Urban Trial Freestyle

Urban Trial Freestyle 2 not only has the graphic fidelity of a game from 20 years ago, but it feels like one from back then as well, like a lost artifact from the era that brought us Tony Hawk’s.

Urban Trial Freestyle
Developer(s)Tate Interactive
Strangelands
Publisher(s)Tate Interactive
Platform(s)Nintendo 3DS
iOS
PC
PlayStation 3
PlayStation Vita
Release
  • PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita
    • WW: February 19, 2013
    Nintendo 3DS
    PC
    • WW: September 18, 2013
    iOS
Genre(s)Racing
Mode(s)Single-player

Urban Trial Freestyle is a racing video game developed and published by Tate Interactive. The game was released for the PlayStation Vita, Nintendo 3DS, iOS, PC, and PlayStation 3.

Gameplay[edit]

Urban Trial Freestyle is a racing game.

Development and release[edit]

Inspiration for the game came from Julien Dupont, a Red Bull Racing athlete.[1] Dupont himself worked closely with the developers to help get the look and feel right for the game.[2]

Urban Trial Freestyle was first released for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita on the PlayStation Network on February 19, 2013.[3] It was later added to the Nintendo 3DS's Nintendo eShop service on June 27.[4] A Steam version of the game was released on September 18.[5] Later versions for the iPhone and iPad on July 9, 2014.[6][7]

Meltys quest secret boss free Meltys Quest General Discussions Topic Details. Dec 19, 2017 @ 4:18am Secret boss where to find Oh and the hidden outfitplease Showing 1-1 of 1 comments. Dec 19, 2017 @ 1:00pm Check the guides section. #1 Showing 1-1 of 1 comments.

Sequels[edit]

A sequel, Urban Trial Freestyle 2 was released in Europe on March 30, 2017, in North America on April 20, 2017, and in Japan on May 17, 2017.[8] A new installment, Urban Trial Playground was released on the Nintendo Switch in North America on April 5, 2018, in Europe on April 25, 2018, and in Japan on May 24, 2018.[9]

Reception[edit]

Reception
Review scores
PublicationScore
3DSiOSPCPS VitaPS3
DestructoidN/AN/AN/A6.5/10[15]N/A
EGMN/AN/AN/AN/A5/10[16]
EurogamerN/AN/AN/AN/A4/10[17]
Game InformerN/AN/AN/AN/A5.5/10[19]
GameRevolutionN/AN/A[18]N/AN/A
Nintendo Life[21]N/AN/AN/AN/A
Nintendo World Report7/10[22]N/AN/AN/AN/A
ONM73%[20]N/AN/AN/AN/A
Pocket GamerN/A7/10[23]N/AN/AN/A
Pocket GamerN/AN/AN/A7/10[24]N/A
Aggregate score
Metacritic64/100[10]61/100[11]58/100[12]71/100[14]64/100[13]

Urban Trial Freestyle received mixed reviews from critics across all platforms.[10][11][12][13][14]

By April 2014, the game was one of the best-selling games for the PlayStation Network, ranking #10 for the PlayStation 3 and #3 for the Vita.[25]

References[edit]

