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- Jan 18, 2010
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to clarify, I'm fan of the original and the following is based on the pc version of the game on combat-hard difficulty with no puzzle hints settings on and played almost exclusively in single player
Trine 2
you have probably heard of Trine by now
a puzzle/platformer developed by the Finnish ex-indie-dev-team-now-made-pro studio Frozenbyte
so what exactly does the sequel improve on or modify respectively ?
Trine 2 is a physics based puzzle/platformer game with a simplicistic yet efficient hack and slash combat gameplay
The objective in it's basis is to simply pass the side-scrolling levels from start to the end a task made harder by the numerous obstacles on the road and a bunch of enemies trying to end the heroes' lives
Yes heroes, being a co-op game you are to chose one of the three heroes
a cowardly mage, a dexterous thief and last but not least (really ?) a bulky knight
each with different perks and abilities that will all be essential in order
to successfully complete your quest (or at least that is the premise)
If you have played the previous game the first thing you will notice is complete absence of mana and all the items you could equip
your heroes with
While not exactly all that restricting, seeing the abundance of mp flasks
mana in the previous game forced you to slightly calculate when and in what amount to use your abilities
this change allows for less restrictive gameplay (and thus more lulz) than the original
the core gameplay stayed pretty much unchanged with our heroes going through a slight redesign
the mage Amadeus, major difference is the removal of his arguably the most useful skill, the floating platform
on the other hand he has gained the ability to lift enemies directly and throw them around, while there is no fall damage you can throw them into fire
poison spitting plants or giant man eater plants to kill them off
(or sway their dead bodies around)
the opportunities to deal damage this way are not always there (and almost never when you actually need them) a fact that makes it pretty much
clear that the skill is rarely more than a gag factor
Zoya has become much less omnipotent than she used to be
the amount of surfaces she can grapple her hook onto was toned down significantly, combined with the fact that Amadeus can no longer conjure platforms to help her get through (he still can though, stick wooden objects onto spikes)
you may find yourself using her a lot less than before
her combat effectivity lowered slightly as well (she can no longer shoot three arrows) but the new freezing arrows
and still devastating explosive arrows make up for it
she also gained the sneak ability, which to put frankly I've never put point into assuming it's not even remotely useful
one of the quirks that plagued the original was the fact that the knight was hopelessly useless which led into Frozenbyte promising to rewamp him in the sequel
so how did it go ?
Pontius the knight is a close combat character wielding a sword and shield or his battlehammer
he is pretty much the same old clumsy fatso he used to be with the brand new ability to throw his hammer for a projectile attack
keep in mind this serves the same purpose as a regular hammer attack and can break rocky walls (Zoya's explosive arrow can break things as well, with the exception of the sturdier walls)
oh yeah, he is no longer able to pick things up for whatever reason, don't ask me
a fact that makes him even less useful than ever before
his shield got an "overhaul" in form of being less useless than before (but still useless) you can carry your friends on the shield or shield yourself from falling acid
(splash it over your comrades unexpectedly)
or do any other activities that other characters can do five times better
there are very few spots where the game actually requires knight's cooperation and where it does it's usually limited to
breaking through walls in order to obtain much wanted xp spheres
he is no longer as laughably fragile as before and as inept in combat but is still bested in overall combat performance by the thief
not to mention he is usually dependant on his comrades in order to pass most of the obstacles
all this makes him the least prefered character to play and the experience he offers is more of a frustration rather than fun
there are plenty of ways to make your way through, some more convenient (and laughable) than the rest
the endless amount of stunts you can pull off is more than satisfying and you will often stop to think about how you actually did the last one
(using Pontius's shield as skateboard to slide on tops of rotating saws)
some of the new puzzle elements you will encounter throughout the game are water, steam pipes, bubbles and magical mirrors
some recurring some only found in certain levels their substantially different mechanics add a plenty of variation into the puzzles to keep you entertained without devolving into tedium
some may leave you stare dim witted on the screen wondering what are you supposed to do but being logical (for the most part) they rarely
