Trials HD

Title: Trials HD
Platform Played On: Xbox 360
Release Date: August 12, 2009
Date Played: February 13, 2012
Time Played: 2 hours
Completed (Y/N): No
Score: 3/5




Opinion:
Trials HD is a side scrolling puzzle/platforming/racing hybrid. The main objective is to get from the start of the track to the finish (a few hundred yards) in the fastest time possible. The track is not a straight line however, it is a jumbled mess of planks, re-bars, boxes, tires, steel beams etc... thats where the puzzle and platforming elements come into play. You need to navigate these increasingly hard levels to progress through the game.

I am going to start off by saying that Trials is not my type of game. I did like Excite Bike from the NES days, but that was more because of my childhood fascination with motocross. While I do enjoy spending a few minutes with Trials, ultimately the drive long, fly high, wheelies and flips end and you find yourself spending hours doing hundreds of attempts to make it a few feet on the track. This type of gameplay is simply too frustrating for me, and feels like a huge waste of time.

What makes Trials HD popular is its graphical presentation and near perfect controls. The game's presentation is excellent, it is very detailed and the physics model is fun to watch. A lot of it is also wanting to beat the level to see how ridiculous the next one is.

While Trials HD is a good game, and I personally know a bunch of people that enjoy the tedium of it. I will be the first one to admit that it is not the game for me. The frustration induced by my compulsiveness to get perfect scores on every level will simply drive me insane.