  1. ^Green, Andy (November 30, 2012). 'Urban Trial Freestyle Revving Up For 3DS eShop'. Nintendo Life. Gamer Network. Retrieved December 17, 2016.
  2. ^Workman, Robert (February 9, 2013). 'Interview: Urban Trial Freestyle's Wojtek Bilinski'. GameZone. Retrieved December 17, 2016.
  3. ^Miller, Greg (February 8, 2013). 'Urban Trial Freestyle Release Date'. IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved December 17, 2016.
  4. ^Mitchell, Richard (June 27, 2013). 'New Nintendo eShop releases: Spelunker, Urban Trial Freestyle, Game Gear games'. Joystiq. AOL. Archived from the original on June 27, 2013.
  5. ^Cook, Dave (September 2, 2013). 'Urban Trial Freestyle dated for Steam, pre-orders open now at 20% off'. VG247. Gamer Network. Retrieved December 17, 2016.
  6. ^Shaul, Brandy (July 15, 2014). 'Complete stunt courses in Urban Trial Freestyle on iOS'. Adweek. Retrieved December 17, 2016.
  7. ^Hodapp, Eli (July 9, 2014). 'New iPhone Games Coming Tonight: 'Beyond Gravity', The 'Blackwell' Series, 'Hellraid: The Escape', and Much More'. TouchArcade. Retrieved December 17, 2016.
  8. ^'Urban Trial Freestyle 2 launches exclusively on Nintendo 3DS!'. Retrieved January 22, 2019.
  9. ^'Urban Trial Playground announced for Switch'. Retrieved June 19, 2019.
  10. ^ ab'Urban Trial Freestyle for 3DS'. Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved December 17, 2016.
  11. ^ ab'Urban Trial Freestyle for iOS'. Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved December 17, 2016.
  12. ^ ab'Urban Trial Freestyle for PC'. Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved December 17, 2016.
  13. ^ ab'Urban Trial Freestyle for Playstation 3'. Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved December 17, 2016.
  14. ^ ab'Urban Trial Freestyle for Playstation Vita'. Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved December 17, 2016.
  15. ^Carter, Chris (February 19, 2013). 'Review: Urban Trial Freestyle'. Destructoid. Retrieved December 17, 2016.
  16. ^EGM Staff (February 19, 2013). 'EGM Review: Urban Trial Freestyle'. EGM. EGM Media. Retrieved December 17, 2016.
  17. ^Whitehead, Dan (February 20, 2013). 'Urban Trial Freestyle review'. Eurogamer. Gamer Network. Retrieved December 17, 2016.
  18. ^Tamburro, Paul (October 2, 2013). 'Urban Trial Freestyle Review'. Game Revolution. Crave Online. Retrieved December 17, 2016.
  19. ^Ryckert, Dan (February 19, 2013). 'A Pale Imitation - Urban Trial Freestyle'. Game Informer. GameStop. Retrieved December 17, 2016.
  20. ^Griffin, Ben (August 17, 2013). 'Urban Trial Freestyle review'. Official Nintendo Magazine. Future plc. Archived from the original on August 19, 2013.
  21. ^Letcavage, Dave (July 5, 2013). 'Review: Urban Trial Freestyle (3DS eShop)'. Nintendo Life. Gamer Network. Retrieved December 17, 2016.
  22. ^Koopman, Daan (June 28, 2016). 'Urban Trial Freestyle'. Nintendo World Report. Retrieved December 17, 2016.
  23. ^Slater, Harry (July 11, 2014). 'Urban Trial Freestyle'. Pocket Gamer. Steel Media. Retrieved December 17, 2016.
  24. ^Willington, Peter (March 3, 2013). 'Urban Trial Freestyle'. Pocket Gamer. Steel Media. Retrieved December 17, 2016.
  25. ^Campbell, Evan (May 12, 2014). 'April 2014's Best-Selling PSN Games'. IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved December 17, 2016.

External links[edit]

Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Urban_Trial_Freestyle&oldid=918032127'

There's not much point getting too bent out of shape about copycat games. From its earliest days, churning out arcade cabinets, this has always been an iterative medium driven by the steady evolution of core ideas and occasional bursts of genuine innovation. Even so, that doesn't mean that the more blatant magpies don't stand out.

RedLynx certainly didn't create the physics-based motocross genre, but it can take the credit for refining, polishing and nurturing it in the hugely popular Trials series. With the console version of Trials firmly pressed to Microsoft's powdery bosom, Tate Interactive's offering for Sony's consoles may plug a commercial hole - but it doesn't even come close to sniffing the fumes from RedLynx's thundering exhaust.

So much so that it's almost impossible to review Urban Trial Freestyle without constantly comparing it to Trials. It's tiresome, but not unfair, since this is less of an entry in the same genre and more of an outright cover version, right down to the grungy aesthetic and ragdoll mini-games.

