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Puzzling Platformer Trine Looks Slick

Get your wizard-warrior-and-thief on in this curious, beautiful action game for the PC and PlayStation Network.

Have you seen this newly announced downloadable PC and PlayStation Network game Trine? I kept ignoring headlines about it last week until I stumbled into the trailer, the extremely lush visuals of which really caught my eye.

  


Turns out, Trine is a fantasy-themed side-scroller from developer Frozenbyte that lets you switch between three stock-archetype character classes on the fly to solve puzzles and pass obstacles. You've got your wizard, your burly warrior, and your lithe elf-like person with bow and arrow. Looks like there's a little bit of Kirby: Canvas Curse in here with the wizard; you can draw simple objects (boxes, ramps) onscreen to have him create them from thin air. The warrior dude can bash through stuff, and the rogue can swing on ropes.

This style of game seems like it would work better on the PS3 than a PC, except for that drawing mechanic, which might be a little tough with the thumbstick. Still, I'm going to consider this a PS3 game for the time being. Anyway, it's a scientifically proven fact that there cannot be too many 3D-graphics-2D-gameplay sorts of games in existence at one time, so I'm glad to see this on the way.

Trine is due out in Q2 '09, when I look forward to finding out I've been pronouncing it wrong for months.

Brad Shoemaker on Google+

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Brad

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Edited By Brad

Have you seen this newly announced downloadable PC and PlayStation Network game Trine? I kept ignoring headlines about it last week until I stumbled into the trailer, the extremely lush visuals of which really caught my eye.

  


Turns out, Trine is a fantasy-themed side-scroller from developer Frozenbyte that lets you switch between three stock-archetype character classes on the fly to solve puzzles and pass obstacles. You've got your wizard, your burly warrior, and your lithe elf-like person with bow and arrow. Looks like there's a little bit of Kirby: Canvas Curse in here with the wizard; you can draw simple objects (boxes, ramps) onscreen to have him create them from thin air. The warrior dude can bash through stuff, and the rogue can swing on ropes.

This style of game seems like it would work better on the PS3 than a PC, except for that drawing mechanic, which might be a little tough with the thumbstick. Still, I'm going to consider this a PS3 game for the time being. Anyway, it's a scientifically proven fact that there cannot be too many 3D-graphics-2D-gameplay sorts of games in existence at one time, so I'm glad to see this on the way.

Trine is due out in Q2 '09, when I look forward to finding out I've been pronouncing it wrong for months.

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Mattalorian

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Edited By Mattalorian

Nice. I was worried when I read "Platformer", but it looks surprisingly awesome.
Any game that tries something new and different is instantly a game that you should want to try out.

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SuperMooseman

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Edited By SuperMooseman

I consider this a PC game, Shoemaker!
This does actually look pretty good. I'll be interested to find out more.

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Fade2Gray

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Edited By Fade2Gray

Looks cool. To bad it ain't coming out now. I've been suffering 'Big Budget Game' overload for a while, and that looks like it would have been a perfect diversion for a bit.

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plumeria

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Edited By plumeria

Looks fairly amazing for this type of game. I'm likely to give it a whirl.

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ThomasP

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Edited By ThomasP

That looks hella fun. Thanks for the vid Brad.

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spiceninja

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Edited By spiceninja

Looks really cool.

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ArbitraryWater

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Edited By ArbitraryWater

This is lost vikings made for a modern age. Sounds good to me.

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mawryk

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Edited By mawryk

Love the look of this.  Also nice to see more 2D games showing up!

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Crono

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Edited By Crono

looks very interesting

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Pip3610

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Edited By Pip3610

Looks awsome!

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Scooper

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Edited By Scooper

Looks really cool, however, if it hasn't got alot of levels it may be a case of wanting a whole game's content in a downloadable haha.

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Kael

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Edited By Kael

2D lives on! And not just on tiny, handheld screens. This looks awesome.

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OmegaPirate

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Edited By OmegaPirate

Awww come on i posted this 12 hours ago!!!! xD

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Al3xand3r

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Edited By Al3xand3r

#1: Why would you ignore it, it likely made headlines for a reason, and you would have the news on time if you weren't being ignorant.

