Trine 3: The Artifacts of Power

[h1]The Trine franchise sure went downhill when it went 3D[/h1] Trine 1 and 2 were games I really enjoyed. The beautiful graphics, exquisite soundtrack and fun tag team gameplay made for great puzzle platformers that you can either enjoy solo or in 3 player co-op. The same cannot be said about this third installment in the series, however. Starting off with the positives, you can now skip in-engine cutscenes, a feature I wish Trine 2 had. Collectables are now tracked in each individual area so you know which sections of levels still have stuff to find which is appreciated. The graphics are beautiful like always and the music fits the atmosphere really well. Unfortunately, that's where my praise for this game ends. Just about everything that could go wrong with a 2D to 3D transition went wrong here. All three characters are way worse to play as this time around, except for Pontius who is by far the best character in the game and the one I spent the vast majority of my play time with. I never used either of the other 2 characters unless I had to, which goes against the appeal of having 3 characters working together. Zoya's arrows are harder to use here than they were in the 2D games. The game tries to rectify this with a lock-on feature for aiming but it barely works and often times targets the wrong enemies. There is no way to switch targets when aiming like in a Zelda game. Her new ability to tie hooked objects onto other objects often doesn't work either, making what could've been a good inclusion to the game an exercise in frustration. She's still far better than Amadeus, who was not enjoyable to play as at all. Conjuring boxes is now done with a simple button press. Lifting objects also feels far more clunky than it should; you can now move while lifting objects, but to move objects into the fore/background, you have to hold RT which stops you in place. I also got flung all over the place on occasion when lifting blocks, resulting in falling into a pit or lower sections of the level. The automatic targeting for both lifting objects and the grapple often doesn't work as it should. I could be standing right next to an object I want to target, even facing right in front of it, and I'll still target something far away in the opposite direction. There are no target indicators to let you know where you'll target when you hit the button. The only way to select a target yourself is to hold RT and use the right stick, which is also the only way to display targets. So many aspects of this game felt like they wanted to make a 3D Trine game, but without a good idea on how to properly convert the 2D formula into 3D. The 3D platforming is also among some of the worst I've ever experienced. I'm a huge fan of 3D platformers, but I could not enjoy it at all here. The fixed camera perspective makes it very hard to tell where you're going to land, resulting in many missed jumps that would otherwise be very simple in other games. This game has drop shadows to assist with landing jumps, but they barely help at all. Depth perception was never an issue for me in other platformers with a fixed camera like Crash Bandicoot, yet it's a consistent problem here. There is no way to control the camera yourself, either. There's also plenty of side-scrolling sections that retain the 3D movement of the hallway segments, and the bad controls that ruined the 3D gameplay also ruin the 2D sections for a lot of the same reasons. There's a lot more of these than you might think, which makes me wonder why they even made this game 3D in the first place when it would've been far better off as a 2D only game. Sadly, other problems this game has aren't even the result of being 3D. Switching characters locks your movement controls until you let go and press the direction again which never happened in the previous games. The skill tree present in the first two games is gone altogether; the abilities you have at the start of the game are all you get. No fire or ice arrows, no planks, no hammer and no picking up enemies or throwing them. XP Vials are now replaced with Trineangles that are required to unlock later levels. If you're not seeking them out during gameplay, you cannot progress through the story, unlike the first two games where you were encouraged to explore the levels to make characters stronger as you progress thus creating a satisfying game loop. Secret chests containing special items or artwork are also nowhere to be seen. In a series known for its puzzles, there are barely any interesting puzzles in this game. Not a single one got me thinking of any clever solutions, and the one I couldn't solve I was able to skip entirely with Pontius' wall jump and glide combo which also breaks several sections of the game. I play these games solo, but I'm sure they're even more fun when played with friends. This game is the only exception, though. Not just because of how bad it is to experience, but there are also several mini bonus levels that can only be played as a single character, removing co-op play altogether. Why even make this a co-op game when a good chunk of the game's levels can't be played in co-op at all? These bonus levels are nothing special, anyway. Most of them are just fighting waves of enemies in an arena as you try to survive until the end, with very bland combat that has no variety whatsoever except for one combat arena where you play as Amadeus whose only means of attack is to slam blocks onto the ground. It's as fun as it sounds. Each bonus level only gives you up to 25 Trineangles for completing them and are not worth playing. This game is very short, too. The first two games could take about 7-8 hours to finish, with even more play time added for those looking to fully complete it. This game took me only 6 hours to 100%, but it felt like some of the longest 6 hours I've had with any game. There are only 8 levels, 4 if you don't include the 3 tutorial levels and the [strike]first[/strike] final boss. Normally, I don't spoil endings in reviews, but this is a very special case. There are three artefacts the heroes need to seek out in order to stop the main villain, Sarek, for good, and you eventually face the guardian that holds the first artefact. Once you defeat him, the artefact is claimed. The trio then seek out the other two while Sarek and other villains wait for their eventual arrival along the way. And then the game just... ends! No conclusion, no payoff, the story ends on an unresolved cliffhanger! This game feels unfinished, and that's because it is. Even the developers themselves [url=https://steamcommunity.com/app/319910/discussions/0/528398719797223737/]admit that they ran out of money before they could finish the game they wanted to make[/url] resulting in the product we got. They even had plans to continue/finish the story with future updates and DLC, but this game has since been abandoned due to its poor reception. Yeah, this is one of [i]those[/i] games. It also explains the various glitches, unpolished mechanics, removed features and lack of actual levels. Trine 1 and 2 are also somewhat harmed by this game as they show an ad for Trine 3 every time you quit out of either game. This was never removed at all, nor do they plan on doing so despite its age and reception, which means 2 good games now have to be associated with this mess. This feels like the kind of business practice I would expect from a greedy corporation like EA or Ubisoft, not a passionate indie studio that I know poured their heart and soul into these projects. Let this game be a lesson for aspiring game developers on what to avoid when making a game. I cannot recommend this at all, not even on sale. The moment I finished this game, I quickly rushed over to the Uninstall button. I would never subject my friends to this, and neither should you. Seek elsewhere if you're looking for a good co-op game to play with friends.