In spite of its ridiculous difficulty, Trials HD is an exciting game
Taking place on a 2D plane, you control a dirt bike as you drive your way through several obstacles courses. The level design in each course is unique, each offering a new challenge almost every time through its design. What's even more impressive are the physics. The bike actually feels like a real bike and you have to account for that as you play through the game. You can move the rider forward and back, which you'll have to work with in order to balance your bike which also compliments the physics. Flipping in the air is fun too, though a little risky and knowing when to use it takes a little practice. These physics work extremely well with the responsive controls too, and using the sticks to balance your bike is essential to beating the courses. Even if you do crash, some of these crashes are just so much fun to watch. Just the many brutal ways your rider can crash and flop around the stage like a crash dummy will put a smile on your face....if you're not raging.
Now this all sounds simple at first, right? Well, you start off on Beginner which is about as simple as it gets; accelerate, lean back and forth, cross the finish line. Then you get to Easy, a little more skill is required but not too bad. Suddenly, upon unlocking normal mode, the game immediately turns the difficulty up a notch or two. The courses start becoming ridiculous and require much patience and precision to complete them. You can no longer play it safe if you want the gold, you're going to have to pull off every trick you know if you want to progress. Normal is hard enough but Hard and Extreme will leave you in tears. It's almost TOO hard at times, and can be very frustrating. However, it's still a fun game and the moment when you FINALLY cross that finish line is so satisfying. Not to mention there are over 50 courses in the game, and all just for $10.
Playing through these stages will also unlock Skill Games which also include some surprisingly fun mini games. There are more intense games like Giant Ball (race through the course in a giant ball) or Hill Climb (see how far you can make it up the steep slope). The more fun games are those that are a little less serious like Down the Stairs (launch your rider off his bike and you are actually judged on how many bones you can brake...my personal favorite) or Delivery (deliver the explosives to the end without letting them explode). There is plenty of variety in skill games, some are even just as if not more fun than the main game.
Trials HD's impressive physics and level design are more than enough to be considered one of the most fun games on the XBLA. However, I certainly wouldn't recommend it to those with little patience as this game will chew you up and spit you out. If you can look past the outrageous difficulty, or even like the brutal challenge, then Trials HD is a lot of fun and worthy of your $10.