Trials Fusion Review: Dare Devil Evel Knievel Lives On

Review

April 16th, 2014, By Maya Mayfield








I remember the first time I saw the Dare Devil Evel Knievel break the world record for jumping over 13 buses back in London, 1975.  My palms were sweaty and my heart felt like it would drop at any moment leading up to the legendary leap. The atmosphere was buzzing with explosive energy and the man known as the Dare Devil was cool as ice, prepping his bike for the jump. Evel Knievel's incredible bravery or madness, depending on which side of the coin you wish to look at it has been the inspiration for many modern day Dare Devils, pushing the boundaries of their safety as they dance with death while the Grim Reaper watches on.

Ubisoft's Trials Fusion is all about defying death from the comfort and safety of your couch. (Thank God.) It is pulling off incredible jaw dropping stunts 200 feet in the air, knowing one false move could result in a broken rib cage or worse.  Mastering the art of balance in Trials Fusion will be the major difference between being crowned Evel Knievel's courageous successor or a visit to the morgue.

You must have lightning fast reflexes and a cool demeanor  if you are to overcome an array of crazy steep angles jumps over dangerous 100 foot drops. Your mind must be 3-4 moves ahead of your current jump, as your bike leaps into the air. Your instincts tell you to push forward in order to smoothly sail down the ramp in preparation for the next jump, but as you land, you realize you have lost a bit of speed during the decent. As you attempt to increase speed, you know it's too little too late as your bike makes it only half way through the air sending you plummeting to your untimely demise. Ouch!

This is one of many typical scenarios we encountered, while playing Trials Fusion, causing much frustration but determined resolve to correct the mistakes and conquer the jump on our second, third and even fourth attempts. Developer RedLynx has designed a variety of insane courses that will not only test you, but offer a thrill seeking ride along the way. There are a ton of checkpoints along the course, with the ability to instantly start over again with the press of a button. Though Redlynx have relatively kept Trials Fusions core design elements similar to what has made the previous Trials games a huge success. The new futuristic landscape does take the visuals to a whole new level, from the familiar industrial ware-houses, and dusty sand-dunes over looking the bright orange sun. Trials Fusion's silver metallic surfaces, look like scenes from the movie Tron, filled with neon-lit tracks, solar Panels, gigantic blimps and turbine stems.

Along with these new changes comes the TKO-Panda, a heavy four wheeler that is relatively easier to control but very difficult to make quick recovery adjustments, especially during air drops. Trials Fusion now includes a crucial twist in a new mode known as FMX. In FMX mode you must attempt to combine a set of mid-air tricks, before completing the landing. Don't fret however as developer RedLynx does keep things simple.

With the right analog stick you will be able to  pull of one of the many mid-air tricks like the Superman, though if you are still in this position when you land will undoubtedly result in a world of pain for your rider.  FMX mode is a very frustrating new challenge, but the button free process does make it so much easier. FMX mode is also allocated on a different menu, so does not interfere with your main time focus runs.

Don't expect Trials Fusion to be a walk in the park especially at later levels where the courses take an interesting turn for the worse.  Filled with steep inclines and the oddest of spheres and shapes designed to make you pull your hair out. You will wander the logic behind some objects and why it was placed at that location, though challenging we are sure it will not be enough to break your spirit or will to carry on, after all you are the Dare Devil right?  It's these sort of challenges that make Trials Fusion a fun game, as successfully completing a task that seemed impossible before does feel extremely satisfying. This sudden change in difficulty though balanced and fair to the games level of progression, does leave very little reward for sticking it out. For example achieving a silver medal on a tough track, may not be enough to gain access to contents unlock-able by wining gold. Tracks are unlocked as you earn medals on completed stages, but what we really enjoyed was beating other players time records and gaining their position on the leaderboards.

Trials Fusion Out To Buy Today 

As with previous Trials games, users have the ability to create their own tracks for friends and other gamers to play. User made content is simple to download from the main menu and you can also keep an eye out for new tracks by creating feeds based on your particular search requirement and interests. Trials Fusion also features Four-player parallel multiplayer,  but without online play, which in our opinion is a huge missed opportunity for  gamers to get together on a global scale.

Conclusion 

As the famous saying goes, "if it ain't broken, don't fix it," and developer RedLynx's has done just that in its latest Trials Fusion title. Taking the best parts of previous games like Trials Evolution, they have improved on features both in visuals and gameplay mechanics without sacrificing or losing the games easy pick-up and play foundations.

Score

4/5