#2: Why would anyone consider a multi platform title as only a single platform's title?

#3: Haven't you heard, personal computers have had gamepads available since the 80s, while for a simple platformer like this, you don't exactly need analogue precision (will it even recognise analog input on the PS3?)  so the sufficient WASD + the superior "drawing" mechanics are likely the better option, than a perhaps superior d-pad/stick (if you use a better than the default dual shock which has a horrible d-pad) but inferior drawing ability.

Oh well, keep being narrow-minded.

Edit: Forgot #4, cite your sources. Was it RPS, Kotaku, random YouTube search, or something else? It's only the right thing to do.

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Manachild

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Edited By Manachild

That looks pretty good actually

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TheIneffableBob

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Edited By TheIneffableBob

Looks like it'd be hard to play with a gamepad.

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Foxillusion

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Edited By Foxillusion

Why the hell isn't this coming out for the Wii?! Look at the target reticule thing they're using to draw the wizard's boxes and aim the bow and stuff... this game practically develops ITSELF for the Wii. Remote-nunchuck look like they'd be perfect for this game.

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TheGTAvaccine

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Edited By TheGTAvaccine

Holy crap, that looks awesome.

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Demyx

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Edited By Demyx

Looks awesome.

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Media_Master

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Edited By Media_Master

Awesome!!! Looks like fun!

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ZmillA

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Edited By ZmillA

Ragdoll skeletons? count me in.

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SaucySala

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Edited By SaucySala

Cool find Brad, I love hearing about these awesome games.

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dtran1212

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Edited By dtran1212

looks good

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Edited By JoelTGM

They need to release it for more platforms... like Foxillusion said, why is it not on the Wii?  The wiimote and nunchuck would work perfectly for drawing those simple shapes.  I'm not really interested in buying it for the PC, if I play a game on a PC it has to be a RTS or MMO or something where you really need a keyboard.  If it's a sidescroller like this game with beautiful visuals I want to see it on my TV screen and have a simple controller in hand to experience it.

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tekmojo

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Edited By tekmojo

I'll probably download it, looks pretty nifty.

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Chummy8

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Edited By Chummy8

Wow that looks amazing.  Hopefully I'll be able to get that on my PC.

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Hamst3r

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Edited By Hamst3r

Brad: Get a gamepad controller for your PC. *slap* NOW.

As for Trine: Yay, Frozenbyte! I like the Shadowgrounds series. :)

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Progman9000

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Edited By Progman9000

Wow.  Looks like a game I'll have to pick up whenever it shows up.  I love me a good platformer that does something different.

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longevitous

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Edited By longevitous

reminds me of Lost Vikings

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ahoodedfigure

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Edited By ahoodedfigure

Can you beat situations in more than one way?  It looked like it was showing different solutions to the same problem at a point there.

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FalcomAdol

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Edited By FalcomAdol

What's up with the fighter whose art style looks like it was cut and pasted from a totally different game?

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fraser

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Edited By fraser

Looks pretty cool. The platforming and character switching to solve puzzles seems pretty remeniscient of the Lego games, albeit in 2D.

Should be interesting to see how they vary it across the whole game too.

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deaux

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Edited By deaux

The music, especially early on, is very reminiscent of Braid.

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Protonguy

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Edited By Protonguy

Awesome, it's the Lost Vikings updated :D.

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JackiJinx

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Edited By JackiJinx

That looks sweet.

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Elemental_89

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Edited By Elemental_89

There isn't enough of these games that acturly have quality to them, heres hoping it ends up on xbox ha.

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Edited By ElectricHaggis

It actually looks pretty awesome.  If it turns out well. I'll have to think about getting it.

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Three0neFive

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Edited By Three0neFive

Played the demo on Steam and it's pretty neat. Will definitely pick up if it's less than $20.

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Al3xand3r

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Edited By Al3xand3r

You didn't notice the price on Steam (and in the mandatory pop up after the demo's end? Or are you just fishing?

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Ineedaname

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Edited By Ineedaname

I think the price is terrible, p.s. there's a demo link at gamespot for anyone who wants it.

The price was $40.