Trine 2: Director's Cut (Hands-On) (Wii U) Preview

For me, Trine is one of those games that came out of nowhere. I first picked it up when it came out on the Humble Bundle (one of the most worth it deals in gaming history) to support some of the more interesting studios (in other words, all of them) -- it’s also my dump of indie games each year. Alas, I’ve yet to play Trine 2 on PC yet, but if it’s anything like the first it should be a cracker. I was admittedly surprised when Trine 2 was announced for the Wii U, and a little dubious how it would work compared to the fluid PC controls. For those not in the know, Trine is a side-scrolling action adventure that heavily focuses on the role of three classes; Wizard, Thief and Warrior, and sets them across a myriad of locations packed full of physics based puzzles.

Hopping on at the post-E3 event, the first thing that struck me was how well polished this title looked; the only other title that matched this at the event was Rayman: Legends. Other than a few resolution differences, the graphical fidelity that is featured on the PC version has made it through intact -- it looks stunning. Caverns feel eerie with lighting in all the right places, and the desert and rocks look natural -- albeit with a mythical flair. I don’t know what wizardry Frozenbyte used to port it over, but good job indeed! That said the engine isn’t that particularly demanding, so I guess it’s to be expected.

Control-wise is where I had a few issues with Trine 2, however. Switching between classes was applied by a press of the shoulder button and movement could be controlled with either analogue stick or D-Pad (hurrah!) -- no issues there. Characters responded quickly and I had fun playing with two of the classes -- Thief and Warrior. Warrior doesn’t require any specific inputs as you can imagine; mash a button to kill things, and press another to shield yourself when things get sticky. The Thief has been tweaked a little from the PC version as her grappling hook now has an automatic lock to the nearest surface you are facing allowing you to spider-man along at quite a pace, and if you so choose you can use the GamePad to select a specific point to hit -- again no issues.

The Wizard, however, was a different problem. You use the touch screen to draw ledges and boxes to affect traps and reach different locations and pass insurmountable gaps (without a Yoshi death) and control items with levitation. In this regard, I found the controls both unresponsive and inaccurate; drawing boxes without the pen was awkward and it would stop recognising my finger halfway through drawing (yet another reason why a capacitive screen would have been better), which led to repeat attempts. If you’ve read any of my other writings over the past week you’re going to get tired of hearing this but…Why can’t I play this like LostWinds with a Wii Remote? It would make much more sense than having to fiddle about with two viewpoints -- again, I really can’t see the benefit of the touch screen. This game was designed for a mouse and keyboard and it shows; there is pretty much no other control method when porting it across.

Other than that small gripe, my time with Trine 2 was a pleasant one. It plays exactly as it should do and it was wondrous to see it played on such a large screen. Wii U buyers are going to be in for a treat with this one. Let’s just hope that Nintendo allows Frozenbyte to bring over the three player co-operative gameplay that makes this game… and some extra control options!
- Calum Peak, Alternative Content Editor.

The key matter to point out straight away, for anyone wondering why they would need to buy a Wii U version of this downloadable platform puzzle adventure, is the name: Trine 2: Director’s Cut. This is no mere port of the recently released game on PC, SEN, AppStore, and XBLA, as FrozenByte is aiming to squeeze in numerous enhancements and polish the gameplay as much as possible before its Holiday 2012 release. The team also plans to include a Wii U-exclusive multiplayer party mode called 'Magic Mayhem' in the hope of making this the ultimate version available on the market.

Lauri Hyvärinen, CEO of Frozenbyte, has also confirmed recently that this will indeed be the best version of Trine 2 on the market, containing many of the elements that had to be left out on other platforms. As well as the Magic Mayhem frantic multiplayer party mode, the upcoming expansion pack is also planned, with them working simultaneously on that so it can hit at the same time as the main game on Wii U. Therefore, the aim is to ensure that Wii U owners are not missing out on anything at all, and in fact receive a slight bonus over purchasing other editions.

Trine 2: Director’s Cut focuses on a heroic trio; Amadeus (Wizard), Pontius (Knight) and Zoya (Thief), and for anyone that has not played the PC version, the controls of the GamePad will immediately feel far smoother than the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 controllers, since there is not only the option for a traditional setup, but the option to do almost everything on the touch screen itself. Select which character to use in a particular situation by tapping the appropriate icon in the top-left, switch between weapons in the bottom-right, do various drawing actions to create items, charge at enemies, make protective defence bubbles appear, slingshot up to and across areas, manipulate objects to solve intricate puzzles -- the sheer variety is immensely impressive and ease of input is joyous. In fact, so powerful was the urge to do it all on the GamePad that, just as with certain other titles at the post-E3 event, there were times when I completely forgot the action was playing out on the big screen!

Anyone that abhors the poor control systems for the majority of iOS releases and are more than happy with the way touch input is implemented in Nintendo DS and 3DS games will be more than happy with the responsiveness of the GamePad’s equivalent. Sure, there are times when drawing a box or long walkway with Amadeus the Wizard does not pan out as expected, but the speed at which a replacement can be drawn compensates for the momentary lapse in end result.

Slowly wandering through the luscious world laid out on both of the screens ahead was at times a languid experience, which allowed for careful exploration and experimentation with differing techniques for acquiring seemingly out-of-reach items, crossing treacherous regions, and cracking some of the smart puzzles included along the way. However, the serenity was finite and hordes of enemies were present in places, which is where the brute force of Pontius the Knight came in particularly handy, charging down monsters before they could cause much damage. Overall there was a superb mix on offer and, not having played the original, personally Trine 2: Director’s Cut is firmly on the radar and looks to be a must have download on Day One for the Wii U eShop.
- Adam Riley, Operations Director.