Genre: Action platformer
Developer: Frozenbyte
Publisher: Nobilis

Independent of the general aesthetic, which may or may not be appealing accounting for taste, Trine is possibly one of the most beautiful games ever created. Like a lot of Valve's games, item and prop placement in Trine means that every scene is satisfying and full of symmetry. The color themes and other visual motifs lead to a jaw dropping sense of fantasy and surrealism.

Ari Pulkkinen shows his versatility by producing some fairly solid Harry Potter-esque, whimsy-filled, fantasy orchestra work that is a complete and total departure from his work on other titles such as Angry Birds and Super Stardust HD. These songs compliment Trine's theme, even if they aren't particularly memorable. The game's voice acting is of reasonable quality, particularly when it comes to the work of Vicky Krueger, who went on to voice "Isabella" in Dragon Age 2 to great effect.

Like a modern incarnation of "The Lost Vikings", Trine involves switching between three characters and using their special abilities appropriately to clear the stages' many puzzles. The game is a bit more combat-focused than other titles in the genre, and as such much of the game feels a bit too same-ish and lacking in variety. The stages are well-paced though, and make good use of positive level design philosophies.

Even if Fable-like whimsy-fantasy is growing a little tired, Trine's creators clearly had a picture in their minds of what they wanted to create, and everything in the title, from the art style to the soundtrack, fits that theme well. Between these aesthetics and the game's solid stage design and gameplay mechanics, Trine is a gratifying albeit slightly prosaic experience.