Trapt

 PlayStation 2
  • Publisher: Tecmo
  • Release Date: Nov 1, 2005
Metascore
60

Mixed or average reviews - based on 36 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 36
  2. Mixed: 24 out of 36
  3. Negative: 5 out of 36
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  1. NTSC-uk
    80
    By far the most worthy of mention, though, are the Dark Illusions. These are giant setpiece traps which cause horrifying damage in even more horrifying ways, and have secret (and often bloody obscure) conditions for their activation.
  2. PGNx Media
    80
    It would have scored higher if the game didn’t suffer from an inexplicably poor framerate. It almost ruins the entire game.
  3. AceGamez
    80
    There really is nothing else quite like it - which could be a good thing or a bad thing, as no competition for Trapt means that the flaws can stay.
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  5. VGPub
    78
    An incredibly unique game in today’s gaming scene. If you’re in the mood for something new, give it a shot.
  6. Worth Playing
    77
    It offers a nice mix of strategy (almost reminiscent of Dynasty Tactic's "push, attack, push, attack" combo system) and action where timing plays a crucial role.
  7. Game Chronicles
    76
    TRAPT is one of those games that is wickedly fun to play, but it’s not all that deep of an experience or even that challenging until the very end where the enemies have an almost unnatural ability to detect your traps.
  8. IGN
    75
    The traps do begin to get repetitive a bit and the AI could have been a little smarter, but again, death and destruction is always good fun. If that's all your expecting from Trapt, you'll likely have a good time with it.

User Reviews

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User Score
7.9

Generally favorable reviews- based on 20 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 12 out of 20
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 20
  3. Negative: 2 out of 20
  1. frederik1478
    Nov 17, 2021
    6
    a nice experiment but need more traps, I had the feeling while playing this that this was a first draught of a good game it doesn't reallya nice experiment but need more traps, I had the feeling while playing this that this was a first draught of a good game it doesn't really feel like it is entirely done but it is still fun and I would recommend it if you can find it for a good price, what game there is it fun and you will like it if you in Joy weird PS2 games… Full Review »
  2. aspentitan
    Jan 19, 2020
    7
    This is a game that will definitely have polarized reviews. On the negative side the camera is quite bad and the game can be played withoutThis is a game that will definitely have polarized reviews. On the negative side the camera is quite bad and the game can be played without originality, essentially running in circles and using the same few traps over and over, until the game is beat. It can be a short monotonous game if you want. On the other side, the plus side, you can play this game extremely creatively and utilize an impressive playground of traps. How you decide to play the game makes the game if you know what I mean. And so if you see low scores and high scores thats probably why. I'm gonna give his game a 7/10. I rate must play/own games at 8/10. First annoyance you will come across is the camera. It is inverted on the x axis and no options change that. Thankfully your r2 button will reset your view to have enemies put into seeable vision placement. I soon became adapted to using it and the game was decently playable. The story is subtitled in English from Japanese and was passable. Gameplay wise is where the game shines. Not great? Ok use the same three traps over and over, pause, place, unpause and cheese it. There is no penalty for this so you can run in circles and beat the game if it gets way too difficult. Not feeling cheesy or self motivated for something different then sandbox your own trap combos and enjoy your creativity, there are tons of traps to use in this game and also special sequence traps, the creme de la creme. So the game can be played by almost any mentality. Furthermore there were many enemy types allowing for strategy enhancement. Some enemies have tricks up their sleeves too. As for the endings there are multiple but the story really isn't why youde play this game. Once you beat the game you can do repeat play through sand unlock more stuff and see different endings. All said you can beat this game quick or keep playing it and advancing more content. Further you also have a challenge mode which is waves of enemies much like the current popularity of "zombies" modes. So in sum, if you are creative and willing to self utilize sandbox resources you may score this game high. The game fun factor can be sky high. If you are not creative you will probably not see and feel the appeal of this game design and it could be a real let down. Personally I think all the tools are there for nearly anybody to play this but what you get out of the game comes from within, do not expect the game to hand you a great experience. That's where your gamer intuition comes in. As mentioned already camera and production could have been better. Had there been difficulty options ( for example limiting "pause and place" or speed) I would have had a hard time not giving this game at least an 8 rating. Unfortunately the game is only as it is, a very simple design and it requires work on the players part to enjoy but is a very decent game none the less from my perspective. If you like sandbox games this one has a lot of hidden potential.… Full Review »
  3. XV_
    Oct 24, 2021
    7
    The bones of the story might not be as groundbreaking but what makes it unique is the part where she needs to survive its pursuers with theThe bones of the story might not be as groundbreaking but what makes it unique is the part where she needs to survive its pursuers with the help of the traps, there are some developments here and there but for the most part, the plot is pretty bland. Although sometimes the game will make you doubt if the characters are good or bad, so in a sense it also has some mystery element to it, but nothing that will make you burst with anticipation or to be surprised with many of its outcomes as most of the twists can be foreseen from kilometers away, still it is fun to see how the story unfolds and how its players will react with each event.

