Goombd Played! - Trine 2

Following in the footsteps of its 2009 predecessor, Trine 2 is absolutely gorgeous. It carries the great combinations of beautiful art and smart puzzle design the original Trine an amazing indie game and takes some core ideas even further.

The magical artifact called the Trine calls upon the trio of heroes yet again. The wizard, an expert in conjuring items out of thin air, was busy taking care of his new family, while the bulky, sword and hammer wielding knight killed evil weeds and the acrobatic thief looked for the next big heist. Called off for a new adventure, they each employ their unique set of skills in their new quest to save a kingdom. Their only catch, which quickly becomes your problem - you can only control one of these guys at once.

That is if you're playing Trine 2 by yourself. This is the first time in the series where you're able to invite a friend onto your couch or online lobby to join you, each controlling a different character. Playing solo is possible and fun on its own but Trine 2's big draw is the new cooperative mode. The puzzle design is brilliantly designed in a way that allows you to figure everything out on your own but can also be broken up by a group of players putting their brains together.

Much like the first Trine, Trine 2's story is presented in a fairy tale book style. Each colorful level brings its own flavor, hitting your eyes with vibrant visuals in just about every corner. Even caves are beautifully drawn in this game. This is probably one of the few instances where you'll be happy to be in a dank place for so long, only to find your character drawfed by a gigantic sunset.

There's a lot to look forward to in Trine 2 if you're familiar with the original game. Likely, you probably got annoyed by the character development tree in the original or how magic drained a meter with every spell. One of these matters are done away with, in a sense. The magic meter, of one, is gone, while the development tree is made much simpler to deal with. A new skill point is earned with every 50 experience points you collect. It can be spent in new abilities for one of the three characters. This time, though, you're able to freely "respec" the tree at any time, so even when you don't have enough points to max everyone out, you can activate the right abilities at the right time and switch everything out on the fly.

These special abilities play a big part in game. Some puzzles require simple deduction and probably only one of your characters while others deal with complex timing that demands quick reactions and multiple abilities working in tandem. That's the fun aspect of Trine 2 that constantly dares you to be creative and think outside the box or even better, not to over-analyze a situation and simply look at what is dealt to you.

Trine 2 is a blast. While not the longest of journeys you'll embark in anytime soon, it's one hell of a ride. It's gorgeous, smart and mostly importantly, it doesn't hold you by the hand. This is one the best sequels out there and it can easily fall into anyone's 'favorites' list like it did with me. If you're into puzzle games with charm, personality and a little something extra, you should look no further. Trine 2 is just that. |8

Goombd Played! - The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

What can you say about a game like Skyrim? Possibly, that it's a huge undertaking for anyone planning to play it. Like previous Elder Scrolls games, Skyrim is immense, filled with little bits of content just about everywhere. Are you ready to get started?

Dragons are back to terrorize the Tamriel continent of Skyrim, the snowy home of the proud Nords. Sadly for our viking friends, the drakes aren't their only worry. The Empire is moving into their territory as well in their quest to gain even more power. But that's not for your lowly character to worry about. He or she has bigger problems. They're about to die at the gallows.

Without spoiling anything, it's obvious that your avatar in the game survives and it's exactly at that point that Skyrim begins. You're left alone, in the middle of a destroyed town with only a nudge about where to head next. Do you follow your fellow prisoner to safety or will you trust an Imperial who just moments ago was ready to lob off your head?


Skyrim is a game about decisions. They start with whether or not you want to help a greater cause or with the mundane task of deciding about your character's gender or race. If you don't want to focus on the main story, that's fine. Wanna rush it all and get it done with? Cool. You'll find something cool to see and mess around with at just about every corner of the icy lands of Skyrim.

Like in Oblivion, the guilds are easily best distractions in terms of quest content in Skyrim. Sadly, some of the groups seen in Cyrodil, like the Fighter's Guild, are nowhere to be seen. On the other hand, the groups that did survive the cut manage to provide some of the coolest quest lines in the game. If you were like me and loved the Dark Brotherhood missions in Oblivion, get ready to be blown away in this one as well.

Most of the action in Skyrim is reliant on how you build your character and how you decide to use your powers. In the Elder Scrolls tradition, abilities level up as you use them, for instance, if you're a heavy bow user, your marksmanship points will go up as you line up and make shots. That also goes for involuntary skills like heavy or light armor, as you take hits. Unlike previous games, though, you can also level up by talking to certain trainer characters and pay your way up the scale or by reading special books that you can find by exploring.


Irregardless to how you decide to take your character, there's always a companion just around the corner that will easily counter balance your development skills. Bethesda took one of the best aspects of their other RPG series Fallout and applied it to Skyrim in the form of companion characters "for hire". These guys are very damn useful, especially for less resistant character builds like wizards and can take a lot of punishment. Unfortunately, they aren't as well developed as your buddies from the Capital Wasteland and very rarely bring more story elements for you to mess around with.

In terms of story, I'll have to admit that I was a little disappointed with Skyrim's main quest line. The build up for the most of the game is very well developed but it just doesn't go anywhere. The ending is not satisfying at all. The world keeps going, people go back to their routines and heck, even though you did something that should have rid the world of a particular kind of problem, as soon as you step back into the world and keep playing, lo and behold, they're still around causing havoc.


Still, if you take into account the sheer number of things to do in this game, the fact that the main story is its weakest element is pretty much forgivable. The guild quests, allied with just about a ton of extra tidbits and areas to spelunk in are easily more exciting and will be the main crux of your activities in this game.

I'm very much looking forward to see what Bethesda will do with Skyrim in terms of DLC, especially after loving what they had to offer in Fallout 3 and finding most of the areas that heavily hint on possible threads to explore in future downloadable content in this game. You can be sure that once you're through with everything this game has to offer, you won't be done.

Skyrim is easily recommendable to just about anyone looking for a fantasy world to dive into. The content is rich and the shortcomings are easily overcome by the sheer amount of awesome stuff to do in the frigid land of the Nords. Whether or not you decide to be a hero or a villain, one thing is for certain, this is one of those gaming experiences that are not easily forgotten. |10