Trifox (Xbox Series X/S) Review

At its heart, Trifox is a combat adventure platformer that has all the quirks of a 3D platformer, including traversing platforms and well-timed jumps, collectables, and the cast of characters all living in this colourful world, full of cartoonish animations and style. The plot, while non-sensical, drives players forward through cut-scenes, which do not have speech or subtitles, but rather a simple inferred dialogue of noise. Needless to say, the story doesn't really grasp attention, but the combat does. Combat is very customisable and comes in the guises of three different classes including Warrior, Mage and Engineer, which each have 10 further abilities in their classes to unlock.

The beauty of Trifox is the capability of being able to mix and match different class-based abilities. Movement between each class is different, with each class having a double jump but then an additional movement mapped to the B-button, the engineer has a helicopter jump, warrior features a quick dash and the mage can teleport. Each class then has more abilities which are mapped to the triggers and bumpers such as turret guns, slams, magic spells and more. Any ability can be mapped to the triggers and bumpers, it doesn't matter which class is picked, so there is a huge number of possible combinations. Destroying boxes, scenery and enemies leaves behind health pickups and coins which can be used to buy upgrades in the store.

Each world and stage bring a variety of new enemies, which often require a 'retreating, run, turn around and shoot' approach. Although it is possible to go all guns blazing, this will often end in death. There are no lives in Trifox, so if death happens then players are returned to the last checkpoint. Combat feels more like that from dungeon crawlers than typical platfomers, but it is a refreshing take on how to make combat more unique and creative. Bosses are also challenging enough to warrant a couple of tries but the puzzle of how to beat them isn't too hard.

There are four difficulties to choose from and hardy veterans who want a challenge should certainly try the 'Crazy' mode, which ramps up the challenge. Throughout the four worlds there are a number of well-timed jumps that need to be made as per any platformer, particularly to find the hidden gems in each level, some of which are very craftily hidden. There is an element of linearity in each world as the level pushes players through a guided path, but there are alternative paths and hidden treasure rooms to find. World themes include areas based on a tropical island and a steampunk factory area. The worlds have three self-contained levels as well as a boss fight, and can be travelled to from the main hub station at any time.