Trials Fusion Review

I have a love hate relationship with the Trials franchise.  I absolutely love finally nailing a run I've been attempting over and over again.  I love the feel of smoothly landing on a steep downhill and carrying the momentum into a massive jump.

But there is no game that I have sworn at or been more angered by.  Trials can be a truly frustrating experience.  From missing a gold medal run due to being off by a fraction of a millimeter when approaching a specific ramp to attempting a hard transition over one hundred times in a single run, Trials can bring out the worst in me.

For the most part Trials Fusion is more of the same.  This is a good thing.  Fans of the series will feel right at home.  The new futuristic environments are a welcome change.  It seems like there's always something interesting in the background and the Tron-like tracks and buildings make for a welcome break from the dirt trails and pavement of usual Trials fare.

Here, a biker explores various Instagram filters.

Some of the tracks in Trials Fusion are brilliantly laid out.  The early tracks flow with a satisfying smoothness and later tracks seem to have a good pace of difficult sections and easier obstacles that give the player a chance to catch their breath.

The difficulty ramps up in a similar manner to other games in the series.  I always get to a point, playing through Trials courses where finishing the course means a bronze medal and nearly (or over) a hundred restarts along the way.  Though frustrating and the source of all my seething hate when being attempted, this is one of the reasons I play Trials and getting better at these insane courses is extremely satisfying.

What doesn't work for me are the added features.  The quad bike is a nearly meaningless addition.  It does feel weighty and therefore different than the normal motorbikes but the difference is slim and the few times it is used amount to little more than an extended skill mini-game.

I love the mini-games in Trials but the few available in the base game leave a lot to be desired.  Most are neither inspired nor fun.

The least successful addition is the new trick system.  This seems like the exact method of how not to create a trick system.  I understand what they were going for with a physics based system and I like the idea but it fails in execution.

The system does not work.  Some of the time the game does not recognize my input and the trick never starts.  If the trick does start, sometimes the game doesn't recognize the trick took place.  This was especially frustrating on one skill game level that has you perform tricks before you hit the ground.  It seems like half the time I performed a flip version of a trick, the game wouldn't see it and the trick would fail.

The good news is, there are only one or two trick tracks per section so like the quad bike, they amount to little more than an extended skill game.  I would have loved for the trick system to be button based.

The other mark against Trials Fusion is that it still feels like its in a beta state.  Some of the "Garage" screens will fail to load such as changing your rider's gear.  These screens will sometimes load without issue and sometimes just result in a wait cursor.  Similarly, when playing various tracks, the screen where you can choose what bike to use will be black.  You can still choose the bike but you do not see anything other than the bike's name.

The Factors

I only have an hour factor:

Great.  An hour may even be a little too long to play Trials Fusion.  It can take a while to get through a few of the hard tracks and an hour does give you plenty of time to trudge through a lot of resets when needed as well as download and try out a number of user made tracks.

I only have ten minutes factor:

Perfect.  Trials Fusion is well suited for a quick jump in and play.  A few easier tracks can be knocked out in ten minutes or a few skill games can be attempted. 

Kid walking in factor:

Great.  Very tame music and dialog paired with colorful visuals make this a great game for kids to watch or try themselves.  Trials Fusion is a great builder of hand-eye coordination for young and old alike.

Significant other factor:

Great.  Competing for a highscore on any given run or racing head to head on a multi-player track, Trials Fusion offers plenty to satisfy multiple users.

Final Verdict:

6/10 - The graphic and scenery changes are nice and this is still a Trials game but the bugs and the terrible trick system keep this game from being great. 

Developer link

After Dark Screen Saver: Fractal Forest

Fractal Forest draws random trees on your desktop. In a time when most trees in video games were hand drawn sprites, see a tree procedurally drawn was a unique and interesting experience. Well, at least as interesting as screen savers get.

FRACTAL FOREST (tm)

Use Fractal Forest to grow your own desktop forest.
Try Fractal Forest and Meadow together in Multimodule for a very calming effect!

Concept and original Mac version by Scott Armitage.
Windows version by:
Leif Wennerstrom
SAPIEN Technologies, Inc.
Richmond, CA

Fractal Forest by L. Wennerstrom, S. Armitage
©1992-93 Berkeley Systems Inc.

Tomb Raider Gameplay Part 2

After Dark Screen Saver: Daredevil Dan

A fan favorite, Daredevil Dan attempts ever increasing stunts.  The insurance risk option allows you to determine how often he will fail.  As with a lot of the best After Dark Screen Saver modules, there are plenty of random moments to keep it entertaining such as a monster truck passing through or Daredevil Dan taking off for the skies.