Imitation is easier to swallow when something is added, but Urban Trial Freestyle instead subtracts from a successful formula. With just 20 track layouts (each played several times), it not only has less to offer than last year's Trials Evolution, which boasted 50, but is not much more than half the size of the original Trials HD from 2009, which managed 35. Needless to say, this truncated doppelganger certainly doesn't offer any track editor or the robust game creation tools that have served the Trials community so well.

The tracks that are on offer are a drab bunch, saddled with nondescript titles such as Industrial Hell and Losing Control. There are precious few moments of inspiration in the construction of them, with most of the effort seemingly spent on distracting but often meaningless background pyrotechnics. Trucks crash alongside the course, explosions shake the scenery and at one point you dash to the finish line beneath an airliner as it lands. The game spends its best gimmick early as you rattle through an abandoned theme park, crashing in on the ghost train - but none of these impact the gameplay, however.

When these gimmicks do intersect with your run, the result is more likely to be irritation. Boulders knock you off your bike and navigating moving obstacles depends as much on luck as skill. One late stage features a gauntlet of hydraulic platforms that is a chore to navigate, with success or failure dependent on tiny differences in speed and angle that defy repetition.

It doesn't help that the physics is never as reliable as it needs to be. There's a scrappy feel to the handling and, while you can collect cash bags on each run to unlock upgrades for your bike, they don't radically alter the feel of the game when tyre meets tarmac. You're far more likely to notice when the physics trips you up, such as when the game scatters wooden crates in your path, which then get tangled in your wheels or simply stick to your bike like glue.

Imitation is easier to swallow when something is added, but Urban Trial Freestyle instead subtracts from a successful formula

What Urban Trial Freestyle does demonstrate is just how painstakingly designed Trials is. Where the RedLynx games feel like every track was honed and revised to perfection, there's a slapdash quality to the courses on offer here. There are no audacious sequences of stunts and ramps, no breathtaking moments where you feel the elation of being just in control. What thrills the game does offer are only of the most basic kind: the simple pleasures of a big jump or a fleeting moment where it actually feels like the bike is biting into the dirt and powering up a slope. Those are small victories, however, and barely worth celebrating when contemplated alongside an otherwise monotonous procession of mid-range ramps and dips, balance beams and see-saws.

Having fudged the basic requirements, the game's no-frills structure is left looking threadbare rather than streamlined. Unlocking new events is done by earning stars, but despite its rough construction, Urban Trial Freestyle is ridiculously easy. An averagely skilled player will be able to access all five tournament tiers in the space of a few hours, only occasionally having to go back and replay previous events for an additional few stars. It's really only at the end that the difficulty spikes upwards, and then it's largely due to frustrating track design rather than the organic incremental challenges of Trials.

Peripheral amusements are thin on the ground. Completing all the tracks in each tier unlocks a bonus mini-game, but these are derivative stuff - often simply lifting ideas from Trials with worse physics and no embellishment. Fling your rider as far as you can. Travel the furthest using the smallest amount of petrol. It's passably amusing once, but certainly won't keep you coming back.

Price and availability

  • PS3: £11.99/€14.99/$14.99
  • Vita: $7.99/€9.99/$9.99
  • Not a cross-buy title
  • Out today

Nor will the game's half-hearted stabs at social gaming do much to entice players into a long-term commitment. Timed courses will pit you against the ghost of another player, while events in which you must beat specific challenges - jumping highest or furthest, performing flips or landing accurately - use other player scores to gauge your success. It's as rudimentary as online play gets, really, and a feature that quickly fades into the background.

It feels unfair to constantly return to Trials as a point of comparison, but it really shouldn't. RedLynx's game is successful for a reason, and that reason has eluded Tate Interactive. There's no passion or care in Urban Trial Freestyle's construction, no sense of playfulness of fun. It's a game that does the bare minimum required to look like another game, and once the resemblance is close enough, it leaves it at that, with all the rough edges still on display. Just because Trials isn't available on Sony's platforms doesn't mean that this weak echo deserves your time.

4 /10