Noted as 2D platform game it is not so easy task nowadays. Among which is a very veteran genre that has received numerous masterpieces throughout the short history of video games and the boom indie have launched many titles of this type, we have reached a situation in which only the best get excel and get the attention of the public.
When Frozenbyte released Trine on PC and PlayStation 3 in 2009, was a good platformer and 2D puzzles with a great local multiplayer and great personality that while it enjoyed some success, never finished to highlight or to sink as if do large. This was something that totally changed with the release of its sequel, a game that surpassed its predecessor to unexpected and managed to take away the audiovisual section encourages a dream, offering one of the prettiest games we've had the pleasure of levels play to date. And on top with online multiplayer.
For this reason, when it was announced Trine 3: The Artifacts of Power , we could not only celebrate in style and noted on our wish list, since little to maintain the level of its second installment know that there is us defraud. What it has caught us a little by surprise was the fact that a certificate has been put up for sale this week as a game on Steam early access just one month after its announcement, a model that believe to be very consistent with a platform game straight cut, but that surely help the studio to create the third party we all want.
This has also given us the opportunity to try it for the first time, allowing us to see firsthand and very briefly what we offer Trine 3. Currently only available two levels of history, a screen editor is still something green and a level of challenge, a kind of extras phases of great difficulty, independent of history and raised to test the skills of a particular character.
A playable level, the title again make use of the hallmarks of the series. That is, three characters with different skills that we must learn to combine to make our way through the various traps and puzzles that we encounter along the phases that become completely linear, so we have no objective other than the get from point A to point B without many options to get out of the way fixed, but with a bunch of secrets to find.
The protagonists are again the usual trio of the series. The first is the noble Pontius the knight, able to block attacks and plan your shield, easily dispatching enemies with his sword and perform powerful thrusts, making it the ideal choice destroy our enemies. On the other hand we also have to Zoya, the charismatic thief. It is the most agile of all character and can use a bow to attack from a distance, although its more useful artifact is your hook, allowing you to hang from different sites to overcome obstacles and even give you the possibility to use a rope to solve many puzzles.
Finally, we can not forget the poor Amadeus, the magician who never managed to master his coveted spell fireball. As always, your deposit will be to create boxes that can be used as platforms and move and levitate objects of all kinds. To emphasize here the mechanics of the boxes has been simplified and no longer have to "draw them" to create them, so it's enough to press a button to appear, but in return we can not resize it.
But the big news of Trine 3 is undoubtedly its way into the third dimension. Unlike the first two installments, now have the opportunity to move in 3D, but the level design is very similar to its predecessors, which manages to convey the feeling of playing a lifelong Trine, but with the advantage of having more mobility and possibilities for action.
In fact, the move to 3D has been done so intelligently that has taken everything that has been the stage for raising new puzzles that would previously have been impossible to hide secrets and develop new game mechanics, which manages to provide a lot of freshness to its development and make us believe that this is the logical evolution of the saga.
We would also like to emphasize how well the controls have been moved to this new dimension. With either mouse or keyboard command, with both options all perfectly controlled and very accurately, which seems essential in this type of game.
As to the levels we played, being the first two we have found very simple and easy, but long and varied, with great puzzles posed perfectly studied jumps and fights about something loose without appealing too, but these are not too frequent.
As always, Trine 3 is very fun to play alone, but is in its cooperative multiplayer for three people where unleashes its full potential, because here will not suffice us that one character overcomes an obstacle, but we shall have to settle for collaborate with our colleagues and get the three can move forward together and no one is left behind, making each situation much more interesting.
Graphically we are back to a very strong game, not for its technical section and for its spectacular art direction, with fantasy scenarios tale of great beauty, full of details and well differentiated, so they will not be seldom that you to stop to admire the scenery.
The sound is not far behind, with a wonderful soundtrack that has again been composed by Ari Pulkkinen, the usual composer of the saga, who returns to delight us with issues of great quality and fit like a glove everything we see on screen. The effects also have a remarkable quality and dubbing has some good performances.
It is still too early to start valuing Trine 3: The Artifacts of Power, as it is a game that is still under development and that only we have seen a couple of levels, but our first contact with him has been very satisfying and rewarding, so we cannot expect when finally throw down the gauntlet to the final version and live completely new adventure of this charismatic trio of heroes.