Reviews// Trials Fusion

Trials is a tricky franchise (yes, it's a franchise now). A smash hit, a critical darling and a concept that is, at its very core, somewhat limited in scope. Trials HD was good (I imagine the PC-based predecessors were too, but HD is really where it took off), Trials Evolution was bigger and better. Trials Fusion is... well, it's like Evolution but it's set in the future.

Gone are the grimy warehouses of old in favour of all sorts of futuristic newfangledness. Retro futuristic newfangledness, at that. You don't need to look any further than the title screen to get the message that Trials Fusion isn't taking itself too seriously. The music playing sounds like it was produced for Transformers: The Animated Movie then run through 2014 production techniques, while the rider you can see has Iron Man pants on his lower half. It's a definite callback to the arcade days of the '80s.

The vision of the future developer RedLynx has gone for is a mix of preposterous gleaming towers, platforms and technology with apparent slapstick carelessness on the part of the people in charge. There's some great level design on show, which city tracks that take you from twilit marinas to rooftop chases across the tops of zeppelins. The wilderness levels are still here, but now they've got retro-futurism mashed in with them as well.

And, hey, there are AI's that chime in your ear passive aggressively, just like GLADOS.

The core game, though, remains basically unchanged. For the most part, you brake, accelerate and lean. As ever, getting your balance right is key to being able to guide your bike across ever-more fiendish platforming levels.

Yes, 'ever-more fiendish'. Trials' evil difficulty curve is back with a vengeance. As per the last two games, I was trundling along, mopping up silvers and golds without really having to think about it when all of a sudden the difficulty level made a beeline towards the atmosphere and I was left in a fetal position on my sofa, trying not to piss myself.

There comes a point when you'll go from maybe having a fault or two per stage to getting well into the double figures. At this point the game becomes less about fast, free-flowing play and more about precision, repetition and split-second timing. All of which makes the game incredibly rewarding and incredibly punishing, all at the same time. This is not a bad thing.

Tricks are included, with players now bringing in the right stick to pull off moves like the Superman in the occasional stage. The game is also peppered with skill games that will set you a challenge such as climbing a near-vertical track as far as you can. This all serves to break things up but, fundamentally, the core game remains the same.

Trials Fusion also brings level creation back to the table. Players can build their own courses and, allegedly, get everything in their toolkit that the developers at RedLynx had when they were designing the game. Since I haven't spent any time working at RedLynx I'm not in much of a position to confirm that, but it is a pretty deep set of tools.

There are all sorts of environment elements there for the design hobbyist to play with. So many, in fact, that this is most definitely for the dedicated enthusiast. A player with a passing interest isn't going to potter round with the content creation tools and produce anything remotely interesting in 20 minutes. This is a feature that will only appeal to a small subset of Trials Fusion's player base.

What it will mean for the rest of us, hopefully, is a steady stream of weird and wonderful new tracks getting piped to our machines on a continuous basis. It's difficult to say what the quality will be like, however, as I've been playing pre-launch and all that's been available to look at is a handful of levels that basically require you to press accelerate and then you're done. But, fingers crossed...

Multiplayer makes a comeback and you can either race in parallel against other players (either locally or online) or race a player's ghost. It's distracting and fun but, again, it's not where the meat is.

I'm a little pained to write this yet again on a review of a sequel but: Trials Frontier is more of the same, but it's more of the same of something good. If you're a staunch PlayStation gamer I can heartily recommend it, as this is the first opportunity you've had to play Trials. If you're not but you like the series, I can still recommend it but would say not to expect much beyond what you've already played. I'd also say be aware that the download version's £15.99, while the retail editions seem to be going for something in the region of £30. That does include the game's season pass (£15.99 on its own) so if you were likely to get that you'll make a saving. Personally, at this exact moment I'm not sure how much additional content I'm going to need beyond the main game.

Pros:
+ More great bike platforming
+ '80s retro-futurism looks swell
+ Still tremendously satisfying

Cons:
- Doesn't do anything new
- Can be punishing, which won't suit everyone

SPOnG Score: 3.5/5