get you stuck
it gets worse in case of lethal traps that rarely have anything to do with logic
and are purely platforming skill dependant instead
these can at certain spots be a real bitch, thankfully you can make them easier by disabling some (or all) of their parts
Trine 2 is a lot more refined than the previous game
the variety of enemies has increased by a lot (hint: there are also some water creeps) and the boss fights are more elaborate this time
even though the game shows rather promising example of how the rest of the boss fights could look right off the bat
they soon devolve into your usual big troll with a big stick in a slightly different color/variation and with a slightly different stick each time
despite that the final boss fight is forgettable and more of an eye candy than an actual threat and the last level is very poor overall
if you liked the exploration and secret hunting of the original this is where its sequel will severely disappoint
the ammount of hidden spots was stripped down bad and they are a lot easier (dumber) in general
the removal of items (a reason for why I did not manage to grasp) also leads to a lot more disappointing treasure finds
treasures got replaced with collectible artworks and *ahem* poems which do somewhat give slight insight into the already shabby story
however their god awful quality (made during toilet breaks perhaps?) will hardly press you into craving for more
the one of the major flaws the original had was the balance of characters which is sadly even worse this time around
you could pretty much finish the original game with just using a single character
this time you can't, many of the spots require use of a certain character (or multiple ones) and some characters simply won't get through
without the aid of their comrades thus emphasizing co-op play
which in its basis is all right as Trine 2 is in all respect a co-op game however Frozenbyte has forgotten one very important fact
and that is a big portion (possibly a majority) of the gamers will play alone
it is not so bad as you have all the three characters at your disposal but it proves to be a needless frustration when you realize
that some passages would be just so much easier to pass with somebody lending you a hand
it also gets frustrating in co-op when the required character simply dies you have to backtrack to the last checkpoint or kill rest of the party off
the knight and the thief are rarely of an use in solving the puzzles (which is almost exclusively department of the mage)
and are pretty much limited to combat while the mage is completely inept at fight and can only push enemies away while his comrades are dealing with the rest
this gets dumb when the mage is the only left to fight and is doomed to let himself get killed in order to resurrect the rest
it also is sad that the mage has like no ways to help (he is completely useless in the final boss fight for example) as the conjured items
are very fragile and cannot shield from incoming attacks and dropping crates on enemies can no longer kill them unlike the previous game
the game's visuals while not being a technical marvel are stunning in their own way
meticulously crafted backgrounds teeming with detail appear like cut out of a fairy tale
covering a wide variety of themes to differentiate the levels from each other
together with a great soundtrack (albeit low on variation) coming from Ari Pulkkinen
easily make Trine 2 into one of the most atmospheric and artistic games in the gaming history
Trine 2 does well in the technical part too and is not likely to make your pc sweat
for the whole playtime I've encountered only a single animation bug and the physics engine is rather bugless for the most part
(with the exception of rare spasmic corpses)
be careful with headphones though as occasional music tends to be a lot louder than the rest of the sounds
the game is a lot shorter than the original though and those of you who played the previous will probably finish it in around 6~8 hours
even with getting to all secrets the singleplayer is not gonna last you more than 12 hours
it could use less cheap platforming and jumping through traps and more physic based puzzles
the implementation of knight and archer into solving them is still far from satisfying
and the secrets/treasures suffered a big part which in my opinion is why the original Trine was fun and may negatively affect its replay value
Summed up, Trine 2 does not bring enough improvements to best its predecessor and disappointingly
cuts off many aspects that were originally fun, despite its shortcomings
Trine 2 is an enjoyable platformer with amazing co-op that can last a good couple of hours and is damn well worth every penny of its 15$ price tag
7/10
so what are your opinions about the game
did you get/finish it already ?
if so do you think it is better than the prequel ?
or respectively what is your opinion about the changes it brought into the game
Trine 2
you have probably heard of Trine by now
a puzzle/platformer developed by the Finnish ex-indie-dev-team-now-made-pro studio Frozenbyte
so what exactly does the sequel improve on or modify respectively ?
