Trials Rising Review – Land of the Rising Fun

Trials Rising Review

The beloved Trials franchise is back and bigger than ever with Trials Rising. Trials Rising retains that classic Trials gameplay fans have come to love, but adds a ton of new content to keep even the most diehard Trials gamer excited. This time around, you’ll be racing all over the world, while still hitting the most insane jumps and most absurd obstacles. Strap on that helmet, rev up that engine and hit the track for the craziest physics-based racer in gaming.

In Trials Rising, like previous Trials games, you’ll have to race your bike along a predetermined path in a sort-of side-scroller-like fashion from start to finish. Epic bumps, jumps, and obstacles of all manner will push your skills to the limit along the way in this physics-based racer. Crashing your bike will cause you to fault, transporting you back to the last checkpoint. Each race has set criteria to earn one of five medals, from Bronze to Diamond, and usually some additional objectives, usually in the form of the newly added Contracts, like beating your opponents or completing a specific set of stunts. Still confused? Well, don’t worry, because Trials Rising introduces the University of Trials, lead by Professor Fatshady, that’ll give you plenty of training to boost your skills.

Driving For Greatness

In Trials Rising, you’ll be competing in events all over the world with the ultimate goal of becoming the Trials Champion. The game is divided into four leagues, which are comprised of different geographical locations in the world such as America, Europe, and two additional locations I’ll let you discover for yourself. Within each league, you’ll compete in different Trials races until you earn a level high enough to compete in the league’s Stadium Finals. Completing the Stadium Finals will give you access to the next league. In addition, you’ll come across a series of brand new events, such as the Skill Games Festival. In the Skill Games Festival, racing takes a back seat and instead, you’ll compete in wacky arcade style events, such as seeing how many barrels you can explode with your bikers limp body.

Customization is a massive part of Trials Rising. Completing races and events will earn you experience, and earning experience will increase your in-game level. Levelling up will unlock Gear Crates (read: Loot Crates) that feature all manner of customization options such as character clothing, bike parts (aesthetic changes only), and stickers to further customize clothing and bike parts. For players that love to flaunt their own style, Trials Rising does a great job of providing the tools to really stand out. With that said, during my first few hours, I probably unlocked a dozen Gear Crates – each with three random items – and yet still had a couple duplicate items. Keep that in mind before you spend your real life money on Gear Crates. Another amazing feat is the expansive Track Editor in Trials Rising. Featuring over 8000 objects and effects, including objects from previous games like Trials Fusion, Trials of the Blood Dragon and more, aspiring track builders will have no shortage of tools to create their masterpiece.

Rising To Greatness

Trials Rising is the most impressive looking game in the franchise – and considering some of the absolutely epic visuals we experienced in Trials Fusion, that is definitely saying something. What I loved was the sheer diversity in levels. One of my absolute favourite levels was Lights, Camera, Action, a Hollywood-inspired level where you race your way through various movie sets, such as a wild west adventure, a sci-fi landscape, and much more, all capped off with a hilarious red carpet homage. Other levels include various locales such as the Grand Canyon, medieval castles, sewers, and various cityscapes. If I had to fault anything about the visuals, it would be some of the characters in the backgrounds looked a little – blocky. The games audio is on-point as well, including all manner of painful screams as your biker crashes in all sorts of painful ways. The soundtrack is just brilliant as well, featuring the likes of Billy Talent, Motorhead, and more!

Multiplayer has a huge presence in Trials Rising. A local multiplayer mode allows up to four players to compete in a decent amount of levels. Local multiplayer is a bit limited in scope, as it’s designed to squeeze everything onto one screen – so if you fault, you’ll have to wait for your opponents to hit the next checkpoint or fault as well. Most races in the single-player campaign will have you compete against the ghosts of other Trials Rising players – it’s a fun way to bring the community to your personal experience, however, I already came across one player who emblazoned the word “FUCK” on his outfit using the in-game stickers – a bit annoying considering this is a game I let my children play.

Trials Rising is a brilliant return to the Trials franchise. I honestly can’t find too much to really be critical of here. The load times can be a bit long and the extra customization options can provide idiots with the tools to create inappropriate content. There are some visual issues, like background characters and the occasional issue with the riders ragdoll effects – such as getting stuck in an object or the ground. However, the sheer amount of levels and events will keep even the most hardcore Trials fan occupied – and once they bore of the built-in levels, there will likely be thousands of user made tracks to enjoy. The gameplay hasn’t evolved too much from previous Trials games, but for fans, that’s maybe not such a bad thing. If you’ve enjoyed previous Trials games, then Trials Rising is highly recommended.

***Trials Rising Xbox One key provided by publisher***