Dumb beautiful fun!
Trials is back and it is better than ever. That's it, the whole review, now just download it as you would do yourself a favor. Well, that's the shortest version possible for a review so let's get going with the full think now.
A fantastic song explodes as soon as the game boots up "Welcome to the Future" and what a future it is. The singularity has happened and man is fused with machines hence the name of the game. The whole futuristic vibe is visible throughout the entire game, from the menus, the music, character models to the beautifully designed tracks.
I guess by now everyone is familiar with what a Trials game is, how it feels, how it plays and how it looks. Trials Fusion follows pretty much that same winning formula, but it adds a few new cool elements just to spice up thing and make our lives a tad more difficult. So if you have played any Trials game before, you'll feel right at home with Fusion. The controls are as tight as ever and you'll definitely need them to be in order to complete the myriad of tracks and challenges. To pass the many obstacles the game throws in front of you, you'll need to coordinate between gas, break and lean right or left and the balance between them is fantastic. They are so good that every time you fail and believe me you will, it's not the games fault, it's definitely yours. Sure there are some bullsh*t sequences that require trial after trial after trial, but again, it all comes down to you executing that bunny hop perfectly.
As for the track themselves, first there are a lot and second, they start easy but ramp up in difficulty very quickly. And the later is both good and bad. Good cause, as I said, if you mess up it's totally your fault and bad cause it might alienate some new players. But as I said, with enough practice, mastering the bunny hop and stick the perfect landing you can beat every level even the borderline crazy extreme ones. And what a satisfaction that is...
Trials Fusion also adds a new feature that I really enjoyed and that's the trick system. Although a finicky system, it offered many LOL moments mainly because of the way you execute them. Using the right analog stick you perform tricks, but since you don't really have any control over the matter most of the time you will come down hard on the track and fail, again and again... You don't really have to use the system at all, you have to use it in the tricks challenges where you have to score X number of points to get the gold medal. Sure you'll fail a couple of times, but still as I said, man these moments are super fun.
Another new feature which increases the replay value of the tracks is the addition of 3 challenges per track. So apart from getting the gold medal, there are three more optional challenges that range from perform X number of flips or stomp X number of flowers to finding the secret challenges. And these challenges are strange and exciting. Strange cause many times the game totally changes for example: you can play a game of tennis against a penguin (yep!) or find your way through a maze in first person. And exciting cause first, finding them is quite challenging and second, it breaks the "frustration" of trying a billion time to get over that ramp.
Fusion also has a story running in the background. As I said, the theme is the future and the singularity, so you'll hear a man and a woman speak in the background like in a Jarvis voice, but it's not that interesting. Sure some of the dialogues are funny and you'll crack a smile, but you're better without it.
In terms of multiplayer, there isn't an online mode although RedLynx said they will consider adding it in the future. What is present here is a local multiplayer which can be fun if you get 3 more friends to play with and against you. It works and it might be a fun party game.
Content wise, Trials Fusion is fully packed. Although it might take only 6-7 hours to beat every of the 60 levels earning whatever medal, it will take countless more times to earn gold in each level plus completing all three challenges per each level. Add to that unlocking everything, clothes, bikes, beating every skill game and the massive collection of UGCs, you can basically play Trials Fusion for months to come. Yes the powerful creator or editor returns here and there is already a ton of tracks and weird things on the user generated tab and from the looks of it more will come. So hurry up people, create a Goat Simulator inside it so we can play it on the consoles :D
Presentation is fantastic! I played and reviewed the game on the Xbox One and it looked incredible. Beautifully rendered levels with tons of vibrant colors, Trials Fusion is a feast for the eyes. Sure we can argue that the previous game, Trials Evolution took more liberty with the looks and feels of the level design, remember D-Day or Inception tracks, but still the ones in Fusion are, I am not going to say as varied, but close enough. The frame rate steady as she goes and the music only made things even better.
Bottom Line
Trials Fusion is a fantastic game. A true Trials game with enough new features to spice up things even more for both newcomers and hardcore players. And by the looks of it, it will only get better with time!
Thanks for reading!
