@danielsoerensen
Here is something to confess: I have a love/hate relationship with the long running Trials franchise. It’s an emotional rollercoaster ride, an amazing rush and heart-pounding experience when I finally nail down the perfect run. Best of all– the absolute caveman rage that comes from the virtual kick in the nads when I face-plant only inches away from the finish line.
For me this long lasting relationship started back on Xbox 360 in 2009 with the classic Trials HD. And there’s almost some weird sadomasochistic attraction to it. No matter how many times I fail and rage, I just want to do it again. Just one more time…
Trials Rising is pure arcade perfection at heart. A superb blend between a racer on trials motorcycles and an over the top physics-based puzzler — a thin line between success and failure. And it may all come down to the tiniest flick of the stick at the right or wrong moment. Having full control over your gas throttle, breaks and leaning is key in this game. Easy to learn controls. Hard as F%#! to master. It is one of the most technically challenging games you will ever play.
Trials is played in so-called 2.5D: a side-scrolling racer where you traverse through the most jaw dropping tracks imaginable, spread across the globe. The game is jam-packed with the most outrageous ramps, stomach twisting loops and death defying jumps. Evel Knievel would most definitely approve of this madness. The tracks are extremely artistic and never bore because of the broad selection of exciting locations. Want to do front-flips on top of The Great Wall of China? It’s encouraged! Leave your shiv behind and escape from the famous Alcatraz? That fence is no match for your trusted wall-climbing bike. Hell, take it for a stunt ride inside the romantic Eiffel Tower in Paris or climb the beautiful Norwegian fjords while gazing at the magical Northern Lights. This is just the tip of the iceberg.
Each track got set-pieces in best Hollywood fashion. The environments are highly dynamic and you’ll drive/jump/climb on sliding shipping containers, moving cars/trains/windmills/boulders, inside flying cargo planes… I could go on forever. The tracks will keep you on your toes, shaping as you ride — demanding your full attention. You’ll feel like Nathan Drake on a bike because everything around you could collapse at any given moment, resulting in another press of the «restart» button, something you will do over and over, and over again.
This is the Dark Souls of stunt riding.
In the campaign you’re greeted with a World Map, where you start off with a few tracks in the first league. As you progress, you win medals, unlock new bikes and «fame» (XP) is gained and new tougher tracks in other leagues gets unlocked. This is an unnecessary change from previous Trials titles, since it adds more grinding to unlock the more difficult tracks. At some point I had gold medals on all the unlocked tracks but had no new tracks available. While initially confusing, I realized that I had to ride the tracks again, this time with different objectives and challenges otherwise known as «contracts». This could be anything from getting 30 seconds of airtime to pulling off 15 back-flips and 10 front-flips before the finish line. Contracts also opens up for new sponsors like Red Bull etc.
It’s good practice and I didn’t mind playing the same tracks again in a different way, but I still prefer the old way of unlocking new tracks — by winning medals.
Trials got nine main leagues and two secret leagues for the 1% of the players who got unearthly godlike skills. The base game contains over 100+ tracks! Not enough? Browse Track Central and download countless of user created tracks made with the excellent Trials Track Editor. The easy-to-use Track Editor contains over 8000 (!) assets from all the previous Trials games, so the options are endless. Wait, there’s more. Not only can you download new tracks, but it’s shared across all platforms. Same goes for the leader-board records, you can challenge any «ghost» record on the Ubisoft network. Which is my main pleasure in this game, riding against my friends ghosts, chasing their high-scores by shaving of a millisecond here and there until we’ve more or less perfected the run.
Also new to Trials Rising is the «University of Trials» where Professor FatShady teaches you how to properly learn the advanced techniques in the game. Gone are the days where you have to rely on YouTube videos to learn. But beware, the «bunny jump» lessons will test your patience and make you question how you spend your spare with your limited time on earth. You have been warned. There’s also multiplayer modes, both local and online modes. Unfortunately I couldn’t find any online sessions while reviewing this before release date, nor did I have the opportunity to test out local multiplayer. But based on previous entries in the series I’m confident it will work as intended.
Yeah, Trials Rising got loot boxes. Lots of them. No, it doesn’t affect gameplay in any way and it’s only for cosmetics like stickers, clothing, different bike designs etc. You unlock one loot box for every «fame» level without having to spend a dime, so you’ll open many. The game got lots of customization, so you can pimp up your character and ride as you see fit. I’ll also give a nod to the soundtrack. There’s a fair share of rock/metal, something I approve of as a metalhead. Listening to Trivium and I Prevail without having to run Spotify in the background suits this game. Keeps the adrenaline running.
I’ve had a lot of fun with this Rising. Controls are spot on, and the game also runs smoothly in 60fps — looking better than ever. Hell, if this existed on arcade machines back in the days I’d still be in debt. In the end, Trials doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s easy to see that Finnish developers RedLynx just want players to go full on Jackass/Dudesons with it, with realism getting ditched for fun factor and creative ragdoll deaths. 4.5/5 Bibles.
-Daniel Sorensen