Trials Frontier Is Our iOS Game of the Week [Editor’s Pick]

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Trials Frontier

I’m not usually a big fan of the whole “do it over and over until you get it right” genre of games typified by the Trials series of games, but this one has me hooked. Developed by RedLynx and now published by Ubisoft, the latest version of the game is also the first on mobile: Trials Frontier. You can grab it for free now for your iPad or iPhone.

Like all of the other installments in the series, Frontier is all about piloting a motorcycle with a rag-doll rider through increasingly intense tracks with jumps, loops and environmental hazards.

Here’s a quick gameplay video to show you how it works.

This game brings the motorcycle rider to a western-themed near-future dystopia, tasking you with adding thrust, braking and leaning forward and back to control your rider’s balance. And to make him to wicked tricks mid-air. You’ll have to get the hang of rotating your bike rider right and left in order to stay on the tracks, and you’ll get a score based on your time and the number of sick tricks you can pull off.

This free-to-play game offers a forgiving energy mechanic in the form of fuel for your bike. You’ll upgrade your cycle using in-app earned coins. Each upgrade takes time, so you can speed things up with gems, the harder-to-earn currency of the game. It’s a familiar overlay if you’re played free-to-play titles in the past, but it doesn’t feel too egregious.

There are missions and quests that, frankly, kept me interested in this kind of game longer than I have before. Figuring out when to lean forward, when to lean back, and when to just crank up the throttle is pretty fun when kept to short play sessions, and the missions and bits of story break up the trials just enough to make that happen.

The visuals are gorgeous, and the bike physics feel spot-on. Every time I crash, it feels like my own stupid fault, and not an artifact of poor design or unpredictable physics models.

Ultimately, it’s a game I can play for a few minutes of a time, feel like I’ve accomplished something and had fun, and move on.

All of this? Is why it’s our iOS Game of the Week.

Source: Trials Frontier

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