Trine on PSN, a second look

9:00 AM on 11.02.2009   |   Brad Nicholson

8 comments

Revisiting the PSN version of Trine has been on my mind since Saturday evening, after being told that USB devices or even the PS3’s Media Center could interfere with the framerate. This nugget of fact was pointed out to me post-TMT, which was an article -- report, outlet, whatever -- where I chose to discuss some of the port’s manic issues. The obvious one at the time was the framerate and, to some degree, the spotty hit detection as well as slow cursor movement.

The initial video, the TMT, was created with my PlayStation Eye plugged into my fat PS3 -- in fact, the majority of my time with the title at that point was spent with the device in the same hole it’s been in since I received the camera. But since being alerted about its possible interference, it’s been unplugged.

And, hey, wouldn’t you know it -- things are a bit better.

I’ve grabbed ten more minutes of footage from the game to show all of you what I’m seeing now. The slice that I’ve chosen was random, just a level in the middle of the game. You’ll notice a few things, but you also won’t catch the game chugging until rocks fall towards the end of the video.

To be clear, since I could have been more so last time: Trine is a fascinating game, and while the PS3 version has issues, they’re just nagging ones that cause minor frustration or can, on occasion, suck you out of the experience. The things I’ve discussed aren’t necessarily deal-breakers.

On an unrelated note: while normal baddies can be a pain to hit -- bats and skeletons in the middle of an animation come to mind -- it seems as though I missed the point of the King Skeleton monster. As was pointed out to me, the monster’s weak spot is his skull. That’s why swords and arrows pass through his legs and pelvis as if it didn’t exist on-screen. Of course, these attacks can pass through his head just the same, but that’s a less common occurrence.

Anyway, feel free to discuss whatever. Trine is an awesome game and it’s a pity that it has a few problems. Frozenbyte Interactive is at least taking a look at the framerate issue and plans to release a patch in the future.