I'd heard ahead of time that Trine 3 was a miss, which is sad considering that the first two were excellent games. You can read online about what happened during its development, and they were confirmed in my play-through. It's not a bad game, but it felt like it was struggling a lot with its goals. That and the fact that it's unfinished.

To start, this game is just as beautiful as previous entries in the series. Except now instead of being a 2D side-scroller it's a 3D environment that still retains a wide, 2D-like camera view, always attempting to keep the player more or less centered in the screen while giving you the freedom to move closer or away from the viewer while exploring and platforming.

It works, sort of. At times it felt like they were still sticking closely to the 2D formula and only cautiously using the 3D perspective. Rarely the 3D view would add a new and fun twist to navigating the puzzles involved solving a level. And sadly the 3D view on many occasions hampered depth perspective, making it hard to tell if the location or object you were trying to reach. This made Amadeus almost useless in combat trying to slam a box down on enemies from above.

In previous games when you earned levels you could spend points to acquire new abilities in each character's skill tree. There is no leveling this time; you start and end with the same set of abilities. Pontius gets stomp, charge and shield gliding. Zoya gets her trick rope, but no elemental damage on arrows. Amadeus can levitate objects and summon a single medium-sized box, no platforms. That's it. And because Zoya's aiming is janked up by weird auto-aiming help and hard to manipulate controls, Pontius is hugely favored throughout the entire game unless a puzzle specifically calls for other abilities. Indeed most of the extra mini-levels that feature solo character play are focused on Pontius. Even then his combat moves requires nothing more than wild button-mashing in the vast majority of scenarios.

Another problem is that while the game starts out feeling really good, bugs begin to show up later. This often affects Amadeus's moving objects where they suddenly go zipping off screen instead of following your control. Objects that are needed to manipulate puzzles sometimes fall off an edge and then never regenerate, forcing you to restart from your last save point. And sometimes a resurrection point for a character ends up in a place that you need that character's skill to reach.

Finally there's the ending which has you fighting a boss plant monster to recover one piece of an artifact you are tasked with re-assembling. The fight over, the heroes grab the piece and talk about the next one they need to get. Quick cut-scene of the main villain getting ready for them. End of the game.

I wanted more and better.

Rating: 6/10
It definitely captures the spirit of the first two games, but that's not enough to carry it. The story is a massive letdown not just because it's incomplete, but that it was a better story than Trine 2 -- at least given how much there is. A real shame and a lesson in creative ambition getting the thumbs up without the technical chops and budget needed for success.

I'd heard ahead of time that [b]Trine 3[/b] was a miss, which is sad considering that the first two were excellent games. You can read online about what happened during its development, and they were confirmed in my play-through. It's not a bad game, but it felt like it was struggling a lot with its goals. That and the fact that it's unfinished. To start, this game is just as beautiful as previous entries in the series. Except now instead of being a 2D side-scroller it's a 3D environment that still retains a wide, 2D-like camera view, always attempting to keep the player more or less centered in the screen while giving you the freedom to move closer or away from the viewer while exploring and platforming. It works, sort of. At times it felt like they were still sticking closely to the 2D formula and only cautiously using the 3D perspective. Rarely the 3D view would add a new and fun twist to navigating the puzzles involved solving a level. And sadly the 3D view on many occasions hampered depth perspective, making it hard to tell if the location or object you were trying to reach. This made Amadeus almost useless in combat trying to slam a box down on enemies from above. In previous games when you earned levels you could spend points to acquire new abilities in each character's skill tree. There is no leveling this time; you start and end with the same set of abilities. Pontius gets stomp, charge and shield gliding. Zoya gets her trick rope, but no elemental damage on arrows. Amadeus can levitate objects and summon a single medium-sized box, no platforms. That's it. And because Zoya's aiming is janked up by weird auto-aiming help and hard to manipulate controls, Pontius is hugely favored throughout the entire game unless a puzzle specifically calls for other abilities. Indeed most of the extra mini-levels that feature solo character play are focused on Pontius. Even then his combat moves requires nothing more than wild button-mashing in the vast majority of scenarios. Another problem is that while the game starts out feeling really good, bugs begin to show up later. This often affects Amadeus's moving objects where they suddenly go zipping off screen instead of following your control. Objects that are needed to manipulate puzzles sometimes fall off an edge and then never regenerate, forcing you to restart from your last save point. And sometimes a resurrection point for a character ends up in a place that you need that character's skill to reach. Finally there's the ending which has you fighting a boss plant monster to recover one piece of an artifact you are tasked with re-assembling. The fight over, the heroes grab the piece and talk about the next one they need to get. Quick cut-scene of the main villain getting ready for them. End of the game. I wanted more and better. [b]Rating: 6/10 It definitely captures the spirit of the first two games, but that's not enough to carry it. The story is a massive letdown not just because it's incomplete, but that it was a better story than [i]Trine 2[/i] -- at least given how much there is. A real shame and a lesson in creative ambition getting the thumbs up without the technical chops and budget needed for success.[/b]