Courtesy of RedLynx, the classic Trials game has finally moved to next-gen…and it makes me want to go on a rampage in a certain developer’s office.
This won’t be a regular review as much as it will be venting of the frustration that has built up while playing this game. So with that out of the way, let’s rant!
A game is a game for a reason. It’s supposed to be recreation, fantasy and escape from our miserable daily lives. Video games let us experience something we would never be able to experience in real life. For instance, Unreal Tournament lets us take on the role as an elite competitor in a game of pure death. Trials, on the other hand, lets us experience something we could easily experience in real life: falling of a bike…minus the pain.
I played the demo of Trials 2 SE the moment it came out and was hooked. I could finally return to the classic Trials stages, but with great graphics, improved physics and awesome achievements. Or so I thought until I bought the game the day after.
I got through the easy difficulty stages fast enough and without much trouble and moved on to the medium ones. Here the advanced techniques came into play, which took a little getting used to. After having played the game for a week, I felt I had learned the basic advanced techniques that are described in the tutorials, but I still could not clear the medium stages as fluidly as I could the easy ones.
Sure, medium difficulty is supposed to be harder than easy difficulty, but still, going from 4 faults a stage max to 40 in a single stage is a clear indication that the difficulty progression is way unbalanced. Now, after playing for almost 30 hours I can clear the medium stages almost as easily as the easy ones, but I don’t really feel that the frustration I experienced leading up to this point was worth it. So now that medium is conquered, it’s time to break the hard ones…if it was possible, that is.
After clearing the last medium stage, the first four hard ones are relatively easy. However, at hard-5…well, quoting Yahtzee: “…I came to a screeching halt, because they are fucking impossible!” For some reason, the developers expect you to easily climb a 80º hill, which I suspect to be utterly impossible. So I accepted the dare and started climbing. Before long, my nose was in the air and my skull was implanted in the ground.
Remembering the tutorials, I tried to be careful on the accelerator and keep my weight forward. This made me slide backwards with my rear in the air and my skull implanted in the ground.
After learning to control the loss of traction (if it can even be called “control”) and to keep the back wheel on the ground I found myself sliding backwards, hitting a plank, causing me to spin around to implant yet another skull in the ground.
After a looong time 
I finally started to get the hang of getting the bike more than halfway up the hill. I could finally see the top…before:
With the help of some mysterious force I actually managed to clear this hill and all its charming relatives except the last hard stage; Inferno. I know, I know, it’s the final stage in the game, but it’s still way too hard. When I can clear all the stages up until the last one, you’d expect to have the experience and training necessary to complete it, right? Wrong! I can’t even get to the first checkpoint, because there’s a fucking barrel in the way.
I have tried at least 200 times to get past that first obstacle, but I can’t. The first barrel always sends me flying back down so I can cheerfully give the ground another implant. If I manage to get across it, my front wheel gets stuck before the second standing barrel and when I try to free myself from it, I fall back down again.
In conclusion, I think this game is too fucking hard. There should have been an easier mode for those who just want a quick fix of awesome bike riding. After just playing the demo, I thought I could handle the game, but that was only because I hadn’t played the harder levels…because none of them were in the demo. If I had known how hard and frustrating the game was, I’m not sure I would’ve bought it. Well, not the best $8.99 I’ve spent.
One of the game’s sales points is realism, but I can’t really imagine a bike going up 80º slopes in real life. Neither do I see brakes that don’t work and back wheels that rise uncontrollably all the time as very realistic. Also, the realism is one of the things that makes this game so goddamn hard. As I said, a more casual mode would have been very welcome for those of us who haven’t got alien hands with their own sense coordination or nothing else to do so we can spend all our time awake practicing.
I doubt I’ll ever get the “True Fan” achievement…
10 Comments
June 15, 2008 at 8:49 pm
It’s a game of skill, hard levels are supposed to be excruciating. I can do all without a single fault. Just look at the scoreboards and replays in the records… Funny that you wouldn’t even mention them… Not the best review I’ve seen.
June 15, 2008 at 9:20 pm
Well, it’s not as much a review as it is a rant. I actually wrote this right after miserably failing the last two levels. Frustration got the best of me, which resulted in this rant.
After writing this, I’ve come to love the game, but I still stand by what I wrote. I know that it’s well possible to get great scores, but it takes a lot of practice. When I bought the game, I thought it was a more casual game, since I hadn’t tried the harder levels. I still think that a casual mode would have been nice, but I have gotten used to how the game is. I can do most hard levels, maybe except two or three of them, with less than 10 fails, which I believe is a good start. I don’t play it compulsively, so it takes time to reach pure hardcore levels of skill.
Again, I do like the game now.
June 16, 2008 at 7:59 pm
So we just throw away the hard levels and leave easy and medium ones? ;P
June 16, 2008 at 8:09 pm
Well, as I said in my previous comment, I can handle most hard levels now, but I still think the learning curve is too steep if you try to progress through the game just by starting at the first stage and pressing “play next” after each one. I think the skills necessary to complete the later stages aren’t honed enough if you do that.
