Ubisofthas plenty of great games on PlayStation Plus. Fromstellar action RPGs likeAssassin’s Creed Originsto incredible open-world games likeWatch Dogs 2, there’s a lot to offer, including less popular titles. One of those lesser-known series isTrials.
Starting 25 years ago on Java, because Flash games weren’t even a thing yet,Trialsis one of the few rags-to-riches stories in gaming, turning a Java/Flash title into a series published by a major company. I love the latest entry,Trials Rising, whichI’ve spent over 750 hours in, butTrials Fusionis also great and remainsmany people’s favorite in the series. Since it’s FREE on PlayStation Plus, there’s no excuse not to check out this platforming classic.
Trials Fusion Brings The Series Into The Future
Man, Machine, The Future
For those unfamiliar withTrials, the games are 2D racing platformers, where you must lean back and forth, and accelerate and brake to finish the track in the fastest time and with the least number of faults. It’s incredibly easy to pick up and play, butthe skill ceiling is one of the highestin gaming history. Like actual BMX or skateboarding, there’s always room to improve.
WhileTrials Evolutionfinally brought the series outside of a warehouse,Trials Fusionturned things up even higher with the futuristic setting.The levels play and look better than everwith bright, vibrant colors, especially in the DLC tracks. It’s still a good-looking 2D platformer today, but the levels aren’t the only thing enhanced.
The physics that were already stellar inEvolutionwere perfected inTrials Fusion. They’re so tight, instead of the loose feel of its sequel,Rising, and there’s a reason whyhigh-level competitive players stick toFusioninstead of the newest game. The ninja tracks in Track Central play the absolute best with these physics. However,Fusionalso brought plenty of innovations to the table.
Fusion Introduced Tons Of Innovations
FMX, Challenges, And More
The most obvious innovationTrials Fusionbrought to the series was FMX. you may do them in any track, but exclusive FMX levels focus onracking up as many points as possible. Using the right analog stick, the rider can do several poses, and holding on for longer and doing flips increases the point total. It’s a cool system, although it could have been better. The rider often gets tangled up on the bike when you release the right analog stick, which can be frustrating.
Thankfully, RedLynx knocked the other innovation out of the park with challenges. While challenges can force you to do something basic like do five flips in a zero-fault run, most are incredibly creative, pushing you to do odd minigames or unusual challenges,like racing the track against a penguin.
The minigames in particular are a lot of fun, such as playing tennis, navigating a maze, or guiding a marble through an obstacle course. There are also a ton of dastardly challenges that can really test your skills, likezero-faulting an extreme track with a sub-par bike. Compared to the challenges in the sequel,Trials Rising, there’s no contest as to which did the feature better.
The customization was another innovation. WhileEvolutionfeatured customization, it belonged in the little league compared to the big league approach thatTrials Fusiontook. For the first time, you could play as a female character, and the unlockable skins for both the riders and bikes were truly awesome.
Trials Risingjust didn’t have the same quality of bike customization seen here. While most skins inFusionwere acquired through acorn microtransactions, they were also easily earned in-game through tournaments. Instead of being a single-player element like games prior, tournaments are now part of the online component, which I think fits much better. It’s great thatTrials Fusionstill works online today, but that also lends a certain urgency to playing it now.
Play Trials Fusion While It’s Still Available
Ubisoft Cannot Be Trusted
It’s critical to experienceTrials Fusionas soon as possible, and it’s not just because the game may be removed from PlayStation Plus. Over the past five years,Ubisoft has shut down numerous servers and even entire games, putting the future ofTrials Fusioninto question. As a user on TrueAchievements, I was shocked by the number of Ubisoft games that had their servers shut down over the past few years.
Driver: San Francisco,Splinter Cell: Conviction,XDefiant, and worst of all,The Crewall had their servers shut down. The entire Stop Killing Games movement, which has amassedwell over a million signatures, started over Ubisoft’s shutdown ofThe Crew. Keep in mind that the game was released in 2014, the same year asTrials Fusion.
With somany financial disappointments for Ubisoftas of late, and with these dozens of server closures, I fear time may be up forTrials Fusion. It’s such a shame, too, because while you can play the Trials games just through the single-player,the heart has always been the communityand its created tracks through Track Central.
There are so many incredible community-created tracks that are must-plays inTrials Fusion, and those levels, along with leaderboards and other functions, would be devastating to be removed. Thankfully, theTrialscommunity has the custom-created tracks backed up, but removing the online component would still take much of the soul out ofTrials Fusion. The potential shutdown, combined with the game being anUbisoftclassic, makes it essential to play on PlayStation Plus.
