Trials HD - XBLA

Trials HD

Recently released on XBLA and developed by RedLynx, Trials HD is a side scrolling physics based Motorcycle trials game. With more than 50 tracks and an additional Skill Games mode. The main aim of the game is to complete each track as quickly as possible and with as few Faults (restarts) as possible.

One of the first things that hits you when you start playing is the controls, as you don’t actually steer the bikes at all, all you have is throttle and brake controls and the ability to lean the rider’s body position back and forth on the bike.
On the easier tracks you can get away with just using the throttle and an occasional touch of break but as the levels get harder you need to use the riders position more and more.

There are 5 different difficulty levels and a tournament mode. The difficulty levels are split into Beginner, Easy, Medium, Hard and Extreme. Each difficulty has a tutorial level at the start to teach you more of the skills that you will need to progress through the game. To start with only the Beginner tracks are available, the others unlock as you complete a set number of tracks in each difficulty.

The Tournament mode uses selections of Tracks in each competition, but the aim is to complete all the tracks in the tournament within a set time and with as few Faults as possible, rather than just 1 track at a time. For example the Ultimate Endurance tournament has 24 tracks.

There is also a medal system. Bronze, Silver, Gold and eventually Platinum medals are awarded, depending on how quickly and with how few faults you finish each track. And though only a 1 player game you can keep a check on friend’s rankings on the Xbox live Leaderboard.

The Skill Games mode consists of 12 different mini games.
Inside The Ball where you have to stay on the bike inside a giant hamster ball as it rolls along a track.
Ski Jump where you have to throw yourself of the bike and try to fly the furthest down the ramp.
Ring Of Fire you have to fly your bike through as many rings of flames as possible.
Delivery you drag a trailer full of bombs behind the bike over various obstacles without them exploding.
Down The Stairs Again throwing yourself off the bike to try and break as many bones as you can.
In Flames your bike is on fire and you have to ride as fast you can to stop it blowing up.
Target Hunt hit as many targets as possible whilst being flipped about by giant pinball flippers
Hill Climb where you have to ride as far up a steep slope as you can.
Outside The Ball you have to balance on top of the giant hamster ball as it makes way along the track.
Infernal Pinball Use the pinball flippers to get as high as you can.
Flip Hunter make as many flips as possible within the time limit.
Loose Screw keep the front wheel in the air as far as possible.

As well as the main game you can customise your rider and bike colours. And there is also a track editor to create and share tracks with your friends. The track editor is quite easy to use and with a bit of imagination you could create some spectacular tracks to challenge your friends with.

The graphics are nice and sharp especially in HD. And the details around the tracks and in the backgrounds really add to the atmosphere of the game.
The in game sounds are ok but the engine noises do start to get annoying after a while.

The overall difficulty of the game starts out quite easy, but gets harder quickly. Some of the Hard and Extreme tracks are infuriatingly difficult.

There are 12 achievements totalling 200gs points, most of them aren’t too difficult but there are a few tricky ones. Most notably the Marathon achievement where you have to complete the Ultimate Endurance tournament (24 tracks) with no faults, my current record is still over 100 faults.

I appreciate that some people won’t like the full price of 1200MS points, but I thought it was quite good value, and look forward to any possible DLC in the future.

I would highly recommend this game (and if they lower the price in any of their offers I’d say it’s a must buy).



Due to the difficulty towards the end of the game and the price I’m giving it 8/10

Good review . I really enjoyed playing the Free Trial of this game, but was a bit dissapointed with the full game once I unlocked it. Didn't really seem worth the 1200 price tag. If it was 800 then I wouldn't have minded as much.

Thanks for the feedback!

i know what ya mean i've been hoping for some cheap DLC to extend the levels etc, but no word yet.

I did enjoy it for a while, but didn't really take long to get through the Easy to Hard Levels, and the Extreme levels seem almost impossible. I got Gold Medals on most tracks during the first playthrough too, so didn't really give it much replayabilty.
But still, I've paid for it now so nothing I can do about it .

Good review mate, I've been loving this game the last few weeks it's one of those games where you can't resist having one more go