![]() Ser Pontius fears being ridiculed by fellow knights we've never met before, while Amadeus fear some creepy witch aunt of his that might actually be his mum. But the stakes never feel particularly high. Admittedly, Trine 4 tries to make these encounters thematically appropriate, with our three heroes confronting manifest versions of their fears. The Ugly Duckling doesn't end with the duckling battering the swans. I don't understand why Trine has boss battles. If the combat is bad, the boss battles are worse. The combat becomes rote after a few encounters, and by the end of the game you'll sigh every time the screen turns purple. Consequently, I ended up relying overwhelmingly on Ser Pontius' stomp, squashing these phantasms into dust like an obese, tinned Mario. Yet because enemies attack all at once, it's very difficult to use these more elaborate powers. There are plenty of ways to tackle these battles, from chucking boxes at enemies with Amadeus, to freezing them with Zora's ice-arrows. These combat sections "appear" suddenly at set points, almost like a minigame overlaid on top of your puzzle-platformer. All the enemies in the game are "nightmares" made manifest by the prince, which translates to "Six or seven enemy types repeated across the entire game." Rather than being baked naturally into levels. Combat has always been Trine's weakest area, and in Trine 4 it might as well not have turned up. It's as well Trine 4's puzzling is so rich. But personally, I've always liked the spongy fringes of Trine's play, and there are more than enough puzzles that require you to engage directly. Some puzzles that involve getting to a higher vantage point can essentially be "skipped" by placing a plank on the high platform and then grappling up to it. The power of Trine's puzzling toolset occasionally works against it. Some puzzles have hard solutions, while others allow you to essentially build your own, erecting a Meccano-like structure out of boxes and floating planks, then tying them together with ropes. Scales, seesaws, elevators, rotating wheels, sticky snowbanks, electrical currents, magnetic force-fields, portals, the list goes on. To solve Trine 4's many puzzles, these abilities need to be combined with countless different objects. Around the middle of the game, Zora acquires a "fairy rope", that lifts objects into the air, while Ser Pontius can create a spectral version of his own shield, allowing him to bounce light and water off it at multiple positions. But Frozenbyte elaborate considerably on these basics, introducing a new ability or puzzling element in virtually every level. Ser Pontius is all about smashing obstacles and bashing enemies - always your first choice in combat. Zora's arrows can trigger distant switches, while her grappling hook lets you create tightropes to cross chasms. Amadeus conjures boxes, balls and planks to create platforms and bridge gaps. ![]() The chocolate-box visuals are matched by the mechanics, offering an impressive level of puzzling variety within its 2.5 dimensions. ![]() In case that sounds a little cruel, the game briefly puts down its storybook to point out that it's a special magic seal, and that, generally, animals shouldn't be jumped on. My favourite animal encounters involves a friendly seal who acts as big blubbery bouncepad to help you reach higher vantage points. In another, you help a grizzly bear pull a thorn from its paw, who then proceeds to follow you throughout the level. One level takes place inside a hobbit-like badger's burrow, filled with rustic furniture and teetering stacks of books. There's something warm and comforting about the whole design - a fireside fairytale on a snowy winter's eve, all gingerbread cottages, Sleeping Beauty castles and anthropomorphic animals. Pretty games aren't exactly rare these days, but it's also important to emphasise just how pleasant Trine 4 is. Trine 4 sounds like a Douglas Adams joke, only humour has never been Frozenbyte's strong point. Three Trine games was more Trine than I ever thought I'd need, and given the title it seemed fitting to end the series as a trilogy, even if the last one was a bit duff. Trine 4 is a game I didn't know I wanted until it was on the screen before me. Outrageously pretty and newly refined, Frozenbyte's series finally strikes gold. ![]()
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