Back on the Super Nintendo there was a stunt racing game called Uniracers, which rewarded building up lots of speed to do spectacular stunts. Today we have Trials HD, which replaces the unicycle with a motorcycle and adds an emphasis on very precise driving. You not only have to race to the finish quickly, but must avoid wrecking both rider and bike in the process. This starts out easy enough, but quickly becomes very challenging; Trials HD is the kind of game that wants you to earn your victory.

The core of the game is in its race and tournament modes, where you’re required to drive through obstacle courses while ideally not crashing too many times. While it’s easy to blow through the first few tracks, you’ll soon find you have to make full use of your controller’s analog features, carefully shifting your rider’s weight and managing your throttle. By the time you’re half way into these courses, you’ll find they demand perfection if you’re going to clear them quickly and without crashing, which is important for unlocking many things.

Normally I’d consider that sort of difficulty a flaw, but Trials HD does a lot to keep you from getting angry. First, stages are short; most can be cleared in anywhere from ninety seconds to just under four minutes on a good run, so failure means you’re not losing tons of time. Second, some of the unlockables are easy to get and provide new modes of play. Where the normal race and tournament races demand exacting play, the other modes are meant for playing around. The most notable is a set of mini-games that challenge you to do a variety of things, such as hauling a bomb around on a trailer, using your bike to drive a giant steel ball around (you’re either driving it from inside the ball, or on top of it), and being flung around a course as a human pinball trying to hit various targets. These modes don’t ask for perfection, just improvement; the goal is to have fun getting better at each activity.

Of particular note are a few mini-games and several courses in general, as they share a theme of rewarding you for beating up both rider and bike. Most courses have all kinds of hazards to them, so when you wreck there’s a good chance you’ll really send your rider flying; smashing into walls, through glass, and even into giant bowling pins. Even better, there is a ’stair dismount’ style mode where the goal is to fling the rider down a set of storage containers, trying to break as many bones as possible. This may sound grim, but Trials HD mostly plays it for laughs and your rider bounces back to full health with the press of a button, so it’s not as dark and gory as it may seem.

There are also several different bikes to unlock, and while I found I stuck to one or two bikes as my all-around choices the others had their uses on certain courses. You can also customize the look of your bike and rider, though this is primarily done through changing their colors. Perhaps of more interest is the course editor, which is pretty in-depth and lets you share your creations with friends. While I was happy enough with the courses that come with Trials HD, the editor is a strong point in the game’s favor.

By charging 1200 Microsoft Points, the folks at RedLynx and Microsoft are basically claiming Trials HD is in the same league as top-notch XBLA releases like Castle Crashers and Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix. That turns out to be very much the case, as while Trials HD is a hard game, it is never cruel; it just appeals to those who enjoy very ’high skill’ games. Between the courses, course editor, and mini-games, I think Trials HD compares well enough with other 1200 Point releases, and is definitely one of the better games on the Xbox Live Arcade service.