Trials of the Blood Dragon Review

<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1"><i>Far Cry 3&colon; Blood Dragon<&sol;i> was one of the best and most unique experiences I had with a video game back in 2013&period; By taking all of the fundamental mechanics that make the <i>Far Cry <&sol;i>series so enjoyable and cementing it into a world rich with 80&&num;8217&semi;s neon vibes&comma; <i>Blood Dragon<&sol;i> managed to craft itself its own little fanbase within the already established <i>Far Cry<&sol;i> community&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">After almost three years of fans begging for a sequel&comma; Ubisoft unveiled<i> Trials of the Blood Dragon <&sol;i>to the world at their 2016 E3 showcase and released it that same night&period; Rather than being a straight sequel&comma; <i>Trials of the Blood Dragon<&sol;i> takes the personality&comma; aesthetic&comma; and charm of <i>Far Cry 3&colon; Blood Dragon<&sol;i> and exchanges the gameplay for the motorbike and physics based platforming found within the <i>Trials<&sol;i> series&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">With <i>Blood Dragon <&sol;i>and the <i>Trials <&sol;i>series both having their own passionate fanbases&comma; reactions to this follow up were mixed from both sides&period; The <i>Trials <&sol;i>fans seemed excited for a new installment in the series&comma; while the <i>Blood Dragon <&sol;i>fans were split between excitement for a new game in the universe and annoyance with this not being the game they’d been asking for&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">I&comma; however&comma; am a huge fan of both franchises&comma; so I went and purchased the game the second it went up on the PlayStation Store&period; Seriously &&num;8212&semi; it didn’t have any likes&comma; communities&comma; or even the background image that PS4 games have&period; Come to think of it&comma; I might have even been one of&comma; if not&comma; the first to buy it&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;109543" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-109543" style&equals;"width&colon; 1920px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignnone"><img class&equals;"size-full wp-image-109543" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;07&sol;03131439&sol;IMG&lowbar;2270&period;jpg" alt&equals;"&lpar;Trials of the Blood Dragon&comma; Ubisoft&rpar;" width&equals;"1920" height&equals;"1080" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-109543" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;<em>Trials of the Blood Dragon&comma;<&sol;em> Ubisoft&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>This game<i> <&sol;i>follows in a very similar fashion to the other games in the <i>Trials <&sol;i>series&comma; more specifically <i>Trials Fusion&period;<&sol;i> If you’ve played <i>Trials Fusion&comma; <&sol;i>then you’ll feel right at home when it comes to playing <i>Trials of the Blood Dragon <&sol;i>as the core gameplay style has essentially been pulled straight from <i>Fusion <&sol;i>and placed in here&comma; albeit with the trick mechanics being removed &lpar;which is a good thing&comma; if you ask me&rpar;&period; Instead of the tricks&comma; <i>Blood Dragon <&sol;i>boasts some pretty unique and fun on-foot sections that function as a mash-up between a side-scrolling shooter like <i>Contra <&sol;i>and a twin-stick shooter&period; I’m not making a straight comparison between the shooting mechanics in this game and <i>Contra&comma; <&sol;i>because they’re really not too much alike&comma; but that’s the only comparison that sprung to mind&period; Whilst the on-foot sections are fun&comma; when I sit down to play a <i>Trials <&sol;i>game I just want to go through crazy levels on an equally as crazy bike and the run-and-gun segments get stale pretty quickly&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">Long-time <em>Trials<&sol;em> fans love the crazy levels the series is known for&period; <em>Trials of the Blood Dragon<&sol;em> has them to offer&comma; but unfortunately there are far less than in previous entries&period; This lack of scale is down to the fact that the game<i> <&sol;i>is only home to 27 levels&comma; which I managed to plough my way through in a little over two hours&period; This shortage of levels isn’t helped by the fact that this game doesn’t include the legendary track creation tools that the <i>Trials <&sol;i>series is famous for&comma; which is disappointing&period; Even though I’m not the most skilled person when it comes to <i>Trials&&num;8217&semi; <&sol;i>level creation&comma; browsing through the abundance of user created content was a great thing that kept me coming back to play the other games in the series&period; <&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">The lack of content available within this spin-off does make me wonder whether or not this game was intended as another expansion for the already popular <i>Trials Fusion<&sol;i>&comma; but at some point in development they felt the need to stretch it out into its own game&period; I would have been a lot more forgiving at the lack of<span class&equals;"Apple-converted-space">  <&sol;span>levels included within <i>Blood Dragon <&sol;i>if it was released as an expansion that included the already existing levels&comma; themed assets for use in the <i>Fusion <&sol;i>level editor&comma; and some near gear to slap on your character&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;109544" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-109544" style&equals;"width&colon; 1920px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignnone"><img class&equals;"size-full wp-image-109544" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;07&sol;03131421&sol;IMG&lowbar;2273&period;jpg" alt&equals;"&lpar;Trials of the Blood Dragon&comma; Ubisoft&rpar;" width&equals;"1920" height&equals;"1080" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-109544" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;<em>Trials of the Blood Dragon<&sol;em>&comma; Ubisoft&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>One thing that I was incredibly fond of was just how well this game captured the spirit that was so rich within the world of <i>Far Cry 3&colon; Blood Dragon<&sol;i>&period; The visuals are extremely reminiscent of the original game&comma; with a certain <i>Trials<&sol;i> flare that just adds to the overall appearance&period; As expected&comma; <i>Trials of the Blood Dragon<&sol;i> is absolutely packed to the brim with neon lights&comma; dark outdoor locations&comma; and tight industrial buildings whilst being accompanied by the typical steep slopes&comma; ramps&comma; and loops that are common within the <i>Trials <&sol;i>franchise&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>To accompany the visual aesthetic&comma; Australian electronic producers Power Glove return to write and produce the entirety of the musical score to be heard throughout your time with <i>Trials of the Blood Dragon<&sol;i>&period; Rich with deep synth basses and nostalgic feeling drum loops&comma; this is a soundtrack so strong that it kept me hooked and wanting to play through each and every level just so I could hear another tune from this fantastic musical duo&period; Come to think of it&comma; I have the soundtrack to the original on vinyl and I sincerely hope that this one sees a similar release&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1"><i>Trials of the Blood Dragon <&sol;i>is a game that&comma; I feel&comma; tries to be a game that exists purely to introduce fans of <i>Far Cry 3&colon; Blood Dragon <&sol;i>to the <i>Trials <&sol;i>series&comma; and vice versa&period; I don’t doubt that you’ll enjoy it if you pick it up&comma; but I honestly don’t think that it holds the longevity that all other installments in the franchise seem to have had&period; If <i>Trials of the Blood Dragon <&sol;i>is something that has peaked your interest in the <i>Trials <&sol;i>series&comma; I wouldn’t say that this is a bad place to start&comma; but I think that long-time fans of the series would be disappointed with the lack of content included in the &dollar;14&period;99&sol;£11&period;99 package&period; If I were you&comma; I’d just head to your local video game store or digital marketplace and pick up the <i>Trials Fusion&colon; Awesome Max Edition&period;<&sol;i> Trust me&comma; you’ll have a far more enjoyable experience with masses of content to keep you coming back for&comma; what truly is&comma; the ultimate <i>Trials <&sol;i>experience&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;