Urban Trial Playground Reviews
Urban trial Playground is a nice casual game on the Switch and one I very much enjoyed. The core mechanics and physics all work very well and it's just pure fun either racing to get the best time against the level or pulling off as many tricks as possible. There is fun to be had against friends either in local multiplayer or posting your high scores on the leaderboards but I can't help feeling there is a game here that with a little more thought put into it or more time spent in development the game could have offered a lot more in terms of modes and structure. As it is this is a game that I am sure many of you will enjoy if anything just to have something different, after all this is the very first stunt bike game on the Switch and exclusive at that.
In all honesty, I couldn’t help but feel that Urban Trial Playground is a blatant quick cash grab to release on Nintendo Switch when there isn’t any competition in the genre. Without the Ubisoft-published Trials series or even OlliOlli to compete against, it does seem like a half-baked attempt to sail a blue ocean. Sure, there’s fun to be had here, after all, these stunt bike racing games usually are. It’s just unfortunate that this latest effort is very bog standard and comes at an absurdly high price point for its content. If you want my advice, dust of that old Xbox 360 and bang on Trials Evolution. It’s a much better game by a country mile, and at least provides a level editor to mess around with.
Urban Trial Playground does a few interesting things, but they're overshadowed and ultimately held back by a number of factors. While I found the scored-based levels that relied on tricks to be more fun than the racing sections, gameplay is just not deep enough to be engaging for more than a short period of time. Couple that with the somewhat frequent software crashes and it's easy to see how this ends up becoming a forgettable experience.
Urban Trial Playground is a fun overall experience but missing some crucial features
Urban Trial Playground may not reinvent the stunt bike wheel, but it does provide an extremely fluid and inviting arcade experience for Switch owners. Tactile controls and pacy, highly replayable levels make this an accomplished cut-price racer package.
It is light fun at its best, and a neutered knock-off of [Trials] at its worst. More than anything, it’ll likely leave you craving an actual Trials game on the Switch as soon as humanly possible.
_______________________ “…you'll encounter some neat landmarks to ride along, such as a massive hot dog and a steep water slide.
Urban Trial Playground is a simple, yet enjoyable stunt show through various parts of California. The levels are well made and the scenery looks amazing. There's a good variety of levels, but they don't take that long to complete.
In the end, Urban Trial Playground is an impressively enjoyable take on the Trials formula that'll appeal to those who find Trials too frustrating.
For fans of the Trials series looking for a similar experience on Nintendo Switch, Urban Trial Playground comes highly recommended. It may not feel like quite as skillful a game to play, but it's still challenging and entertaining nonetheless.
Overall, though the lack of competition in this specific space give Urban Trial Playground some appeal be warned that its a relatively lackluster affair. With courses that never really get very technical it lacks a satisfying challenge on that level and the general lack of variety in stunts fails to scratch that itch as well. What remains is a collection of courses for you to clear with gameplay that quickly becomes repetitive and a bit dull. It can make you work hard to be successful, and force you to repeat the same course multiple times to work out the kinks, but without room for much variety its sadly lacking in fun.
I want to rate Urban Trial Playground a little higher, because I found it to be an addictive little distraction, but there just isn't a whole lot of content. And what is there is very poorly optimized, which can't be excused when they expect you to pay $20 for it. If the devs patch the game to fix the crashing and tighten up the physics, I'd be willing to give the game another look. But as it is now, I'm going to have to give it a just-below average score. If this game goes on sale for around $5, then I'd say to give it a try if physics-based biking games are your thing. Otherwise, stick to one of the many other more polished and full-featured bike stunt games out there.
Overall Urban Trials: Playground is an excellent addition to the Switch’s library, providing a different style of gameplay. It functionally emulates the feeling of it’s forbearers, and whilst there are many areas for improvement I can’t deny I had a blast taking this on the move.
Urban Trial Playground, despite its technical shortcomings, offers a pretty fun experience – especially when it comes to competing for highscores. Much lower general difficulty level and local multiplayer make it a great party game for casual players.
Review in Polish | Read full review
If you're after a 2.5D side-scrolling stunt game, the Urban Trial Playground is going to scratch that itch for you on Switch. Sure, it's riffing off the Trials series, but it's a fun and lengthy alternative that's a good fit for Nintendo's platform.
The Trials name used to stand for something...
Urban Trial Playground is enjoyable arcade eyperience for everyone, but it lacks content and level editor.
Review in Slovak | Read full review