Trials Rising
Genre: Racing
Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Ubisoft, Red Lynx
Platforms: XBox One, PS4, Switch, PC
A review by Chris Becker
Red Lynx is at it again. They’ve not only given us more Trials, but quite possibly the best one to date. Those are some big words, but by golly does the game live up to the hype. Trials can be summed up in three words: Physics, Crashing, & Puzzles. The Physics in the series has always been top notch and in Trials Rising they’ve some how made it even better. Crashing is something players will be getting used to doing time and time again. Luckily you aren’t punished too much; with a simple press of the back button …BOOM, you’re right back at the starting line with no time wasted. The game is less about speed and more about solving each level, which is laid out like a perfectly placed puzzle. Solving each one just right will net you a better time and reward you with more points.
At the start of the game, you’ll be able to hold down the gas and tilt forward and back for the levels in the opening area. Later on it will start asking more and more of you as the difficulty spikes and you’ll need to do Bunny hops and black flips to dodge exploding barrels. Luckily, for the first time in the series ,Red Lynx has added a school to show players how to do some of the more advanced moves that they’d otherwise have to figure out on their own after failing a level over and over again. Learning how to do various moves and tricks all while gaining experience is a nice addition and something the series has needed since the first game.
Modes! Modes! Modes! Going through every level is very satisfying and if that was the only thing there it would surely be enough. So on top of the single player levels, there is local and online multiplayer. Online could use some work as it doesn’t seem to care who it matches you up with and what levels are being played online. Each player gets to vote on a level and there is nothing from stopping great players from choosing hard levels you might not have even seen yet. So at the end you’ll stop in a spot trying to beat it until they finish and you don’t even finish the race.
Local multiplayer is a new addition. Using a two-seater bike, you must work together with a friend to complete levels. It can make for good fun and lots of laughs. Are you trying to make some of your own levels instead? Go for it! There is an expansive level editor, so you can make all sorts of different levels and challenges for people to finish. Not only can you adjust the ramps and set them up perfectly, but you can mess with gravity and try to make a level on the moon for example. The tools are easy to figure out and if you’re the creative type you could find yourself sinking even more time into Trials Rising.
Of course the game isn’t without its flaws. It will hitch from time to time as it is loading something that happens in the background as it happens. If you fail that mission and head back it won’t hitch the second time through so it seems to be some sort of loading issue. The only other real issue with the game seems to be how the progression works. There is a huge open world map to pick different levels and as you beat certain ones you’ll unlock new ones. Once you gain some experience you’ll gain levels and at times unlocking new levels is gated behind a certain level. So of course that means grinding the game levels over and over for experience points just to unlock new levels and areas.
Verdict
Buy it! Trials Rising does it again! There is enough content in here to keep you going for 20 hours or more, with additional content coming every day from user created levels and a season pass as well.