Trials HD review

It’s a game from the eighties powered by technology from the twenty-first century – a 2D, side-scrolling motorbike racing game with ramps, loops, and jumps to tackle, all powered by supermodern physics and running in delicious HD. Yum.

At first it’s a game of sheer high-speed joy where the tracks themselves guide you to victory, where gentle tweaks and weight shifts will guide you cleanly through to the finish line. Later it’s a sadistic festival of torture, filled with hills so steep and elevation changes so cruel you’ll have to master every intricacy of balance and every trick to get an inch or two more out of every jump. It’s a game where you’ll succeed in the tiniest increments and attempt single jumps hundreds of times.

But you’ll never hold it against Trials; there’s too much here and so much of it is good. If the races crush your spirit there’s always the skill games – riding inside giant steel balls, ski-jumps, bone-breaking challenges – to try. If the skill games are too tough you can build your own tracks to ride and download courses from your friends. It’s a game so rammed with things to unlock, customize, and ride it could have been banged on a disc for full-price and it would still get our highest awards.

Aug 12, 2009