Trials Fusion Reviews
For the first time in series history, Trials Fusion leaves racing fans feeling unfulfilled and shortchanged.
Trials Fusion is basically what we've come to expect from the series, just with a shinier new coat of paint. It's still the incredibly addictive racer that we've come to love, but unfortunately it has a few screws loose.
Ultimately what RedLynx has done here is create Trials for the current generation, and brought it to more folks than ever before given the cross-platform availability. They've managed to retain the brilliant physics-based gaming we've seen before and ensure it's possible for newcomers and old pros alike to succeed - to some extent, at least. Where they've brought new elements into play the results are mixed. Quad bikes are great fun but stunt-based tracks are less exciting than they should be. Regardless there's a lot to do, a lot of ways to do it and it can all be done in a pretty and entertaining ecosystem. Whilst it's not going to wow anyone familiar or otherwise with the series, it's going to keep most happy for a pretty long time.
Bells and whistles now as standard!
Trials Fusion doesn't change up the formula drastically from its predecessors, but adds some nuances that helps it distinguish itself. It might come with a few graphical hiccups that detract from its beauty, but the fun factor eclipses any of these issues.
The mega popular racer is back and it's just as tricky, frustrating and fun as ever.
Familiarity breeds contempt, or so they say. But I don't think this well-worn phrase applies in all circumstances. In the case of Trials Fusion, it would seem that familiarity has bred, well, simply, familiarity. Yes, it feels like we've been here before, partly because we have. But when it's executed with such finesse, is that such a bad thing?
It's easy to play, but demands real skill at higher levels.
The whole game just feels like it's incomplete. The sci-fi setting is not fully fleshed out. The story is a nice touch by falls flat. The tracks can be innovative but become generic. The mini-games are interesting but shallow. Everything in Trials Fusion is just an inch away from being awesome but, much like a botched motorcycle jump, ends up falling into a pit instead… a pit called mediocrity. Trials Fusion is fun enough, if only because it gives you a chance to return to the Trials gameplay you know and love, but it's easily the weakest of all three Trials titles. Maybe this will change when Ubisoft updates the game for team and tournament modes, which were not working at time of writing, but for now, the game falls just short of greatness.
If you want to focus just on the racing itself, there is always the challenge of chasing your online friends' times, but with such uninspired tracks I doubt we'll see quite the same buzz around Fusion as there was for Evolution. What we're left with is a product that relies more on promises and potential than what is actually playable. The tracks are boring, the tricks not worth bothering with, the attempt at storytelling laughable and far too much expectation rests in the audience to shape Fusion's potential.
Crucially, with this wealth of content and a more robust online system, it doesn't just herald this as the ultimate Trials game, but also one that'll have fans hooked for a long time to come.
The Trials series keeps expanding, making you wonder where it will go next. As for the present, this is still a wonderfully fun and engaging game that will delight and frustrate you in equal measures.
This engine may not roar as loudly as it did in Trials Evolution, but it's a solid entry in the series, nonetheless.
Trials Fusion can be addictive and wonderfully intoxicating at times. At other times, it will make you burn with a frustrated rage others might find frightening. The good news is that you spend a lot more time smiling than frowning, as you'll love the zany courses and enticing backdrops, as well as the various challenges available for each track.
All in all, I find myself very happy with what Trials Fusion has to offer, and I think this is a fantastic first entry for the new generation of console hardware. It's a great-looking game with active background and foreground elements, fantastic track designs, an interesting future aesthetic, and some strangely appealing narrative pieces provided by the quirky AI announcer. While the general Trials mechanics are largely unchanged, outside of the misstep represented by the tricks system, I've never seen much need for improvement in the series' basic controls and physics. RedLynx certainly hasn't lost any of the ideas that make the Trials series so much fun to play and has escalated the track design in a way that makes this game feel fresh and new, despite being the 13th entry in a decade-old series.
Trials Fusion brings the series' addictive and challenging physics-based gameplay to new platforms and the next console generation, and does so with style. Though the loose FMX tricks system underwhelms and a few features are MIA at launch, it's still a huge serving of tightly-honed thrills, humiliating spills, compelling competition and user generated content that deserves your attention.
Trials Fusion is a great new entry into the franchise and marks a proper arrival of the series onto the new consoles. Its visuals are sharp, its gameplay is better than ever, and its few downsides don't prevent it from once again getting players addicted to its physics-based racing. The loading times are a bit long and navigating the interface isn't that great, but it's still worth it.
Still, it's not hard to recommend Trials Fusion, especially to longtime fans of the series. I can't say it comes as much of a shock that RedLynx was not able to match the refinements from the previous outing, but even with its flaws and shortcomings, you shouldn't be worry about giving this one a go. Trials Fusion is a worthy addition to the series, even if it isn't the complete package we were hoping for.
In my days of dying in Track Central, I gave thumbs up to tracks with robot wars and neon overlays, later finding tracks with alien invasions and drops from million-story high skyscrapers. Just last night, in another track, one of my riders smacked his face on the concrete, only to bounce back into the clouds. Track Central gives into core of the Trials experience and allows us to relish in the waste of biomass. Sorry, riders: this is what you're made for.
'Trials Fusion' falls into that game category of not needing to fix that which is not broken. RedLynx has taken an already solid concept from years of development efforts and refined and polished it to a high gloss. While I was not able to experiment with any of the online multiplayer, past and present 'Trials' experiences make me fairly confident that when the mode is released and goes live, it's certain to run in a respectably smooth manner. In the meantime, I look forward to furthering my career in preparation for the online chaos that is sure to occur. With 'Trials Fusion,' PlayStation only gamers have reason to celebrate, and a reason to get to know and love the latest 'Trials.'