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Here’s how to get started with Trials Rising
There’s no shame in being late to the party, and our tips will help you get to grips with Trials Rising, even if it’s your first Trials game.
Nearly 20 years ago, RedLynx started putting out a game called Trials. It was a flash game, but it has evolved into a fully fledged title so large that it demands E3 stage time from publishing giants Ubisoft. They may have started life as a small and scrappy studio from Helsinki, Finland, but make no mistake, after the Ubisoft acquisition, RedLynx and Trials is big business, and people are hyped for Trials Rising, the first fully new game in the series since 2014’s Trials Fusion.
At its core, the Trials series is less a motorbike game, and more a puzzle platformer – and a twitch one at that. There will be moments where you want to launch your controller into the bin, but that’s all part of the learning experience, and with our tips you’ll be mastering the courses and beating your friends’ times with ease.
1. Trials is a game that takes time
Trials is a series that doesn’t so much as demand patience, as it does literally hold you down and force you to take your time and remain calm. Starting out with the easy levels, you’ll wonder what the fuss is all about, but when you are attempting the later levels you will wonder what kind of monster would design something so obscenely hard. You’ll want to mutter obscenities and question life itself, but the reward when you nail a section that was giving you difficulty before is the biggest endorphin rush you’ll get from a game in 2019.
2. Ignore the fail counter, it is not your friend
Everyone has to start somewhere, and part of the learning experience in Trials is to ignore failure. Each mistimed jump and each collision with the environment will be met with the fail counter digits rising, but it just doesn’t matter. Even the pros will take their time with running through a track for the first time, because like a fighting game, the practice is key to becoming a master. When you’ve nailed every jump and understand how to land properly, then you can attempt your “real” run, and since only your best run counts towards the leaderboards, who cares if early on your name is there at the bottom.
3. Big air is the quickest way to kill your run
Get those wheels on the ground, ASAP
© Ubisoft
We get it, you want to jump high in the air and do a 720 spin: who wouldn’t want to do that? But really, if you’re in the air then you aren’t moving forwards and so it’s a case of, sure, you look good, but you’re wasting time. Something people do in Trials often is spin around in the air, looking great, and then either crashing because they’ve over-committed, or get a bad time because of the big air. Feather the accelerator to get over a hump and get back onto the track. Keep moving at all times.
4. Position yourself for victory
Back wheel down, then quickly plant the front
© Ubisoft
Trials is more of a twitch platformer than it is a racing game. You accelerate and decelerate on the triggers, but a vital part of how Trials controls is the biker’s position on the bike. If you pull back too long, you will almost instantly flip backwards and fail out. As you get better you’ll start to unlock bikes, and some of these will be very sensitive which is a good thing for the harder challenges – in fact, some of the easier bikes actually can’t be used to complete the harder tracks. Get a feel for the physics of the rider as well as the bike. If you can’t get over a hump, you can even rock your rider back and forth to gain momentum you wouldn’t otherwise have.
5. A better landing makes for more speed
Make the jump, but nail the landing
© Ubisoft
Speaking of momentum, you don’t want to kill yours by landing flat with the bike. If a ramp has taken you up into the air, you want to land at a fairly specific angle to keep your speed up. At best, a bad landing will slow you down and require you to reposition your rider on the bike, but at worst, you’ll crash and add a fail to an otherwise great run. Again, it’s about physics and ensuring you land properly.
6. The courses are split into sections, so use that
Master each jump one at a time
© Ubisoft
As you’ll learn quite quickly, RedLynx allow you to restart from either a checkpoint, or start the race over again, pretty easily. To begin with you’ll want to learn the courses section by section, mastering them as you go. With that in mind, as you crash, just reload the checkpoint and try again. However, when it comes to nailing a run, you won’t want to ever use a checkpoint. If you’re using a checkpoint it means you’ve failed out, so you may as well restart the race from the beginning. The leaderboards will be topped by those with no-fail runs, and even your friends will be hitting few fails to be the best. Set goals per course: if you fail once, it’s ok, but three or four and you need to start again. It’s not punishment, it’s learning!
7. Use ghosts and watch replays
Watch replays to learn from the masters
© Ubisoft
There’s no shame in learning from the best. You wouldn’t tell young footballers to only watch the bottom leagues, and frankly, you couldn’t stop them watching Messi do tricks if you tried. Trials has built-in functionality to help you learn, and if you’re struggling with a course, watch a few of the top riders on the leaderboards to understand more about how they’re taking the tricky parts. Moreover, ghosts of your friends will show you people more likely closer to your level. That said, if it’s a distraction, turn off your friends and focus on yourself. Tailor your Trials experience so it’s the best for you.
8. Have a break, check out the community creations
When all’s said and done, Trials Rising (and the games prior) is a game and is fun for everyone. Have a crack at the skill games to take a break and enjoy the more madcap side of RedLynx’s wonderful series. You can also take to the community creations where people will almost certainly have come up with weird and wacky ideas. Trials’ creation suite is actually very deep, and the studio use it to create levels themselves, but this is a mode that once had levels designed to unlock achievements and do bizarre things. It’s not quite LittleBigPlanet or Dreams, but it’s not far off. Remember to have fun and take breaks, and before you know it you’ll be smashing the leaderboards with your times.
