroller with a focus on visual art and environmental atmosphere. The game features three characters - a wizard, a thief and a warrior - which have been magically bound together, and the player can switch between the three in an attempt to fight spawning skeletons and conjure objects to help getting to hard to reach areas of the map. The puzzles are minimal, so don't expect a brain-teaser, however the challenge to overcome obstacles and areas where good timing and reflexes are mandatory keep the game fun, especially in Co-Op mode.

• Beautiful Visuals - What makes this game really stand out from most side scrollers and platformers in general is the art style. The forced perspective turns this game into a 2.5D effectively, however the surrounding environments are actual 3D objects, and they are simply beautiful. Each level has its own assets, and everywhere you go you can see brightly colored backgrounds with beautiful, atmospheric lightning which at first glance will take away the focus from the gameplay just to admire it. The low resources needed to run this game also ensures a glorious 1080p60fps experience to accompany the already fancy graphics.
  
  
• Humorous Characters - Even though the game is not focused on its lore and backstory, the three characters have a personality, and a funny one at that. Through the levels, you can hear them exchange some dialogue that will make you grin at least. Makes the gameplay seem much less fake.
  
  
• Replayability - The levels feature hidden treasure chests and XP bottles as well as a determined number of monsters you need to kill in order to fully complete it. It makes the player want to return to these levels and search for hidden areas. While at times you will struggle to find that one last missing XP bottle and get frustrated, it's still fun to go through the levels again, nonetheless.
  
  
• Skills and Inventory - As you progress through the story and gather XP and find hidden treasure chests, you will level up your characters and improve their abilities, as well as find items that you can distribute as you wish among the three protagonists to boost their stats. Adds a certain degree of strategy as you build your characters and makes spending some extra time in uncovering those secret areas worth-while.
  
  
• Co-Op Mode - You can play this game in co-op with up to two other friends, each controlling one character or anyone can play with anything. Makes the game both more fun and more easy(depending on your friends).

• Not Challenging Enough - the game, even on hard, is pretty easy to beat. If you are careful, even the Hardcore mode isn't too much of a challenge. Do not mistake this with the game being un-fun. It just doesn't represent a hard enough gameplay for those adventurous gamers.
  
  
• Unbalanced Characters - The thief, with multi-arrow shots and extreme maneuverability from the grappling hook is blatantly overpowered, and combined with the mage's "Floating Platform" skill makes it incredibly easy to just swing through the levels easily. The warrior is the most useless of all, except for very little occasions.
  
  
• Short Playthrough - Starting a new game as an experienced player and going through it again at a slow pace will take you about five hours. While a Co-Op wizard Floating-Platform + Thief Grapple style of soaring through the levels, ignoring XP and enemies could get you somewhere around two hours to complete. There are 17 levels in total, along with a boss fight that is more or less... missing. The boss level is just a "Climb to the top of the tower before the lava reaches you" minigame, albeit a bit hard and frustrating.

This game is very fun while it lasts and the Co-Op revives it at times. I recommend this to platformer and action puzzle fans. Steam Achievements, Trading Cards and Cloud Saving, along with the fact that it is bundled with Trine 2 for a very cheap price at any sales are good selling points too, although the gameplay itself is enough to justify the purchase.

[h1]Overview[/h1] [i]Trine[/i] is the first iteration of the trilogy which bears the same name. It is a 2.5D action puzzle sidescroller with a focus on visual art and environmental atmosphere. The game features three characters - a wizard, a thief and a warrior - which have been magically bound together, and the player can switch between the three in an attempt to fight spawning skeletons and conjure objects to help getting to hard to reach areas of the map. The puzzles are minimal, so don't expect a brain-teaser, however the challenge to overcome obstacles and areas where good timing and reflexes are mandatory keep the game fun, especially in Co-Op mode. [h1]The Pros[/h1] [list] [*] [b]Beautiful Visuals[/b] - What makes this game really stand out from most side scrollers and platformers in general is the art style. The forced perspective turns this game into a 2.5D effectively, however the surrounding environments are actual 3D objects, and they are simply beautiful. Each level has its own assets, and everywhere you go you can see brightly colored backgrounds with beautiful, atmospheric lightning which at first glance will take away the focus from the gameplay just to admire it. The low resources needed to run this game also ensures a glorious 1080p60fps experience to accompany the already fancy graphics. [*] [b]Humorous Characters[/b] - Even though the game is not focused on its lore and backstory, the three characters have a personality, and a funny one at that. Through the levels, you can hear them exchange some dialogue that will make you grin at least. Makes the gameplay seem much less fake. [*] [b]Replayability[/b] - The levels feature hidden treasure chests and XP bottles as well as a determined number of monsters you need to kill in order to fully complete it. It makes the player want to return to these levels and search for hidden areas. While at times you will struggle to find that one last missing XP bottle and get frustrated, it's still fun to go through the levels again, nonetheless. [*] [b]Skills and Inventory[/b] - As you progress through the story and gather XP and find hidden treasure chests, you will level up your characters and improve their abilities, as well as find items that you can distribute as you wish among the three protagonists to boost their stats. Adds a certain degree of strategy as you build your characters and makes spending some extra time in uncovering those secret areas worth-while. [*] [b]Co-Op Mode[/b] - You can play this game in co-op with up to two other friends, each controlling one character or anyone can play with anything. Makes the game both more fun and more easy(depending on your friends). [/list] [h1]The Cons[/h1] [list] [*] [b]Not Challenging Enough[/b] - the game, even on hard, is pretty easy to beat. If you are careful, even the Hardcore mode isn't too much of a challenge. Do not mistake this with the game being un-fun. It just doesn't represent a hard enough gameplay for those adventurous gamers. [*] [b]Unbalanced Characters[/b] - The thief, with multi-arrow shots and extreme maneuverability from the grappling hook is blatantly overpowered, and combined with the mage's "Floating Platform" skill makes it incredibly easy to just swing through the levels easily. The warrior is the most useless of all, except for very little occasions. [*] [b]Short Playthrough[/b] - Starting a new game as an experienced player and going through it again at a slow pace will take you about five hours. While a Co-Op wizard Floating-Platform + Thief Grapple style of soaring through the levels, ignoring XP and enemies could get you somewhere around two hours to complete. There are 17 levels in total, along with a boss fight that is more or less... missing. The boss level is just a "Climb to the top of the tower before the lava reaches you" minigame, albeit a bit hard and frustrating. [/list] [h1]Conclusion[/h1] This game is very fun while it lasts and the Co-Op revives it at times. I recommend this to platformer and action puzzle fans. Steam Achievements, Trading Cards and Cloud Saving, along with the fact that it is bundled with [i]Trine 2[/i] for a very cheap price at any sales are good selling points too, although the gameplay itself is enough to justify the purchase. [table][tr][td]If you enjoyed this review and want to see more of my work, [b]consider joining my group[/b] and [b]follow my curator[/b] page! Link to the right![/td][td][url=http://gtm.you1.cn/groups/jads_list]Jad's List - Curator Group[/url][/td][/tr][/table]