Where's the fun, charm and imagination gone?
First off, I do like Rising and I know Fusion wasn't everyone's cup of tea but, Fusion was my first Trials game.
Fusion for me was like the first time I played Mirror's Edge, It felt fresh with all it's whacky challenges and themes showing some real imagination and setting it apart from standard racers. Whilst I do find Rising's tracks more engaging to play, I really miss the fun and imagination found in Fusion. Even the now souless shiny collectible Squirrels had funny animations which made it worth the effort. Above all else, Fusion could be played for fun or taken seriously, if I simply wanted to race in different parts of the world with grinding involved, I'd go play a million one other racing games I could choose from.
Rising's tracks do have a more gradual learning curve than Fusion's little else is done to help/encourage new players though. The end of race screen simply rubs salt in the wound and contracts, expect flips and other criteria etc. But, if a new player is struggling with a track, how does asking them to meet more difficult criteria make any logical sense?
On the subject of contracts. After all those real cool challenges in Fusion are flip this and that contracts really the best thing that can be mustered? Additionally, contracts like Fusions challenges become irrelevant once a player has opened all the tracks; Fusions challenges were at least fun to find and do though. There really needs to a better way of weaving these things in other than levelling and cosmetic rewards which don't effect the gameplay.
One of the biggest design decisions, I really don't get is walling off tutorials behind Xp levels? Don't get me wrong, I understand staggered learning but if people want to learn from the off, let them.
In context, anyone can complete the very first track, watch a replay of a good rider doing a bunny hop, back wheel bounce, fast flip and so on, on the Rhino; cue youtube video on how to do it way ahead of it being accessible in the game. It completely undermines the effort FatShady has obviously put in. The whole game's design/structure makes an assumption that every player, having spent hours doing their best on a track, wants to go back and do it all again.
Rising wants a player to do flips left, right and centre, and yet there's no tutorial on the finer points of it? Additionally, there's no tutorials for the more advanced techniques needed on the extreme tracks; how to do overhangs etc. cue more youtube videos....
Granted Rising's tracks do have a more gradual learning curve than Fusion's little else is done to help/encourage new players. Contracts, expect flips and times etc. If a new player is struggling with a track, how does asking them to meet more difficult criteria make any logical sense?
Will there be an option to ghost the other competitors on stadium finals and is the 3 race final really necessary?
The amount of times I've messed up because of a flipping rider coming into view in the background and momentarily diverting my attention is ridiculous. As is, expecting a player to continually repeat races they've already beaten simply because of something silly. I don't mind failing if I mess it up myself, but failing on the third race due to being stuck on scenery or ramp I've done a hundred times suddenly stopping me dead etc. Only to then have to repeat prior races which can also end because of silly stuff stops being fun and gets very tedious, very fast. By the time I get back to the third race, I've forgotten the layout of the course:nonchalance: