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Pardon the dust! This page includes some jargon that hasn't been added to the site's glossary yet. I'll be around to fix this later, but sorry for the inconvenience in the meantime. |
Review: Trijinx
At a Glance
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How to Save and Pause:Your progress is saved after each level, but if you need to pause the game for a moment, you can do this by pressing ESC. Time needed per session:Since you can clear most levels in under three minutes, this game can fit into anyones schedule without much effort.
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Does this game pose issues for Christian players?
 | Some players may have concerns Since this game is about exploring a pyramid, its filled with references to Egyptian mythology. |
Screenshots
![[view screenshot]](../images/screenshots/trijinx_0.jpg)
![[view screenshot]](../images/screenshots/trijinx_1.jpg)
![[view screenshot]](../images/screenshots/trijinx_2.jpg)
Game Overview
TriJinx is one of those games that clearly tried to be something interesting, but still came up short. The heart of the game is a Tetris-like well where the player works to clear groups of triangles before they fill up and block new tiles from dropping into the game area. Instead of switching neighboring tiles or controlling where they fall, you rotate the entire board and gravity moves the pieces into their new positions. Once youre arranged them in groups of three or more, you can clear them just by clicking on the group. The tiles you clear are gathered into urns resting above the play area, provided the pieces were the same color as the urn youre trying to fill. Filling up all of the urns ends the level, and our heroine moves on to the next new with its new batch of urns. Later on, the rules are tweaked to make the game increasingly difficult. New piece types are introduced, and pieces might even vary in size.
Overall, its a decent idea and could make a great game, but there are a few catches. The first and perhaps most glaring issue is that you can only add tiles to the leftmost urn. This means youll be wasting time trying to clear tiles while youre waiting for more of that color to appear. There is also a time limit in each level, and often it seems like its just a few second short of the amount of time you need.
The biggest weakness is that there was an attempt to give the game a story. Pure puzzle games are a dime a dozen, and most of the best ones are either very cheap or completely free, so mixing an enticing narrative into the games structure is a good way to keep the player interested and make a puzzle game stand out. Unfortunately, the story here appears to have been an afterthought at best. Aside from feeling extremely generic, the lines that are present come across as flat and uninspired. All of the dialogue is fully voiced, and while thats often a good thing, the voice actors clearly didnt care about the story either.
In the end this isnt a bad game, but there isnt much to keep someones interest once they start hitting the harder levels.
Overall, its a decent idea and could make a great game, but there are a few catches. The first and perhaps most glaring issue is that you can only add tiles to the leftmost urn. This means youll be wasting time trying to clear tiles while youre waiting for more of that color to appear. There is also a time limit in each level, and often it seems like its just a few second short of the amount of time you need.
The biggest weakness is that there was an attempt to give the game a story. Pure puzzle games are a dime a dozen, and most of the best ones are either very cheap or completely free, so mixing an enticing narrative into the games structure is a good way to keep the player interested and make a puzzle game stand out. Unfortunately, the story here appears to have been an afterthought at best. Aside from feeling extremely generic, the lines that are present come across as flat and uninspired. All of the dialogue is fully voiced, and while thats often a good thing, the voice actors clearly didnt care about the story either.
In the end this isnt a bad game, but there isnt much to keep someones interest once they start hitting the harder levels.
Points of Interest
Unique mix of game mechanics
Since the gameplay involves clearing groups of tiles that match, TriJinx is sometimes classified as a Match 3 game. However, it certainly doesnt follow the typical Match 3 formula, so the best you can do would be to call it a Puzzle game and refrain from breaking it down further.
Alternate game modes
In addition to the adventure, theres also an endless game that focuses on getting a high score and a somewhat challenging puzzle variation. During the adventure, youll encounter both styles of gameplay, so these alternate modes allow you to play the game on your own terms.
Somewhat random difficulty curve
For the most part, the farther you are along your adventure, the more difficult things get. This is the concept anyway; many of the levels are exceptions to this rule, being much harder or easier than they shouldve been. This creates more of a series of hills and valleys than a proper upwards curve, and the sudden spikes in difficulty may well discourage people from continuing.
Lackluster story
Puzzle games these days need to either have excellent gameplay or a story that keeps the player wanting more. Otherwise, theres just not enough to keep the player interested, and theyll move on to other games. If it wasnt for the more annoying mechanics (like the timer) then the gameplay might have been enough to keep things fun, but the poor execution of the story portions just drags everything down with it.
Concerns and Issues
Egyptian gods
Its not real surprising to see the members of the Egyptian pantheon depicted in a game about exploring an ancient Egyptian pyramid. Each chamber features a pair of statutes depicting one of their gods standing by the sides of the playing area. As you clear levels, their stone figures slowly come to life. Once the statues are fully animated, they serve only to open the path forward, which makes one wonder why you needed to bring them to life in the first place.
Triclops Curse
It wouldnt be a proper Egyptian tomb without a curse. The Tomb of Triclops turns any would-be explorers to stone -- unless they are the protagonist or her cat. While everyone else slowly turned to stone, these two characters remained unaffected. There isnt any explanation as to why they are unaffected either, which just creates a plot hole.
Deformity as grounds for disowning family
As it turns out, Triclops gained their name because of a birth defect that resulted in them having an unusual number of eyes. Originally, they would have been next in line to be Pharaoh instead of King Tut, but they were rejected because of this deformity.