Trine+2

__A brief description of the game:__ Wikipedia article on Trine 2. Basically, it's a side-scrolling, puzzle solver, role playing game (RPG). You command three different characters that you can switch between. Each character has unique abilities that you must use to solve puzzles in order to gain experience in order to level up your characters. The ultimate goal of the game seems to be to follow the Trine (some sort of chalice), which calls upon your characters to only in a time a great need. You start the game having no idea why the Trine has called you but your characters trust that it is for a good reason and thus your adventure begins. Here's a video of some game play:

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__The kinds of learning involved in the game:__ There are several skills that need to be learned in order to play this game. First of which is being able to switch between characters. This is important since each character has its own special skills. With that in mind, it is also necessary to learn the skills of each character. The first character is a mage. His skills are to levitate objects and move them around the screen and to create boxes, which can be used as weights or as something to stand on. The second character is a knight. His skills are to use a sword and shield, to cut away at things and to block thing, respectively, and to use a large hammer, which is good for smashing up stone. The final character is a thief. Her skills are to use a grappling hook and a bow & arrows. In order to play through the game and solve the puzzles built therein, I had to learn to use each of the characters' skills. The skills are used to destroy obstacles, move around the screen, manipulate objects in the game, etc.

__The kinds of teaching involved in the game:__ The game teaches the basic skills for each character by flashing up on screen what buttons to push in order to use a specific skill. This happens only the very first time it is necessary for the player to use a given skill. Beyond that, the game's built in leveling up system serves to motivate the player to perfect the skills in the game. That is, in order to gain levels at specific skills, one must acquire experience orbs. In order to get the orbs, the player must use the different characters' skills. Sometimes the experience orbs are placed in locations that require a sequence of skills to be used (e.g. use the mage to move a boulder, then use the thief to grappling hook up to a ledge, then use the knight break open a box in which the experience orb is held). Some of the orbs are located in areas that require the player to be at a certain skill level in order to get the orb, which further motivates to get as many orbs as possible (in order to level-up the characters' skills). Of James Paul Gee's learning principles, I would say at least the following are in play in this game: active, critical learning; semiotic domains; "psychosocial moratorium"; achievement; practice; ongoing learning; "regime of competence"; and intuitive knowledge.

__ A brief description of the kinds (and quantity) of online sites, forums, wikis, etc. devoted to the game: __ There YouTube video walkthroughs, a Wikipedia page, forums on the Steam network (the place one must go to purchase the game), and a sundry of other websites that provide help and assistance for this game. One only needs to do a Google search for "Trine 2 help" to find a plethora of options for game help.

__O__ __verall reflections on playing the game:__ Overall, this game was a good deal of fun to play through. I never felt frustrated by any of the game's mechanics nor did I find the puzzles too impossible to solve, though there are a couple that I still have yet to master. Having to use each character's skills and assess which skill is best suited for the current situation adds a fun dynamic to the game's problem solving nature. There are a few fights built into the game. I haven't spoken about them very much in this review because I didn't find them particularly interesting. By and large, each fight was just a matter of smashing my enemies as quickly as a could with the knight's sword and shield. The only exception to this was a boss fight, which required me to use a specific character's skills to get the boss to alter the environment, which resulted in the boss's death. Otherwise, I think the game would have been better without the fights. I only played through the beginning of the game, though. It's possible that the later fights require more cunning and less key smashing.