Despite my absolute love for story and narrative-based games, I still enjoy titles that focus exclusively on gameplay. Titles like Minecraft and most recently Fortnite have no story but I still enjoy them for their refined gameplay, but one of my favorites has to be Trials Fusion. While, of course, it's not the first entry in the series, I bought it around its original release date and I immediately fell in love with it. Even my dad, someone who loves dirt bikes and racing but never plays video games, loved Trials Fusion when he tried it a few years back.

Because of this, when Trials Rising was announced a few weeks ago at E3 2018, I was giddy with excitement, but I kept my expectations in check. Expectations are essential when it comes to games like this. I didn't expect this entry to redefine the whole series or to introduce some kind of massive gimmick. Instead, I told myself that it looks like a great time, and after playing it for around 30 minutes or so, I can say that the game met my expectations, and that's not a bad thing by any stretch of the imagination.

[pullquote]"...failing is also a part of the experience, as faceplanting or sending your character soaring off into the distance is sometimes just as much fun as beating the level."[/pullquote]

The Trials series has been around for almost nine years, so by now, most people know how the gameplay works. Players take control of a motorcycle racer on a 2.5D level and attempt to navigate it by managing your speed, balance, and jumps. That being said, just as much as you want to beat each level, failing is also a part of the experience, as faceplanting or sending your character soaring off into the distance is sometimes just as much fun as beating the level. As I said before, this is all about expectations, so if that is what you want from a Trials game like me, then I'm happy to say that all of that is here to sink your teeth into and you'll have a blast like I did.

That being said, you'll also have a couple of new features in Rising as well. One of the absolute highlights of my time with the game was being able to use the new tandem bikes with the developers. My instructor made it clear that it's not going to be available in every track in the game, but it makes for an exciting experience. It primarily runs the way you think it would in your head: each player controls both the balance and the speed, so you have to work together and communicate to beat each track. Of course, I didn't get a chance to see any community created tracks since we are a long way from release, but I can't wait to see how people will utilize this feature down the road.

[pullquote]One of the major complaints from the previous entry was the lack of options for your riders and bike so now, players can customize each to their heart's content.[/pullquote]

Another thing about Rising that the developers highlighted to me during my time was the customization options in the game. One of the major complaints from the previous entry was the lack of options for your riders and bike so now, players can customize each to their heart's content. I spent around 5 minutes of my time looking at all the different ways I could change up the experience. The best part about it, of course, is that in the full version you'll be able to share your creations with the world, but I wasn't able to try this out. All in all, if that's your thing, it's there for you to enjoy.

The phrase "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" comes to mind while thinking about my time with Trials Rising It is more of the same, but that's a good thing. The tight controls, hard levels, and fun ragdoll physics are all there for you to enjoy to your heart's content. On top of that, customization is back, and while it's not exactly my thing, it seems like players will have a ton of fun with it.

One thing I do wish I was able to try was the Switch version. Like all the other Ubisoft games, we were playing on a PC, and while it looked great, I'm interested to see how the title looks and runs on Nintendo's latest platform since this will be the first entry on it. Still, I can't wait for the beta later this year and the full release next year. If you want to be sure you get your hands on a copy, you can pre-order it now from Amazon by clicking here.