Trine

When Trine works, it works great. Alone, it's a cerebral puzzle game in a fantastically physics-driven world. With friends, it's a madcap adventure, plus puzzle and action elements. It's also short enough to finish in a long evening, or two short ones.

When Trine doesn't work, though, it really frustrates. The engine works well for the most part, but occasionally inconsistent behavior and outright glitches can mar the experience - and they seemed to come up most often in the game's final levels, as puzzles became more precise and demanding, and death more likely.

Aside from the setup issues I've already noted, the problem with co-op is that the game wasn't really designed for it, at least not in full. It's great fun, to be sure, but some puzzles are made trivial by the fact that you have each character active simultaneously. And, some others are made more difficult, as they assume you only need to clear an obstacle with a single character.

This latter flaw comes to a head in the game's more difficult settings, especially in the final level. Trine's interpretation of "friendly fire" - characters getting in each others' way and, more frequently, the Wizard's conjured objects getting in the way - became a topic of much consternation among our band of heroes. I move a spike ball out of my way, and it accidentally falls onto the Thief. Whoops! Now the Warrior is slashing my platform, destroying it, and I fall down the tower. Normally this is fun, but the presence of lava (and hence, death) in the last few levels makes it eh, not so much.

There are some definite rough spots in Trine, but it's nevertheless a commendable game. Unfortunately, having gone through the whole affair in co-op, it's now ruined for me in single player - the mechanics are still fun, but, having already figured out and navigated the game's levels, a second go-around just isn't the same. (Also, some of these collectibles are super-hard to find. Where's my map?)

Progress: Finished in co-op, dabbled solo