    The characters aren’t the most unique, they represent some kind of trope but for the most part, they are likable and fun to be around with, although they tend to have two sides to them, they all are one-dimensional but serviceable.

    The game is separated into chapters and from the very first chapter you can choose to do a side story before it, these side stories are linked to the chapter (not necessarily in a narrative way) so if you miss one you’ll have to wait for another playthrough to do it. They add a little more depth to the main narrative but nothing too meaty, you can also read enemies descriptions of the current chapter before you start your mission, they tend to add more insight on how they feel towards Alicia, but most importantly they are like micro-stories on their own, as they told you about the character and how they might be linked to a future or past enemy, these descriptions remind me a lot of FromSoftware’s item descriptions and they also have a Yoko Taro dark twist to them, many times I was most invested in these micro-stories than the main narrative so make sure to give them a read before you start a chapter.

    As much as intriguing the plot can be, the most interesting part by far is the gameplay. Each chapter has the same objective: to kill or scare away your pursuers with your traps, think of Home Alone but with deadly and inventive traps. You can equip three traps into three types: wall traps, floor traps, and ceiling traps, they have different cooldowns and they also tend to have some delay between the moment you hit the button and the time you activate them, so you need to consider timing to activate them. Each room in the mansion has its own traps, some of them have only one use and some others can be reusable, the fun part of it is that you can mix your traps with room traps to make bigger combos and earn more points.

    The way you lure enemies is very simple, you can only run away and activate the traps so basically you locate yourself between your trap and the enemy and wait for them to enter the activation zone, if it sounds simple it’s because it is and the enemy AI isn’t as clever to avoid them, although as you advance through the campaign enemies won’t be susceptible to some traps so you need to get more inventive. The problem with the fixed room traps is that many times it’s hard to understand how to activate them, and even when I finished the game twice I couldn’t activate a couple of them. Maybe some kind of cryptic hint would help to figure out how to use it without losing its mysterious nature.

    As you may expect, the fun aspect of the game depends a lot on how creative can you get with the usage of traps, so if you don’t experiment by yourself it could be easy to get bored, in this regard I recommend you to change your set of traps with each chapter this way you kind of force yourself to be more resourceful with what you got, or if that doesn’t bother you, it is easy to use the same traps and exploit them over and over, I like this free approach, however, it could rob much of its challenge as the game isn’t that difficult and get away from pursuers is certainly an easy task at least for the first two-thirds of it, after that, it has a considerable increase of difficulty but nothing too impossible.

    I don’t think it is a masterpiece by any means but it does what it is supposed to do right and that is to have fun putting traps to kill your enemies and to the hunted become the hunter, or at least it does it right in a more subdued way. Still, it is an interesting premise that I’m very glad that it exists and it is hard to imagine a game like this being made in 2021, at least not by a big studio like Tecmo but with an indie developer, I understand that there is a sequel (as Trapt is the 4th game in the series) that I’m eager to try even when Trapt isn’t that great from a narrative or mechanic perspective, but it’s hard to not feel allured to its unique premise.    … Full Review »
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