Riding a bike is fun. Riding a bike over obstacles is more fun. Jumping through loops on fire 200 meters in the air is fun. Falling off a bike is not fun. Watching someone else fall off a bike is fun. Trials HD is game about doing just that. You get to be a biker on a stunt bike, and not have to worry about any physical harm.

The concept of Trials HD is very simple. You control a bike and its rider’s balance. The bike moves along a 2D plane in a beautiful 3D world. You accelerate the bike and lean the rider forward and backward. Realistic physics takes over and this allows the bike to jump, wheelie, do backflips and ultimately crash in a thousand different ways.

Pick your poison

The game has two main modes, both on a variety of bikes of varying engine sizes: a racing mode and a stunt mode. The racing mode will take you through over 50 obstacle filled levels, with the aim being to complete the levels in as short a time as possible. Stunt mode presents you with a variety of different stunt objects like skis, and the purpose is to go higher, further and longer than anyone else.

Sadists-R-Us

Most of your time will be spent in the racing mode though. You start off in the beginner levels, slowly giving you the confidence to attempt bigger jumps and quicker times. You get to jump a few barrels, do a loop-de-loop, and climb some hills. You will get cocky at some stage, thinking this game is too easy. You will go back and break your records frequently. Once you reach the harder difficulties you slowly realize that it takes more skill to play this game than you thought. You crash a few times, and soon the aim is not to break any records, it’s simply to reach the end of the course in one piece. They are so hard in fact that I wonder if anybody has ever completed them!

The level design is as sadistic as it is brilliant. You will retry some of the levels ad nauseam, just to be able to make that one jump across a big gap, knock down a bridge, do a backflip to land level on the now flat bridge, and then drive off before the rear of the bridge slides off the edge. The levels vary from long swooping jumps that give you confidence, to slow obstacle climbing that takes hours to perfect. Record times for every track is uploaded to Xbox Live and getting into the top 10 000 is a real achievement!

Stunt mode allows you to do just that: do some stunts ranging from ski jumping to balancing on huge metal balls. It is a nice addition to the game but does not draw attention spans nearly as much the racing mode. Crashes still happen and are often required in stunt mode.

Crash Boom Bang!

Crashing actually deserves its own paragraph. With the realistic physics, every crash is unique. Mistime a jump and your rider will hit his head on a high bar, or face plant after a backflip. Reminding me of the first times I crashed my skateboarder in Tony Hawk, it can be quite cringe-worthy. It can also be very frustrating, retrying a level only to give too much gas on the final straight and your biker flips over backwards and crashes.

The game also includes a really easy level editor to let your own sadistic nature run free. With every obstacle and ramp from the game available, the amount of tracks is virtually limitless. You can then share your vicious creations with the rest of the population, and enjoy their maniacal creations.

Illegal substances

Trials HD should be banned. Any substance that can induce such euphoria, such utter frustration and is this addictive has to be bad for you. And Trials HD has all of the above by the bucket load! It will cause hair loss (you will be pulling them out) and sleepless nights due to a nasty illness named Just-one-more-tryiatus. But like all addictions you have to realize there is a problem before you can do something about. And Trials HD is too bloody brilliant for you to realize you have a problem.

The good: Great physics and hours of play time
The bad: The later levels are crazy hard
The ugly: Falling on the last obstacle of a 20 minute long flawless ride

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