Trials Rising (Multi)
By: Ubisoft
BIKING round these parts generally involves ogling a leather-clad mid-Antrim organ donor polishing the North West coastline with their knee at breakneck speed. But Trials take it about 200mph slower on bikes that don't even have seats as riders engage in all manner of acrobatic flummery that'll be familiar to kids of the 80s raised on Kick Start, where Peter Purves narrated mucky scrambler time trials as oiks bunny-hopped logs and St John’s Ambulancemen looked on disapprovingly.
A spiritual successor to Nintendo's 30-year-old dirtbike sim Excitebike, Trials took the world by storm as a free browser diversion that's since spawned numerous full-fat console efforts. The latest once again tasks budding Evel Knievels with getting from A to B across 2.5D tracks littered with all manner of obstacles.
Stripping the series back to its oily bones, there are no futuristic shenanigans or guns here – just you and some vulcanised rubber against Sweet Lady Physics as you attempt to shift your steed quick-smart to the finish line of over 100 motocross tracks.
Its arcade presentation and trademark sense of humour is deceptively deep, with success coming more from mastering Newton's laws than all-out speed. The controls are wickedly simple as you juggle acceleration and braking while attempting to stick the landing in a game that plays more like a nuanced platformer than racer.
For the first time, Rising offers a proper world tour – a travelogue jaunt from American dirt roads to the foothills of Mount Fuji and from filthy sewers to Hollywood sets as players negotiate a series of Rube Goldberg-esque levels.
The best addition is The University of Trials, a questionable seat of learning where alumni can bone up on the most advanced techniques.
Sadly, though, Trials Rising is the latest casualty of gaming’s monetisation monster, and while the core game is a hoot, it's been crippled by lootboxes earned by levelling up and pregnant with oft-repeated goodies.
While ignorable, levelling up is also the only way to unlock all of the game’s tracks, meaning a chunk of Trials' content is gated behind its own currency. Of course, you can splash some real-world cash to hasten the process, and the constant feeling of being nudged towards your plastic friend is depressing.
Ever since Sega’s crotch-rocket simulator, Hang On, gave gamers four-stroke thrills in smelly arcades, the thrill of wrapping your thighs around two wheels has titillated joystick junkies.
And while besmirched by the dread hand of microtransactions, Trials Rising is easily the series’ best, offering short bursts of rock-solid, slapstick gameplay that's well worth a gander – so long as you can keep that credit card firmly ensconced in your wallet.
