Trials Fusion
Motorbikes and frustrating physics, sound interesting?
Trials Fusion is the third installment of Redlynx's Trails games. Games based around accelerating, braking and leaning backwards and forward on your motorbike to complete tracks. No turning, the camera does all the corners for you and you just worry about the next oncoming jump or obstacle. This is probably going to be more about the franchise rather than just one game, as they all employ similar game play, but its still cool to hit a sweet ramp and do five front flips in the air.
So as I said, Trials is a motorbike game. Not your everyday motorbike game though, instead of riding in a circle, Trials takes a sudo side scrolling-third person view, using hybrid-3D graphics running on a 2D axis. Whenever you hit a turn, the camera pans around to reveal more track leaving you to worry about Trials other feature, the physics engine. Not that other motorbike games don't have physics, but Trials uses the rider's as well, meaning you can shift back and forth to generate slight momentum. Mainly being used for bunny hops across various incarnations of platform, but also being employed to keep your bike on two wheels as you ascend a particularly steep hill. Using two analog sticks an two triggers makes Trials simple to learn but hard to master. There is one last button though, a button that will make you curse your twitchy, Call of Duty (COD) style reflexes. While riding through tracks you come across checkpoints that you respawn at when you crash, the B button will also cause you to respawn at your time of choosing. This results in controller destroying game play when you accidentally hit the respawn button just as you finally land a jump after the thirtieth try. Saying that, Trials is very good at being addictive; one moment you're playing through the story and getting the lean before the jump down, then four hours later you find yourself laboriously going back through all previously played tracks to gold medal them all. It hits that completionist part of me I think, mixed with the stubbornness not to try another level until this one is beaten, and then it puts you into a trance. Once you've played a track ten or so times, you start to memorize the jumps and how to land to get maximum speed on the next jump. It all starts to get very methodical, but that's satisfying. Clearly marking out your plan of action and having it executed perfectly, step by step, is a feeling that's hard to beat, and this game offers it in spades. Provided you haven't thrown your controller out the window or through the TV in frustration of previous attempts of course.
Trials Fusion has added a couple of things to the Trials formular, firstly a couple of disembodied voices; SynDi and George, to tag-along on your motoring journey and sometimes teach you some new things. One of those things being tricks. You use the right analog stick while in the air to control your rider, moving it in certain ways to perform different tricks. These aren't just for show either. There are events where you need to rack up a certain amount of points to gain a medal. Most of the time they are being used in normal races if just to liven up the previous games "tricks" consisting of front flips and back flips.
As much replay-ability that Trials has, this game comes into its own when played with friends. Get three mates, some pizza and some beers and let the fun and shouting begin.
Trials Fusion is the third installment of Redlynx's Trails games. Games based around accelerating, braking and leaning backwards and forward on your motorbike to complete tracks. No turning, the camera does all the corners for you and you just worry about the next oncoming jump or obstacle. This is probably going to be more about the franchise rather than just one game, as they all employ similar game play, but its still cool to hit a sweet ramp and do five front flips in the air.
So as I said, Trials is a motorbike game. Not your everyday motorbike game though, instead of riding in a circle, Trials takes a sudo side scrolling-third person view, using hybrid-3D graphics running on a 2D axis. Whenever you hit a turn, the camera pans around to reveal more track leaving you to worry about Trials other feature, the physics engine. Not that other motorbike games don't have physics, but Trials uses the rider's as well, meaning you can shift back and forth to generate slight momentum. Mainly being used for bunny hops across various incarnations of platform, but also being employed to keep your bike on two wheels as you ascend a particularly steep hill. Using two analog sticks an two triggers makes Trials simple to learn but hard to master. There is one last button though, a button that will make you curse your twitchy, Call of Duty (COD) style reflexes. While riding through tracks you come across checkpoints that you respawn at when you crash, the B button will also cause you to respawn at your time of choosing. This results in controller destroying game play when you accidentally hit the respawn button just as you finally land a jump after the thirtieth try. Saying that, Trials is very good at being addictive; one moment you're playing through the story and getting the lean before the jump down, then four hours later you find yourself laboriously going back through all previously played tracks to gold medal them all. It hits that completionist part of me I think, mixed with the stubbornness not to try another level until this one is beaten, and then it puts you into a trance. Once you've played a track ten or so times, you start to memorize the jumps and how to land to get maximum speed on the next jump. It all starts to get very methodical, but that's satisfying. Clearly marking out your plan of action and having it executed perfectly, step by step, is a feeling that's hard to beat, and this game offers it in spades. Provided you haven't thrown your controller out the window or through the TV in frustration of previous attempts of course.
Trials Fusion has added a couple of things to the Trials formular, firstly a couple of disembodied voices; SynDi and George, to tag-along on your motoring journey and sometimes teach you some new things. One of those things being tricks. You use the right analog stick while in the air to control your rider, moving it in certain ways to perform different tricks. These aren't just for show either. There are events where you need to rack up a certain amount of points to gain a medal. Most of the time they are being used in normal races if just to liven up the previous games "tricks" consisting of front flips and back flips.
As much replay-ability that Trials has, this game comes into its own when played with friends. Get three mates, some pizza and some beers and let the fun and shouting begin.
Everybody sees the race from a side-on view but riders change position for each race. So, someone might be right at the from with a clear vision in one race, then shoves to the back of the screen the next. The fun here is trying to remember what colours your rider was as the games gives your three very quick seconds before hedging your bets and just holding accelerate. I have spend the first couple of jumps in a race, every now and again, thinking I'm controlling another rider while mine is flipping and crashing two lanes over. The other good part of multiplayer is turning "No bail" off. Doing this means that you get the effects of another button usually shut off in story mode, the Y button. Pressing Y causes your rider to launch themselves from their bikes in whichever way they may be facing. Usually this would count as a bail and you would respawn. In this case however, it can be abused towards the end of the race by catapulting your rider towards the finish line, the best part being if they cross it, it counts. Many a friend have been rendered furious as they witness my ragdollised pilots flying gaily through the air, sailing past them and taking first with no right at all.
Trials is a lot of fun and very good to play in short bursts, lest the anger get the better of you, or with friends. All three are solid games and can give you hours of fun and a thought out, patient style of play to go with the result. And don't to Bail.
Trials is a lot of fun and very good to play in short bursts, lest the anger get the better of you, or with friends. All three are solid games and can give you hours of fun and a thought out, patient style of play to go with the result. And don't to Bail.
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