Game Reviews

Trial Xtreme 3

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| Trial Xtreme 3
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Trial Xtreme 3
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| Trial Xtreme 3

It might seem unfair to contrast a mobile motocross series with a full-on console title like the masterful Trials Evolution, but the developers behind Trial Xtreme 3 have really brought it on themselves.

While it can never hope to match the polish, ambition, and spectacle of its Xbox Live Arcade-inspiration, Deemedya's third stab at flattering imitation does pull off a few impressive stunts of its own.

This time you have ghost riders to race against, including friends if you sign in via Facebook, and 76 increasingly brutal tracks to bounce, roll, and tumble across. So, is it enough to make you forget you're not playing the real console deal?

Pipe dreams

With 40 million downloads for the series under its belt, including more than five million for the latest instalment on Android alone, it's fair to say the developer is getting something right.

Played on a Nexus 7, the bike models and the many, many obstacles you'll be riding over all look HD sharpened, with lighting effects like powerful god rays adding a smart sheen that's only marred by the regular jarring pop-in at the edge of the screen.

The goal remains the same as always: reach the end of the course without stacking it on the plethora of hazards piled neatly in your way (water pipes, rickety scaffolding, burning tires - the odd deadly minefield).

The default tilt controls do a passable job in early levels, but serious players will quickly switch to the over-sized directional arrows for more precise tilting.

For the most part, manoeuvring your rider feels pretty tight, and the 12 free courses included in the download give a solid showcase of the challenges presented by the four distinct environments (Sport, Beach, Port, and the vertigo-inducing Ravine).

The limit

Like the series that inspired it, Trial Extreme 3 has a canny knack of making you feel a genuine sense of achievement for rattling through levels - especially if you zip past a skilled ghost at the same time.

Where it falters most is in the freemium pricing. With no option to unlock all the stages, you have to individually pay to unlock all additional levels in each course separately.

Furthermore, the default bike simply doesn't have the power to make it through the tough later stages, forcing you to grind over old ground countless times to earn an upgrade or just fork out a sizeable chunk of real-world cash for a better set of wheels.

Being able to customise your bike and rider's appearance - yay, silly hats - with cash earned in-game means casual players will be satisfied, but serious bikers will need to keep their wallets to hand to really master this otherwise impressive threequel.

Trial Xtreme 3

Easily the closest you'll get to playing Trials HD on mobile, this third installment is a belter for virtual bikers that only wobbles over the steep in-game costs
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Paul Devlin
Paul Devlin
A newspaper reporter turned games journo, Paul's first ever console was an original white Game Boy (still in working order, albeit with a yellowing tinge and 30 second battery life). Now he writes about Android with a style positively dripping in Honeycomb, stuffed with Gingerbread and coated with Froyo