14 DAY TRIAL // Atlus is trying an unusual approach at making its way on the Western market by publishing games from some of the best known independent studios in the Americas and Europe. Rock of Ages is one of these two titles and it is developed by Ace Team, the company behind Zeno Clash. Trine 2 is developed by Frozenbyte, a Finnish studio that worked before on Shadowgrounds.
Rock of Ages is an innovative take on the tower-defense strategy genre. Players take turns leading a giant boulder to destroy each other's castles. The castles are separated by a twisted pathway and the boulders can be stopped using various obstacles, from stone towers to huge elephants. Like in Zeno Clash, the visuals are surreal and are derived from four classical art periods: Gothic, Renaissance, Rococo and Romanticism. The title will be launched in the spring of 2011 on the PC, the Xbox Live Arcade and the PlayStation Network.
Trine 2 is the follow-up to the critically acclaimed Trine. The three original characters, the Knight, the Thief and the Wizard return in the new installment, this time with new powers that are meant to help in the puzzle solving. The physics-based challenges will constitute the focus of the game, Frozenbyte having taken into account the critics that said that the first title's puzzles were either too easy or too buggy. The developer is promising to keep an open-end approach, but gamers will not be able to bypass the obstacles set up before them.
Another new addition is an online cooperative multiplayer component where three players can try to finish the campaign together. This is feature that was much requested by fans of the first installment in the series. Trine 2 will be available in the spring of the next year on the PC and the PlayStation Network, but also on the Xbox Live Arcade, for the joy of 360 owners who missed out on the first Trine title due to some disagreements between the developer and Atlus.