App O' The Mornin': iTrials Review

Grade: B
Price: $1

No one, in either Flash or app form, has managed to quite capture the bike trials format as well as the original Trials series from RedLynx. Thes 2.5D games blending elements of racing, stunt riding, physics, and side-scrolling action to create a fresh kind of action/racing/puzzle hybrid.

iTrials is the first game to really nails this formula for the mobile devices. It's not as complete or polished as the products from RedLynx, but it's a darn good imitation and the best we've seen so far.

Trials-style games are 3D games played on a 2D plane. That is, they use 3D-style graphics, but the player can only move forward, backwards, up, or down. The player needs to navigate a course as fast as possible with as few errors as possible.

iTrials does it just right. Motorbike handling feels great, albeit just a little bit bouncy. Controls are go, stop, and a slider for lean forward/backward. I wound have rather seen the tilt slider on the side than on the bottom, but you get used to it after awhile.

Courses are terrific, with 27 levels spread across 3 difficulty sets. They with straightforward ramps and jumps, and soon add seesaws, walls, spinny-things, reverse loops, stairs, sliding blocks, and other crazy obstacles. Animations are smooth and professional, with some great ragdoll effects for the rider. Visually, the game delivers the goods, although some edges could use a bit of smoothing.

This is the best Trials experience in the App Store, and at $1 it's a steal.