Trials. What started as browser based Java game in 2000, has evolved into something much greater than it originally set out to be and with this newest edition to the series now available, just how far has this series come? Here’s my review of Trials Fusion available now for Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS4, and PC.
For those unfamiliar Trials has always been a game of trial and error. Clear a course, earn medals, race on the next one. That’s the Trials way. Eventually you’ll be gated with a message saying you need X amount of medals to continue on and this is the game’s greatest strength and also its greatest weakness. See, to get enough medals to progress you need to replay stages you have already played over and over and over again until you finish a run in under a certain amount of time, sometimes not allowing any messups either.
The stages themselves for the most part are incredible short, but you will still find yourself replaying the same stage dozens of times to get that perfect score. It’s easy to get the thought in your head, “I already got the gold medal, but I still think I could do this run quicker.” The gated levels seem to act as a catalyst for this kind of mentality, which is great, but unfortunately it also means you’ll be gated from later levels for a while while you work on your previous runs. To remedy this a bit, there is track central. Track central is a huge collection of thousands of user-made tracks that you can download and take for a spin at any time, which definitely helps extend the game’s longevity, past the few hours worth of pre-installed tracks.
The game is just very addictive by its nature. For those unfamiliar, ultimately, Trials is a game about balance. Think Excitebike. It’s a game that’s very easy, play for just a few minutes and still feel like you got something done. This of course, makes it a perfect candidate for mobile devices, though sadly the only way to experience this iteration of Trials on mobile is through PS4 Remote Play. The game handles very well on Vita with one exception. The game maps the retry button to the left side of the touch pad, which is mapped to the left side of the Vita touch screen, which is very close to the left analog stick, causing a LOT of accidental retries. And sadly there is no option to remap these controls as of yet.
One of the biggest new additions to Trials Fusion is the inclusion of the FMX system. So, now during your rides you can pull off a number of tricks while doing jumps in mid-air. However these aren’t really implemented all that much past a few stages where a score is calculated based on the tricks you perform. Everywhere else, it’s purely aesthetic, but a nice touch all the same.
The game’s multiplayer mode allows you to face off with your friends on a point based system. Points are calculated by who finishes in which place, with the number of crashes you have taking deductions from your acquired points. It’s a fun and competitive mode, though strangely only supports local multiplayer at the moment, with online multiplayer is seemingly going to be patched in later.
The game also features a season pass for the same cost as the game itself. It is comprised of 6 DLCs, which is said to feature new tracks, new bike parts, rider gear, and new items for the track editor, and each DLC will have a new Career Mode Event. Though I’d hold off from buying the season pass at the moment until more info about the DLCs is revealed.
All and all, if you’ve played past iterations of Trials, you know what you’re getting yourself into here. The game is just as fun as ever, with absolutely stunning settings and locales to ride on. The game runs smoothly at 60 fps and never ceases to look great. The level designs themselves are incredibly unique and innovative for the most part, though tend to get a bit more bland in the later levels. The only bits I found annoying are the rider’s yelling and the constantly replaying announcer tracks when doing repeated runs on tracks, though fortunately both of these two things can be disabled, so it’s a non-issue. And aside from the odd mapping of the Vita controls mentioned earlier, the game is an incredibly fun experience. The game seems to take the safe track though, not branching out too much from previous iterations, but that doesn’t stop the experience from being any less fun. If you’ve enjoyed what Trials has offered you so far, then Trials Fusion is a definite recommendation.