Trials Frontier is the companion app for Trials Fusion. It's a motorcycle racing game with a focus on time trials, where you're able to unlock more bikes, upgrade your bikes, and progress through a number of quests to advance the game. The game does require replaying levels by a fairly hefty margin, but for a free app the game still has a very robust campaign length and I found the levels varied enough that in general it did not feel particularly like grinding.
You unlock more levels through gameplay, which is fairly rewarding but of course it does limit the variety early on. The game uses an energy feature like most freemium games. And true to form, as you level up you can hold more energy, meaning you can essentially play the game for longer periods of time once you get farther along in the story. I will say that I didn't feel particularly constricted by the energy, I felt like usually I had a solid sitting to play and when my energy ran out I was ready to be done for now. So in that regard the energy system was well balanced.
I don't think real cycling involves this many explosions. Maybe I'm doing it wrong...
The storyline involves a rival cyclist who sends his minions to race against you while you try to unlock better motorcycles to defeat him. Pretty goofy, but for a game where I honestly expect no story it's fairly refreshing, albeit very goofy. Ultimately, I don't read through all of the storyline bits and they're easy enough to skip. And as long as it doesn't get in my way, I really can't say I care.
The gameplay is entertaining, and it does a fairly good job of transferring the controls from console to tablet. It's responsive and easy to control, and it was fun trying to pull off wheelies and flips. The actual driving visuals and mechanics are very true to the series, and it feels like a real, full entry. I think that's very rare and refreshing for a companion app.
Owen Wilson wants me to upgrade my bike...
I have not spent money on the premium currency, nor do I plan to. If you're the kind of person who pays money for the farmville style experience, then you have the opportunity to advance the same way here. But without it, the game does not feel particularly constrictive. There have been a few frustrating instances where I finished a difficult race and I had to spin the wheel to get the right item, only to miss it and not have enough premium currency to spin again. But, the core gameplay is still fun, and the only thing the premium currency may do is advance the storyline. Throughout the game, I never felt the need to advance the storyline that fast. I was content trying to beat my best times on old maps if I needed to just blow off steam.
Scorecard:
Category
|
Score
|
Time Value
|
9
|
Money Value
|
6*
|
Originality
|
6
|
Ryplayability
|
10
|
Fulfillment
|
9
|
Final Score
|
8.0
|
*I'm rating the value of the premium pay-to-play portion in this category, so be aware that the function rating of the free portion of the game is roughly 8.5.
Let me know what you think of Trials Frontier!
Until next time,
Ryan
Pictures courtesy of Ubisoft
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