Trapt PS2 Review

I had no idea what to expect when I started to play Trapt. I had not followed the game at all through its development and knew nothing of how it would play as I waited for the first loading screen to disappear from my TV screen. Little did I know that the game could not have been more aptly named as for once a game does exactly what it says on the tin (or box as the case may be).

It’s A Trap, It’s A Trap, It’s A Trap

And so the puns begin! Trapt tells the story of the teenage Princess Allura who is a shy and awkward girl. As with most teenage girls who grace video game, something terrible happens here at the start of the game. In Allura’s case it is her Father that has just been murdered and she is framed for the murder by both the King and her stepmother. In fear of her life Allura ran away and the only way she can save herself from certain death is to set traps and lure her pursuers into them.

The game is very strategy based, challenging you to plan your moves and know what you are going to do next. When one of your enemies enters the area you are given a quick glimpse of the area from a bird’s eye view. You can then set a selection of traps in the area before getting direct control over Allura again. Once in control you must try to lure the enemies into the traps. It is an interesting premise for a game but sadly it does not work very well for a number of reasons.

First off, the strategy I mentioned in the last paragraph is not really needed at all as the enemy AI is just flat out stupid. They all just seem to chase you no matter what. Even after killing almost 100 people they all still seem to act the same way and just follow you without question to their doom. Sure, some enemies are immune to some traps but there really needed to be more variation to make the game fun to play. The game seriously needed some diversity in this area and if it had it would be without doubt a better game overall. To make matters worse there is a huge selection of traps that are not fun to use at all meaning you will end up using the same type of traps over and over again which could end up boring you to death. Even if (big IF) you do end up enjoying the game upon purchase your enjoyment won’t last very long as the game will be finished in under a few hours.

There are a few points in the game where the storyline branches off and lets you choose what’s next but this is really not enough to add a lot of replay value to the title. There is also a survival mode to pit your skills against, in this you are given a certain amount of time to take out a number of enemies, when they all die more will spawn and you kill them again. Seeing as the main game itself is not that fun to play, survival mode would have been better if it were named “you won personal hell”.

Mousetrap Was More Colourful

It does not take a genius to figure out the game is not going to win any awards in the graphics department as the graphics are just about as run of the mill as they come. None of the environments really stand out as being anything more than above average and everything you see makes you think this was a chore for the developers rather than a labour of love. The characters themselves look ok and seem to animate fairly well but when everything around them has been beaten to death by the ugly stick it does not really matter. Then there is the camera which seems to be ashamed to look at the graphics as well, as it was always pointing in the wrong direction which will make you run into the enemies just as you are positioning to set the trap to get them. The game also feels it needs to load every few seconds and when it is not loading it feels the need to show you a cutscene. I am not usually one to complain on maters such as these but some areas of Trapt really got on my nerves and I just felt like leaving down the trailer and lying down at times as it was taking so long. The waits really did disrupt any sort of flow the game was trying to establish.

Shut Your Trap

Sound (music) is probably the game’s strong point as it does the best it can to set the mood. Each of the compositions in the game have an eerie and foreboding feel to them which will always have you wondering if something is after you (even if the camera does not want to show them to you). The sound effects are ok as well; the traps all have a small “oomph” when set off but there could have been more done to make them feel special. The voice work is entirely Japanese (I found no option to change to English anyway) so if you don’t like reading subtitles you now have another reason to dislike the game.

Overall

Although the game has a generic storyline with generic characters that generically walk amongst generic locations (that can be he hard to see due to a generi…bad camera) the game still somehow manages to be fun due to the innovative way to have to play it. The “trap system” is something new that has never been done before and for that reason deserves a small bit of respect. Sadly the game does far too many things wrong for most gamers to give it a second look. It has to be said that there is a good game buried deep within this title but it is down far too deep for most to bother. The game’s premise is a good idea but right now in its current form, Trapt is just a slightly above average title that only people looking for something truly different from the norm will end up enjoying. Approach with care!

6.2 out of 10