Trine 2 is a physics based puzzle/platformer game with a simplicistic yet efficient hack and slash combat gameplay
The objective in it's basis is to simply pass the side-scrolling levels from start to the end a task made harder by the numerous obstacles on the road and a bunch of enemies trying to end the heroes' lives
Yes heroes, being a co-op game you are to chose one of the three heroes
a cowardly mage, a dexterous thief and last but not least (really ?) a bulky knight
each with different perks and abilities that will all be essential in order
to successfully complete your quest (or at least that is the premise)
If you have played the previous game the first thing you will notice is complete absence of mana and all the items you could equip
your heroes with
While not exactly all that restricting, seeing the abundance of mp flasks
mana in the previous game forced you to slightly calculate when and in what amount to use your abilities
this change allows for less restrictive gameplay (and thus more lulz) than the original
the core gameplay stayed pretty much unchanged with our heroes going through a slight redesign
the mage Amadeus, major difference is the removal of his arguably the most useful skill, the floating platform
on the other hand he has gained the ability to lift enemies directly and throw them around, while there is no fall damage you can throw them into fire
poison spitting plants or giant man eater plants to kill them off
(or sway their dead bodies around)
the opportunities to deal damage this way are not always there (and almost never when you actually need them) a fact that makes it pretty much
clear that the skill is rarely more than a gag factor
Zoya has become much less omnipotent than she used to be
the amount of surfaces she can grapple her hook onto was toned down significantly, combined with the fact that Amadeus can no longer conjure platforms to help her get through (he still can though, stick wooden objects onto spikes)
you may find yourself using her a lot less than before
her combat effectivity lowered slightly as well (she can no longer shoot three arrows) but the new freezing arrows
and still devastating explosive arrows make up for it
she also gained the sneak ability, which to put frankly I've never put point into assuming it's not even remotely useful
The grappling hook is no longer an easy win and where it is there is usally no other way around
one of the quirks that plagued the original was the fact that the knight was hopelessly useless which led into Frozenbyte promising to rewamp him in the sequel
so how did it go ?
Pontius the knight is a close combat character wielding a sword and shield or his battlehammer
he is pretty much the same old clumsy fatso he used to be with the brand new ability to throw his hammer for a projectile attack
keep in mind this serves the same purpose as a regular hammer attack and can break rocky walls (Zoya's explosive arrow can break things as well, with the exception of the sturdier walls)
other than that there is little that has changed in the knight's gameplay
Don't forget the hammer throw when you are cracking up your head over "how the heck am I gonna climb all the way up ?"
and yes you can break that sparkly blue thing, it's an xp container in case you are wondering
oh yeah, he is no longer able to pick things up for whatever reason, don't ask me
a fact that makes him even less useful than ever before
his shield got an "overhaul" in form of being less useless than before (but still useless) you can carry your friends on the shield or shield yourself from falling acid
(splash it over your comrades unexpectedly)
or do any other activities that other characters can do five times better
there are very few spots where the game actually requires knight's cooperation and where it does it's usually limited to
breaking through walls in order to obtain much wanted xp spheres
he is no longer as laughably fragile as before and as inept in combat but is still bested in overall combat performance by the thief
not to mention he is usually dependant on his comrades in order to pass most of the obstacles
all this makes him the least prefered character to play and the experience he offers is more of a frustration rather than fun
The shield is a little more sturdy this time around, but that is pretty much it
Pontius also got more clever and can use his apparel to swim rather than dive in a cannonball manner
The puzzle basics changed little overall
am I supposed to do it like this ? who cares there is nobody to (care) direct you the "right" way
there are plenty of ways to make your way through, some more convenient (and laughable) than the rest
the endless amount of stunts you can pull off is more than satisfying and you will often stop to think about how you actually did the last one
(using Pontius's shield as skateboard to slide on tops of rotating saws)
some of the new puzzle elements you will encounter throughout the game are water, steam pipes, bubbles and magical mirrors
some recurring some only found in certain levels their substantially different mechanics add a plenty of variation into the puzzles to keep you entertained without devolving into tedium
the complexity of puzzles was increased (so was frustration)
Water is your new god, albeit trivial and rarely serving other purpose than growing giant plants to climb upon
magical mirrors and pipes on the other hand have a lot more into them and can serve a variety of purposes
ranging from redirecting flames, dangerous liquids or getting rid of hazardous gases all the way to simple means of getting over obstacles
some may leave you stare dim witted on the screen wondering what are you supposed to do but being logical (for the most part) they rarely
