A straw poll of friends (some game journalists) and various reviews would have me believe that the game is superb, bordering on a masterpiece. My experience with the game suggests otherwise. Welcome to a negative appraisal of Frozenbyte’s puzzle-platformer, Trine.

The recipe for Trine pie is simple: throw a large chunk of nineties platforming into a bowl, add a dash of robust physics engine and a sprinkle of Marvel vs Capcom character swapping, cook for a few months, then serve warm and tasty to a hungry gaming audience. Unfortunately for me, the game fails on too many levels to approach nourishment.

Players take control of three quickly interchangeable characters in Trine. First we have Pontius, the slightly silly but determined knight who’s the main combat specialist. Zoya, the thief, has a bow and arrow as well as a grappling hook, enabling her to cross gaps and deal with foes from a distance. Finally we have Amadeus, a curious but nervous man who is capable of magical feats ranging from pulling and pushing objects to creating blocks that act as ballast to solve specific puzzles.

The problem here is simple. The narrative isn’t strong enough to justify these three characters not being one single entity. Certainly, there would have been no issues mapping out all three sets of controls onto a DualShock. During game play segments that require rapid interchange - the last level springs to mind - flicking between characters is instinctive and almost instantaneous. The whole concept is contrived and superfluous.