If your idea of extreme sports is safely navigating a pushbike through the rush hour, spare a thought for the helmeted lunatics who dabble in the peculiar pursuit of bike trials. Those old enough to remember BBC1's KickStart will have some idea what it involves: piloting a motorbike over the kind of obstacle courses that most sensible-minded souls would go to great lengths to avoid.
RedLynx's Trials 2: Second Edition started life as one of those online Flash games. Simplicity was a key attraction, the left and right cursor keys leaning your biker fore and aft, while up and down controlled throttle and brake. With the prospect of a trip to casualty out of the equation, the daredevil challenges looked less insane and more addictive.
They've refined the formula for this PC version. The simple controls and side-scrolling gameplay of the original Flash game are still present and correct, but now find themselves beneath a sparkly 3D veneer of moody lighting, motion blur and depth of field effects. It's no match for the likes of Crysis, granted, but it's also far more forgiving of less capable PCs. Whether you're playing on a decrepit old laptop or a top-end gaming rig, Trials 2 is eminently playable, as long as you notch down a few detail settings where appropriate.
Besides looking prettier than its Flash-based predecessor, Trials 2 goes one step further by bolting on an impressive physics engine. Plough your bike nose-first into an obstacle, and not only does its poor chassis bend and distort, but your rider flies over the handlebars, groaning as he or she thumps and thuds into the scenery. A counter at the top left of the screen cheerily tells you how many bones you've broken. Snap all of them - and we managed to do so on our second or third run at an innocuous-looking ramp - and you'll even earn an achievement award. Disappointingly, it's not named after Barry Sheene.
Kick startA series of tutorial levels eases you into the action, but it soon becomes achingly clear that completing any level without crashing is going to take a fair bit of practice. Careering through the Easy levels won't be a challenge for most players - albeit with the odd spill here and there - but progress onto the Medium, Hard and the physics-packed Dynamic levels, and you'll want brains as well as those other manly attributes beginning with 'b'.
Should you need an incentive to improve, the online leaderboards provide it. Your ranking tells you exactly how you stack up against the thousands of other players around the world. If you're not familiar with the phrase 'just one more go', you will be after spending some time with Trials 2.
Trials 2 is a simple game, though executed with more than its fair share of flair and hyper-addictive brilliance, and we might draw the line at paying the usual 30 quid for it. Fortunately, it costs just 10 US dollars - about six quid. Don't miss.
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RedLynx Trials 2: Second Edition