Ubisoft’s Trials franchise has built a legion of dedicated fans who come for the best physics-based motorcycling in the business and stay for the grueling challenge of inching past pals on the game’s online leaderboards. All of that excruciating goodness is intact in Rising, but developer RedLynx has gone the extra mile by enhancing their latest bike with several new upgrades. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and check out what the next entry in the world’s most explosive racing series has in store.
Unreal Tracks, Real Locations
While the core game mechanics are largely unchanged – you still gas, brake, and lean back and forth to fling your bike over gaps and nudge it up steep inclines – the tracks in Trials Rising are somehow bigger and badder than ever. Rising’s single-player campaign takes players to a slew of insane, over-the-top-tracks based on famous real-world locations like Mount Everest, Yellowstone National Park, and the Pyramids of Giza. Bunny hop up an in-construction Eiffel Tower, if you dare, though our current fave is the “Mile High” track. Featuring ridiculously slick sequences yanked straight out of a “Mission: Impossible” film, this one sees you escaping from a cargo plane while it plummets to the ground. Yeah.
A Word from Your Sponsors
To be sure, simply reaching the end of each devious track is its own victory. But to add incentive and increase the challenge, various sponsors will offer optional contracts. These may include simple requests, like getting a Bronze medal, to more hardcore challenges, like passing a particularly rough level without restarting at a checkpoint. If reaching the top of an Egyptian pyramid isn’t daunting enough, try doing it while landing six front flips.
Gear Up, Gear Out
Cash isn’t just a point total. Rising goes much bigger with its customization suite, letting players earn and equip a wealth of cosmetic items, including helmets, shirts, pants, boots, and jackets. Players can also choose a gender, tinker with bike skins, and tweak various animations, though for serious design types, the real treat is sharing creations with other players via a new “Gear Central” online hub. Dig a design? Download it and make it your own. That goes for tracks, too, as the franchise’s potent track editor will make a return.
Challenge the World
In addition to local and online multiplayer races, Rising ups the ante with a new Challenger Mode that expands the game’s famed asynchronous multiplayer. Instead of just taking down your leaderboard buddies, you’ll now get automatically matched up against random, similarly-skilled players from around the world and nab cool rewards for beating a few in a row. Likewise, other random players may wind up racing against your own ghost data. Set sweet times to haunt the world.
Tandem Tomfoolery
Are two heads really better than one? You can test this theory on Trial Rising’s diabolically fun tandem bike. Two local players can hop on this motorcycle monstrosity and attempt to co-operatively steer it through any track. Communication is key, as the players share control over the bike. Gassing, braking, and leaning must be done in tandem or the bike may not respond. Sounds extra tough for newbies, but it’s rip-roaringly fun for vets.
Trials Rising crashes into the Xbox One in February 2019, but those itching for an early whiff of its gasoline-fueled insanity can sign up for the free beta, which kicks off September 13.
