Urban Trial Freestyle – Review [GamingLives]

GamingLives takes a look at Tate Interactive's challenger to the Trials HD/Evolution crown, focusing on the PS Vita version.

"The first obvious difference is that it’s more than a simple tale of ‘boy meets bike, boy falls in love with bike, and boy somehow finds himself in a part of town where the only way to get from A to B is to traverse conveniently-obstructed thoroughfares’ as the devs at Tate Interactive had peppered each track with a series of mini-games which not only test your driving skills, but also your mental dexterity. As is generally the case with games such as these, the idea is to get from one end of the track to the other in the shortest time possible to gain the highest score, but with UTF there is higher scoring to be had from speed, accuracy, height and being able to manipulate the bike in a very short space of time."

[MoonConquistador]

Such a good game on the Vita. Was hoping for a good bundle price to pick up both versions.

How does it compare with Trials, anyone played both who can pass their opinion?

[gaminglives]

There's a couple of mentions of Trials in the review but, as you can imagine, it would be unfair to draw too many comparisons an better to review the game on its own merit.

BUT... you're asking here and, as the one who wrote the review and who has played Trials HD to death (and is obsessed with track-building) and a fair amount of Trials Evolution, I'll answer your question.

The physics in Trials can't be touched, and UTF doesn't come close in my opinion. It's there, but it's just not very accurate so it has a more arcadey feel than Trials did. It's like comparing the handling of Forza to Burnout Paradise - it's much more forgiving in BP and so you don't have to be quite as accurate. Same with UTF... the tiniest movements could cause failure in Trials but not in UTF.

It was also very easy to end up in a constant loop in Trials where you'd have to keep going back over the same obstacle dozens of times to try and get past it, but there's none of that with UTF. It's less about forced frustration and more about fun. As much as I enjoyed the Trials games, there was still a lot of frustration among the enjoyment, but hardly any frustration with UTF.

Beating your own score is really the only frustration you'll get, where you maybe cross the finish 0.5 seconds later than you wanted to, but there'll likely never be a time where you can't get past a certain obstacle.

That said, it's still a great game and is perfect for the Vita. If they released Trials on the Vita, I'd be a very happy man! I'm excited enough that Superfrog is coming out on it soon :)

To summarise - it's not as difficult, expansive or frustrating as Trials but it's just as much fun because it's different enough to want to keep playing it.

Anyway, hope that helps.

Mark

[MoonConquistador]

Thanks for the reply Mark, very helpful. I've long admired trials after seeing videos and hearing the buzz for it on here.

I think maybe your years of playing Trials must have made UTF a walk in the park, but i actually find it a bit frustrating especially trying to get high scores on the tricks. Its an enjoyable frustration just now though.

I'll maybe pick up trials for my PC as i just found out it came out last year as a double pack. I cant honestly see it coming to any playstation platform, can you?