Trials Rising – Going Tandem and Breaking Bones Abroad – E3 2018

Trials Rising is almost as much fun to fail at as it is to succeed. Like previous Trials games, it's a meticulous challenge that pushes you to make your way through ridiculous motorbike courses, carefully balancing your ride's physics as you attempt to nail precarious jumps, narrowly squeeze past midair obstacles, and hop between tiny platforms. A big part of the fun, however, is wiping out in hilarious, humiliating ways while you figure out how to get around the challenges in front of you. Trials Rising makes it even more fun with generous checkpoints, as well as asynchronous competition that lets you watch the ghosts of your opponents fail, and local co-op that challenges you and a friend to stay upright on a tandem motorcycle.

The new tracks are spread across the world, and range from ramshackle motocross runs to the kinds of elaborate, improbably soaring deathtraps you'd expect from Trials, set in places like the Yellowstone National Park (complete with exploding geysers), the Eiffel Tower, Pripyat, Egypt's Valley of the Kings, and even Mount Everest. As you successfully smash your way through each one, your rider will go through the game's career progression system, gradually earning the attention of sponsors. Once you do, you might see a track marked with an exclamation point on the map, meaning a sponsor has a Contract for you. Contracts are bonus challenges that pushes you to do things like beating a player's score or winning a specific medal; hit their goals, and you'll net bonus XP, in-game currency, and new cosmetic items for your rider and bike.

If riding solo isn't enough of a challenge, you can now test the limits of friendship by partnering with another rider for tandem co-op. This is exactly what it sounds like: you and a friend will both control a special tandem motorcycle, and you'll need to work together and coordinate your leaning in order to keep from crashing as you roar through loops, inch up steep inclines, or try to pull off a few flips and right yourselves during a long fall. Without a keen sense of timing and balance, you'll probably both go flying more often than not – but, again, that's part of the fun.

Trials Rising will launch in February 2019 for Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox One, and PC. For more on the game and Ubisoft's other E3 announcements, check out our ongoing E3 coverage.