Trine, Trine Again
It's high time - wow, almost three years after the pre-release demo - I accept that I won't be finishing Trine 2.
My inability to focus on making headway in the game can largely be attributed to the controls. Back in the first Trine, the floaty platforming and shoddy hit-detection were grudgingly acceptable -- the cost of doing business with the game's super-cool physics-based puzzles. Now? They're just anachronistically unpolished. Not even Trine 2's gorgeous environments are distracting enough when I keep failing to land a jump, or when I hit obstacles that I absolutely shouldn't have hit.
But even more than the controls and physics, I just can't stay interested in Trine 2. Sure it looks "good," but it isn't very ... visually engaging. Plants, stone arches, orcs, some tunnels; it's all very stereotypical and trite. There's an utter lack of stand-out moments, and even the puzzle elements feel repetitive, with frequent re-use of move-this-thing-to-this-place non-challenges. The skill trees and level-ups are pretty neat, but otherwise the whole experience is just dull.
I think this would be more fun with more people, in a party-style situation, with alcohol and random wizard attacks. Barring that, I can't see myself mustering up to yet another attempt on Trine 2.
Progress: About midway through the swamp, this time.