The Trials series has been around for a while now starting its life as a simple web game before hitting the big time on the Xbox Live Arcade. The series has already made an appearance this console generation, but it is back once again. Trials Rising is looking to challenge even the most hardcore of players.
How to Download Trials Rising
To download the game, click on the button located below the review. You might be also interested in the previous games of the series available on PC and consoles: Trials HD (2009), Trials Evolution (2012), and Trials Fusion (2014).
The Game Review
Trials Rising is not reinventing the bike wheel with the controls. You have a throttle, a brake, and left and right to worry about and that is it. To someone new to this series this sounds super easy, but Trials Rising and the series, in general, is anything but easy! This is not a standard racing game, it is all about finesse and is as much about working the physics of the tracks you are on and your bike as it is completing the track quickly.
The presentation is actually a step up from what Trials Fusion offered. Not so much in the models themselves, but in the design. The levels in this game are really cool, especially the more out-there ones. There is a movie set track that is like you are riding through Starship Troopers. Then there is one that takes place inside a plane as it is flying! It is very cool and well-done stuff.
There are a ton of tracks for you to do and the way that you unlock the new tracks is very different from the earlier games. Instead of needing to earn more medals. This game requires you to be at a certain level. This results in you doing a lot of grinding to get XP and it can sometimes feel like a little much.
Instead of going back and trying to beat your time on a level like you would in the past games. You are better off just doing the Sponsor Contracts over and over again as these can give out a ton more XP than trying to beat your own time. Some of these are simple and require you to do something like a specific amount of flips before you get to the end.
Others though can be much more complex and ask you to do multiple things in order to meet the requirements and get that sweet XP you need. This is not horrible or game-breaking at all, but a huge part of the fun of the past games was learning a level so you could go back and smash it so that you could get the max amount of medals from it.
One thing that has been added to Trials Rising and it is actually a first for the series is a brand new tutorial mode. This is very well done and it teaches you all you need to know in order to get the best out of your bike. Even veterans of the series will have some fun here and find it useful. On the other hand, new players should certainly check this tutorial mode out.
You can once again build your own tracks and this is one very in-depth track editor. It is almost too much, but for those who are into this kind of thing, the world is your oyster. I would say that you are only really limited by your imagination. One other thing that has been added to Trials Rising is this strange PvP aspect to it which is not bad or that intrusive, but it is certainly not something that I was into.
I think that Trials Rising is a fantastic addition to the series. While the way you unlock new levels is tied to XP and leveling up, it is not a horrible change. The imagination in the level designs is amazing and for me, that is what makes this stand above Trials Fusion. This is well worth checking out, especially if you are up for a serious challenge.