Also, I discovered that there’s a time limit of 1 hour per stage, after which the stage is restarted. After more than 600 failures and almost an hour of play on Inferno (which is inhumanly difficult ^^;) I noticed the timer went red…and then I was back at the start. I didn’t play the game anymore that day.
June 19, 2008 at 5:22 am
Glad to see you gave the game another go. I have to agree on the difficulty of the game but to me it’s one of the game’s strong points. I believe what you said after your rant is more constructive and I definitely can respect someone who can accept criticism :)
Peace
QcChopper
June 25, 2008 at 12:45 am
I understand your frustration and that it inspired your rant. However, as a developer and avid gamer I still feel I need to respond.
This game is in my opinion the most frustrating game I have ever played. This hill you pictured above is from ‘King of the Beer’ and I still have imense trouble with it.
But the game was designed to be very technical, that is your wieght and the gyro force of the rear wheel as it hits the ground is all extremely crucial both when landing and climbing, and all the rest.
I spent 40 minutes last night trying to get to the first checkpoint in Inferno, its rediculous, I dont like that level.
Having said that I’m sure I’ll love it when I can finish it and none of my friends can. This game speaks to people of technical ability and a need to perfect themselves and what they do, it also fulfills a person’s need for completeness. My friend wanted the game, and I got it just because he did, yet I have something like 17 achievements and he only has the broken bones one (lets face it, you get that by default because you fall down so much at the start).
I love this game, the mediums are much harder than the easy ones. And the hard are much harder than the medium. But thats fine, because I can now do all mediums without any faults most times, and only fall down on the easy ones because I’m trying to shave milliseconds off my time. The only level I havent finished is inferno, and the ONLY thing that I really dont like about this game is the brake.
Everything else falls into place over time, but the brake is a serious shortfall. There are dozens of times where I would have finished a level without faults if the brake had its own key, but instead of stopping the bike reversed itself off a ledge. Sometimes you just want to stop and take a breath, you shouldnt have to pulse the accelerator to stop from rolling backwards.
I’m sure that with time I’ll get over this just as I’ve accomplished every other obstacle, but I still think this is a design flaw, rather than a gameplay design.
Lets face it, in the real world, the brakes work no matter what direction you’re travelling.
The game isn’t a linear progression of difficulty, its more like steps, easy, medium and hard are all steps, and theres Tutorial levels which i find harder than alot of the easy levels. But for $10, ts the best value i’ve ever had. I’ve bought games for $100 that i had less fun with, and had less longevity. Lets face, Its going to take me at least 100hours to get every achievement, and NOT because one of them is for playing for 100hours. The superhuman and Inferno acheivements should be really hard, not to mention the topdog and hiscore, which i doubt are even possible anymore since the bar is raised every time someone does it, and then people like mrT come along and just keep getting the top score. Leaves most people high and dry.
Anyway. Good game
June 26, 2008 at 1:43 am
LiLbUg, what you said there pretty much sums up my view on the game at the moment. I like the game a lot now and I’m getting used to the challenge the game offers me. It’s just something I had to adjust to, but I still feel like the demo was misrepresenting the game. Including some of the harder levels would at least prepare me for what the game really is about. I really feel like I’m repeating myself on this, but it’s one of my main points.
I also think the brakes aren’t as effective as they should be. They never seem to stop me except on flat ground…where you really shouldn’t push that button if you don’t want to back up a bit.
I also wonder how in the world you’re supposed to get the top score achievements. I think those are quite ridiculous. Achievements should be about achieving something by and for yourself, not beating others that are light years ahead of you. I sincerely hope the weekly charts count for those achievements. That way I can maybe get those achievements in a year or two, when fewer people are playing it…probably.
My best ten bucks were spent on Audiosurf. I don’t think any other game can top that at that price, but Trials 2 wasn’t so bad after all. I just expected a different experience than I got.
November 20, 2008 at 2:44 am
I agree with almost everything that you wrote but the difficulty of the game keeps it’s high degree of replayability. This is what I enjoy most of this game.
Let’s say that at this moment I am unable to complete a hard level. I get pissed and I stop playing or try a lower difficulty level. Two-three days from now, I’m pretty sure I will be able to finish the level.
My best $10 were spent on Trials 2 rather than Audiosurf. I like that one too but Trials is way cooler in my oppinion.
Just keep trying !
Best of luck!
Alex ]:)
May 27, 2009 at 4:27 pm
Ranting about the Very LAST and hardest level in a sportsim/arcade-game.. think about it….
“I doubt I’ll ever get the “True Fan” achievement…”
well dont bother being in doubt. you’ll never get it :D
July 5, 2009 at 3:03 pm
Very true XD
My biggest issue was the big leap in difficulty between the two last levels, but… Well, it still keeps me coming back. Again and again.