If you were a fan of Trine, Trine 2 is an automatic "Must Buy." Similar to Portal 2, Trine 2 builds takes the original platforming puzzle-solving from the first game and builds it up, leading to what is easily one of the year's last great downloadable games.

Although the character models are a little on the rough side, Trine 2 is stop and stare gorgeous. While the game does everything it can to encourage constant forward movement, you'll end up spending time gawking at the game's stunning backgrounds and level art. You'll travel through amazingly lit shores, gloomy dungeons and caves... there's a lot to like here.

The charm continues into the audio. There isn't a whole lot going on in terms of story, but the bits of voice work scattered throughout are fitting for the trio of characters and overall style of the game. The same goes for the soundtrack, which has an epic whimsy about it that matches the backgrounds perfectly.

If you're at all familiar with Trine, you already have a massive head start on what Trine 2 is about. Expect the same character swapping, platforming puzzles, only ramped up. Level designs are incredibly well executed, especially when you consider the amount of sandbox play each allows.

For the uninitiated, Trine 2 centers on a group of three adventurers - a knight, thief and wizard. Each of the trio of characters has a specialized set of abilities meant to help them solve puzzles. The knight is a fighter, but can also break barriers with his warhammer. The thief, on the other hand, has a ranged attack and can use her grappling hook to snag far-flung platforms. The most interesting, and perhaps most useful character (at least in single-player), is the wizard. He can levitate objects in the level and create floating platforms.

Gameplay flow is mostly determined by how you choose to tackle the game. Solo, you can flip between the three characters and combine their abilities to solve puzzles. It's not the most elegant of play styles, and you'll likely miss out on a few secrets and more creative solutions, but you're still able to play through the game and have a good time. If you introduce another two players to the mix, the amount of fun instantly multiplies.

With three characters, you can find all kinds of solutions to problems, which is where the sandbox-styled play comes into the picture. Each level has an "obvious" solution, though with three minds going at the task, you'll find all sorts of fun ways to tackle a problem. Some won't be as efficient as others, but it's still a lot of fun to see what sort of half-baked solutions you can come up with, especially when they defy the odds and work!

Although you can take on tasks with a bit of freedom, Trine 2 does run into a couple of nasty difficulty issues. Again, there's usually a fairly obvious way to go about solving a problem, but some solutions - especially towards the end of the game - are real mindbenders. I wouldn't go so far as to say the solutions are obscure, but you'll end up stumbling through your character's power sets to find the right solution.

Thankfully, Trine 2 places a big emphasis on forward momentum. Although a few puzzles will leave you stumped for a few minutes, I can't recall ever spending a massive amount of time stalled out in one spot. Most of the time, it's just a matter of playing around with the game's baked-in physics and finding a solution. Other times, you just have to play around. I'd call it "Out of the Box Thinking," but then you have to admit there's a box... this isn't a great way to approach Trine 2's puzzles.

Checkpoints are also in abundant supply and you have an optional skill system if you really need a hand up.

Much of Trine 2's mechanics are based around the dynamics created between character abilities and the game's physics engine. As previously mentioned, you're likely to get more out of the gameplay if you decide to bring a friend or two along for the journey. Three people focused on their own character's tasks are better than one person trying to swap between characters and remember what everyone can do at a moment's notice. It also opens up new venues for solving problems and reaching hard-to-reach experience orbs.

However, not everyone is going to be able to snag a friend, so solo play is still remarkably satisfying, thanks in large part to the smart control setup. You can swamp characters on the fly with little trouble and most of your oft-used actions are mapped in logical places. The only issue I ran across involved the wizard, whose controls seem more tuned for a mouse than controller.

As you travel through the game, you'll uncover experience orbs that allow you to expand on your character's abilities. Not only do these increase their efficiency in combat, but some, like the wizard's ability to summon more boxes, offers even more solutions. Trine 2 also introduces a few new puzzles, such as re-routing water through pipes, portals and steam jets.

Even at 1200 MSP, it's hard to match the amount of fun and content offered by Trine 2. The original was great, but Trine 2 is a more refined, sharply fun game that shouldn't be missed.