Some of you may have played a flash based game involving a man on a motocross bike - Same game, different machine.
Don't be fooled by its predecessor and think that this is a straight port of the flash game, Trials HD has had a total overhaul, the graphics are now, as the title suggests, in High Definition (HD) and has the kind of polish you'd expect from a pricey Live Arcade title & at 1200MP it's at the higher end of the price scale.
The idea of the game is simple; complete a set of obstacle courses in as little time as possible & without falling off your bike – easy enough right? The courses start off extremely simple; accelerate, lean back a little bit, jump and lean forward a small about then land & finish then rinse & repeat but not everything is this easy. The further you get into this game & start progressing through the difficulties things start getting harder with bigger jumps, more complex puzzles and many a frustrating moment yet the sense of achievement you'll get from completing a course first time or even on your fifteenth attempt is just like no other game available on Live Arcade, unless they release Trials HD 2 that is of course. But that's simply a matter of opinion.
As well as the numerous courses available there are also 'skill games' which are simply hilarious and terribly competitive in their own way and could have easily been released as individual Arcade games of DLC. They vary from the hilarious game of throwing your rider down a flight of stairs trying to break as many bones in his body as possible to the frustrating of trying to keep your bike on top of a large metal ball for as long as possible as it's moving.
There is no multi player element to this game which is a shame but is fairly understandable however, there are leader boards showing the fastest times for each course (as always the fastest times seem near impossible to us mere mortals) and the highest scores for each mini game. The thing that makes these leader boards more addictive than most is that it shows your friends times/scores as soon as you highlight a course/game respectively & triggers the competitive nature of us gamers and forces you to keep bettering your own result and your friends result just to gain bragging rights.
As mentioned before, Trials HD is not a cheap Arcade game at 1200MP (10.50GBP) but you'll find it worth the price tag for the numerous course & mini games available and the sheer addictiveness this game has to offer. If you have a few hours spare than this game will eat away at them and you won't even notice & because of that this game comes with a great recommendation from me as the only negatives I have with this game is its soundtrack.
The soundtrack can become grating and quite boring but you'll rarely realize that there is even music on this game (plus you can always mute it and play your own music), secondly the game it's self is repetitive as you're doing the same thing for each course just at different times (accelerate, break, lean forward, lean back) but this still doesn't stop you coming back for more soon after you've stopped playing.
You may find yourself with the intention to play for no more than 10-20mins & then you'll glance at the clock after, what you think is roughly 20mins only to realize it's been over 1hr since you started playing the game, but these hours certainly aren't wasted but you'll find yourself coming back to Trials HD time & time again, even if it is only to beat your friends scores on the mini-games.
Trials HD is a simple, addictive & down-right funny game that stays true to its flash game origins but improves greatly on the origin. Whilst it's not the most graphically or technically advanced Live Arcade game available but it's certainly one of the best.
Graphics – 7/10 (not bad but not amazing)
Sound – 4/10 (bikes & explosions have good sound effects but the music is far too boring)
Playability – 10/10 (one... more... go...)
Online – 4/10 (no multi player but does have addictive leader boards)
Overall – 8/10 (annoying music, repetitive actions & no multiplayer stops this getting full marks)