get you stuck
it gets worse in case of lethal traps that rarely have anything to do with logic
and are purely platforming skill dependant instead
these can at certain spots be a real bitch, thankfully you can make them easier by disabling some (or all) of their parts
Trine 2 is harder in all of its parts than the previous game but abundance of respawns won't leave you swim in tears
The game also can be a dick and pit you against rather powerful enemies in closed off areas
Trine 2 is a lot more refined than the previous game
the variety of enemies has increased by a lot (hint: there are also some water creeps) and the boss fights are more elaborate this time
even though the game shows rather promising example of how the rest of the boss fights could look right off the bat
they soon devolve into your usual big troll with a big stick in a slightly different color/variation and with a slightly different stick each time
despite that the final boss fight is forgettable and more of an eye candy than an actual threat and the last level is very poor overall
the story is slightly better than before but saying it would do just as fine without it pretty much sums it up
There are many more creatures this time around, some hostile some neutral, some part of a puzzle, fake, wusses or just a fancy background
if you liked the exploration and secret hunting of the original this is where its sequel will severely disappoint
the ammount of hidden spots was stripped down bad and they are a lot easier (dumber) in general
the removal of items (a reason for why I did not manage to grasp) also leads to a lot more disappointing treasure finds
treasures got replaced with collectible artworks and *ahem* poems which do somewhat give slight insight into the already shabby story
however their god awful quality (made during toilet breaks perhaps?) will hardly press you into craving for more
While the artworks are kind of pretty they do not cut it enough
yes not even the lovable witch's tii..err.. assets will make treasure hunting fun
and if that is not enough the game will never forget to sadistically remind you that you already have the crap
the one of the major flaws the original had was the balance of characters which is sadly even worse this time around
you could pretty much finish the original game with just using a single character
this time you can't, many of the spots require use of a certain character (or multiple ones) and some characters simply won't get through
without the aid of their comrades thus emphasizing co-op play
which in its basis is all right as Trine 2 is in all respect a co-op game however Frozenbyte has forgotten one very important fact
and that is a big portion (possibly a majority) of the gamers will play alone
it is not so bad as you have all the three characters at your disposal but it proves to be a needless frustration when you realize
that some passages would be just so much easier to pass with somebody lending you a hand
it also gets frustrating in co-op when the required character simply dies you have to backtrack to the last checkpoint or kill rest of the party off
the knight and the thief are rarely of an use in solving the puzzles (which is almost exclusively department of the mage)
and are pretty much limited to combat while the mage is completely inept at fight and can only push enemies away while his comrades are dealing with the rest
this gets dumb when the mage is the only left to fight and is doomed to let himself get killed in order to resurrect the rest
it also is sad that the mage has like no ways to help (he is completely useless in the final boss fight for example) as the conjured items
are very fragile and cannot shield from incoming attacks and dropping crates on enemies can no longer kill them unlike the previous game
the game's visuals while not being a technical marvel are stunning in their own way
meticulously crafted backgrounds teeming with detail appear like cut out of a fairy tale
covering a wide variety of themes to differentiate the levels from each other
together with a great soundtrack (albeit low on variation) coming from Ari Pulkkinen
easily make Trine 2 into one of the most atmospheric and artistic games in the gaming history
The game's stunning visual style is consistent throughout the game
Trine 2 does well in the technical part too and is not likely to make your pc sweat
for the whole playtime I've encountered only a single animation bug and the physics engine is rather bugless for the most part
(with the exception of rare spasmic corpses)
be careful with headphones though as occasional music tends to be a lot louder than the rest of the sounds
the game is a lot shorter than the original though and those of you who played the previous will probably finish it in around 6~8 hours
even with getting to all secrets the singleplayer is not gonna last you more than 12 hours
it could use less cheap platforming and jumping through traps and more physic based puzzles
the implementation of knight and archer into solving them is still far from satisfying
and the secrets/treasures suffered a big part which in my opinion is why the original Trine was fun and may negatively affect its replay value
Summed up, Trine 2 does not bring enough improvements to best its predecessor and disappointingly
cuts off many aspects that were originally fun, despite its shortcomings
Trine 2 is an enjoyable platformer with amazing co-op that can last a good couple of hours and is damn well worth every penny of its 15$ price tag
7/10
so what are your opinions about the game
did you get/finish it already ?
if so do you think it is better than the prequel ?
or respectively what is your opinion about the changes it brought into the game
