Customer
Reviews
A different, fun and addictive
game.
'Trine' is a 3rd person,
horizontal platform scroller, which I downloaded through 'Steam'; the
cost...$29.99
However, don't let my opening statement regarding
3rd person scroller, put you off; this is an interesting and addictive
game. In fact it won the 'Best Downloadable game' by 'Gamespot's' 3E
Editor's Choice Awards.
The Game:
Three characters (a
wizard, a thief and a knight) are physically joined into one person by a
magic object called the 'Trine'. They must travel (all the while using
their collective skills of conjuring, jumping, swinging and fighting),
an evil-laden labyrinth to escape, and thus return themselves into their
individual persons.
Each character has different 'skills'. The
wizard...object creation and levitation; the thief...a powerful bow and
grappling-hook device; and the knight...a fighters sword and shield AND a
hammer. Only one character can be activated at a time so you must
determine which 'skills' are needed to accomplish the task/puzzle before
you.
As you proceed along you will find 'treasure chests' with
upgrades and bonuses; there are also experience points gained while
fighting, with which you can upgrade your characters abilities and
skills. And this is were the game really becomes interesting, because
sometime these chests and bonus vials are just visible at screens edge,
so you need to figure out a way to get to these precious objects, in
order to obtain the bonuses contained within.
The only annoying
thing about this game is the game-save method; games are automatically
saved at game-generated checkpoints; if all characters die, you restart
back at the last checkpoint reached...and this is OK because this
checkpoint is usually not too far back, The problem is if, for some
reason, you must exit the game and restart at a later time (without
having finished the last level you were on)...because then, you must
restart from the very beginning of the level. So a restart at the
beginning of the last level is not only quite repetitive but also very
irritating, because some of the levels are quite long.
Conclusion:
This
is not a particularly long game...maybe 8-10 hours if played
continuously, but it is addictive and it's one of those games that just
keeps you coming back. It does have some replay value as you'll probably
not find all the 'bonuses' on the first time through. Lack of full,
anytime game saves is a minus...and thus the loss of 1/2 star. 4 1/2
Stars.
BTW, the ending is quite tricky.
Ray Nicholson
Too bad it uses SecuROM :-(
First of all, I would like to
mention that I have NEVER before had problems with DRM protected games
not working on my PC, or DRM messing up my PC. I am not one of those
people who go around writing bad reviews for everything that has DRM on
it, this is the first time I even decided to review a game on here.
While
I am AGAINST DRM (the idea of it, and the principal) - this is the 1st
time I have had a major issue with it. I bought this game (TRINE) at
BEST BUY (the store... not online). I physically went down to the store,
and purchased the actual game. I did NOT buy the digital download, or
order it online.
I have an external USB DVD RAM Drive, and no CD /
DVD drives inside my PC. I WAS able to install the game from the DVD,
however, my drive was making all kinds of crazy noises (I swear, I
thought my drive would take off and fly out of the room under it's own
power - it sounded like a freakin' helicopter LOL), and the install went
VERY SLOWLY, for a game of this type.
After installing, I tried
to play the game and immediately got an error from the SecuROM CD
verification check. It told me to insert the ORIGINAL CD, not a backup.
Well, I never made a backup, and only used the original. I went to their
website and checked for patches. Updating to the latest patch at the
time (1.05) did not help either. I tried to register on their forums to
get help, but after waiting for hours and hours, I never got the e-mail
verification email from them (it's been 24 hours already - at the time
of this review).
The publisher's site had some generic (BS /
non-helpful) information about the error, and I didn't get anywhere with
their "support" either.
So after a lot of frustration I decided
finally to return the game the very next day. Unfortunately, no one lets
you return "opened software" anymore, but the supervisor at BEST BUY
was in a particularly good mood, and decided to let me exchange it for
another game of the same price.
There is absolutely NO WARNING on
the box WHAT SO EVER That it is protected by SecuROM, nor that even has
any DRM on it. For this very reason, I wanted to warn people to be
AWARE that if they buy it - they do so at their own risk. The game MAY
or MAY NOT WORK... as SecuROM may interfere with certain drives / driver
configurations.
Since I never got to actually play (and enjoy)
the game, I can not give it any stars. I am strictly just telling my
(short-lived) experience with the game, and wanted everyone to know: IT
COMES WITH SECUROM DRM.
A pity, it looked like it would have been
a neat game. I recommend getting the STEAM version, or another digital
download version - as those do not have the SecuROM protection.
THREE TIMES THE FUN!
These are the years of PC
gaming that will be known as the Underdog Era: full of indie
masterpieces and megapublishers flops. World Of Goo, MOUNT & BLADE,
iFLUID,CRAYON PHYSICS, DEFENSE GRID, all released by small independent
companies, were rewarded by much better financial returns than overhyped
behemoths of the likes of RED ALERT 3, ANNO 1404 and SPORE. It was not
unexpected; after all, just like Limited Installations, greed only pays
for a limited number of turns.
TRINE is an excellent physics
action/arcade game. You control three interchangeable characters (a
thief, a wizard and a warrior). Each has his/hers special abilities,
from shooting griping hooks to levitating objects and smashing things
up. At any point, you can select which one suits you best. Obstacles
have to be turned, balanced, jumped over or simply smashed. Enemies have
to be wiped out. And vials have to be discovered and collected before
reaching the goal.
Between levels there are checkpoints but,
annoyingly, no regular saving is possible (hence the star withheld). If a
character dies you are only left with the other(s) to finish off the
level. If it is impossible without the missing character(s)' abilities
you can always revert to the last checkpoint.
The graphics are
just beautiful! If you have seen the DIABLO III trailers, they are
comparable. PhysX is required however, so nVIDIA gamers rejoice.
The
sounds and voices are nicely done and clearly add to the enjoyment of
the game.
Overall, I have been playing this gem for almost a week now
and apart for the checkpoint saves I can only say good things about it.
TRINE
comes with STEAM (in fact it was released first on that platform) and
you will need to be online to post accomplishments - but there are
neither limits on the number of installations nor any RootKits of the
likes of SecuROM.
RECOMMENDED!
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