 Watch Daredevil Dan perform death-defying acts of incredible bravery (or stupidity) as he jumps school buses, rings of fire and even a tank of hungry piranhas. This module was originally inspired by an After Dark Module Contest winner.

 "Insurance Risk" determines the skill of Daredevil Dan.

Programming by Andrew Armstrong.
Art by Dana Muise.
©1994, Berkeley Systems, Inc.

Eric Hutchinson: Pure Fiction

Here is a quick music review for a change.  Something I've been listening to and loving lately.

Every song on this album is a catchy hit-worthy tune with heartfelt lyrics and melodies that seem specifically designed to put a big smile on your face.  I honestly love every minute of this album.  These are optimistic songs that sound oddly familiar the first time you hear them and sound like sweet home cooking the hundredth time.

Pure Fiction

And there's not just radio friendly toe tappers.  Though songs like "Tell The World" and "Forever" could chart in any top 40 list from the last fifty years, Eric returns to his RnB sound (and lyrics) for "Love Like You" and his singer-song writer sound for the two acoustic jams that end the record.  There's not a dull moment among them.

If there's one criticism, it's that the songs are too short and there's not enough of them.

Riffing as I play: Freelancer

My name is Jun'ko Zane and yes, you pronounce the apostrophe.

Godus 2.0 Preview

Godus is still in beta and according to the splash screen, only about half way complete.  So the game is far from a review stage.

 

I had every intention of writing an article on Godus previously, a negative article about how the development team failed to deliver on it's promise.

 

However, a new version was released a few weeks ago.  I recently played the update for a few hours and, in my mind, 22can has redeemed itself with the release of 2.0.  Godus, feels like a game now.  I don't mean that lightly.  Before, Godus felt like mindless clicking with a kind of nebulous goal somewhere in the future.

 

But now, the direction you are leading your people is obvious.  What you want and how you can accomplish it is clearly seen and the game rewards you for moving in the proper direction.

 

 

 Essentially, the game revolves around a few systems that feed each other.  Flatten the land to get more followers and free chests with stickers.  More followers get you more belief (so you can flatten more land) and more stickers improves the world through the card/time line system.

 

I've only encounter the beginning parts of this game on this latest play-through so these relationships may be early game only but the rewards for your work are obvious and the goals the game sets how for you are no longer nebulous.

 

I can say with confidence that Godus is now a village builder, not in the same sense as the Anno or Settlers series but with elements of those titles that feed the addictive quality of increasing your village's size, technology, and the ability of your people.

 

One of the more frustrating aspects of the earlier beta was sculpting the land.  An activity that takes up about 90% of the game was previously an experience that required several precise clicks to get right.  The land would routinely bounce back at you requiring some Sisyphus like task to flatten the world for your people.  No longer.  The sculpting does now feel natural and behaves in an expected manner.

 

So I do recommend Godus even at this early stage.  It is still in beta and I ran into more than one technical issue each time I played but these were easy to fight through given this young form of the game's development.

 

I should mention, this is a recommendation based solely on a few hours of gameplay.  It appears, based on the tech tree, that the game will hold up over time but it will take a few more hours of actually playing to determine if this is the case or not.  

Diablo III: Reaper of Souls, First Impressions

I'm currently about four or five hours into Reaper of Souls content.  To give some background, I love playing Diablo III but I"m nowhere close to a hardcore player.  I finished through the game once with a Barbarian previously.  Before that, I had played through Diablo and Diablo II perhaps three or four times each.

 

So I'm not going to be able to tell you how the changes in Reaper of Souls will modify the way a level 70 character farms but I can tell you how it effects someone who has a few hours after work to play an action RPG.  It is awesome.

 

The changes to the loot system are welcome and can be taken advantage of even without the Reaper of Souls expansion.  Basically, you get less loot but the items that do drop are more pertinent to your character.  While playing through the first act, my Crusader was able to use all of the yellows that dropped and almost all of the blues as well.  You still get lots of extra items to sell or salvage of course.

Loot.  A play about finding footwear that gives a +3 to strength.

 

The second biggest change I've had some stick time with is the new class.  The Crusader is a blast to play.  I like my Diablo characters simple and almost always play a tank of some sort.  The first act skills I've unlocked for the Crusader seem to allow for killing groups of mobs easily as well as targeting specific larger monsters when needed.

 

One of the more frustrating types of mob is the one that runs away.  Little creatures that skirt the edge of your range but can be killed with a single blow can feel like chasing mercury.  The Crusader has a number of skills that extend your character's range.  So wiping up the skirters becomes much easier.

 

I of course recommend the expansion for any Diablo III players but if you're new to Diablo III or if you've been sitting on the fence, now is the time to get into the game.

 

Blizzard's Reaper of Souls Site