In today's age of broad design intended to reach the widest possible audience, games like Trials Fusion
are a precious rarity. Its simple, yet uncompromisingly precise
mechanics cater beautifully to staunch perfectionists. But for as
technically demanding as it is, it still provides enough character,
freedom, and rhythm to entertain on a moment-to-moment basis. Though
some of its course designs err on the side of the sadistic, the pain
melts away every time you nail one of the many colossal jumps.
Trials Fusion borrows elements of platforming and motocross, then
injects a concentrated shot of highly believable physics. Each bike, and
the one ATV, has a distinct weight to it, and you’ll feel the
differences every time you feather the throttle. The lightweight,
powerful Pit Viper will lurch right out from under you if you pin the
accelerator from a stand-still, and the acrobatic Fox Bat tumbles
through the air end over end at your slightest suggestion. Each input
translates smoothly and accurately through your bike and rider, creating
a rare sense of direct connection.
The physics behind the riding implies a simulation, but the
dystopia-tinged tracks look and play like something straight out of an
arcade quarter muncher. You’ll ride over the backs of blimps floating high above skyscrapers,
barrel through overgrown jungle ruins, and skip lithely from one set of
solar panels to the next. Despite the variety of climates and locales,
there’s a real sense of place here, a sense further emphasized by the
quips of the two AI announcers, whose well-delivered voice overs provide
a darkly humorous context for why anyone would ride, repeatedly, into
near-certain doom.
And oh is your doom ever certain. Fusion starts simple enough, with
laid-back jumps comfortably separated by long, mellow ramps. By about
midway through, sticking landings on the downslope of a jump and getting
your rear wheel down first become minimum requirements, and the last
two sets of tracks are on another level entirely. Intricate
understanding of bunny-hopping, momentum, and weight distribution are
needed on nearly every checkpoint. This can lead to either ecstatic
celebration when you reach the next waypoint by the skin of your teeth,
or crushing heartbreak when you wipe out inches shy of the finish
line.It’s rare for any game to reward this level of comprehension and
mastery.
But while that’s commendable, it also makes for some
slavish track designs. The sense of spectacle eventually gives way to an
endless series of small scale, highly technical challenges that break
up the rhythmic sense of joy that defines the experience until then.
It’s oddly anti-climactic for the later levels to feel smaller, and
slower than what precedes them. Fusion’s high difficulty kept me
engaged, but I wish those later levels had retained the big thrills
while ramping up the challenge.
Besides nailing its core mechanic, Trials Fusion
also offers scads of content. In addition to over 40 standard tracks,
and the assortment of enjoyable skill games like Triathalon and Krank,
there’s also a bunch of of tracks specifically designed to use the new
FMX trick system to its fullest. You’d almost never want to pull one of
these slickly animated grabs and holds off in a timed run (unless you
want to show off in local multiplayer), but they’re a fun addition that
calls on the detailed physics just as much as the rest of the riding
does.
Every standard track sports four medals to grab, in addition to three
optional challenges that require you to perform tricks, no-fault runs,
or find paths so well-hidden, I honestly never saw one. All of it gives
you money and XP to unlock cool new looks for your bikes and riders.
Perfecting my runs, and finding ways to shave seconds off my time became
an obsession, especially with leader boards so readily accessible.
Topping it all off is a powerful track creator with an incredible number
of objects and options to tweak. It’s not exactly user-friendly, but it
should ensure a constant stream of new tracks to master for some time
to come.
The Verdict
Trials Fusion
is at once mercilessly exacting, and regularly thrilling. It allows you
to exert an impressive level of control over your rider, and leverages
that control to create nuanced, challenging tracks that beg to be run,
and re-run until perfection is attained. The later levels lose some of
the over-the-top fun of the earlier ones, but overall, Trials Fusion offers a fun, deeply challenging experience with lots to see and do.
Source: ign.com
Rating: 8.2
