Urban Trial Freestyle review: customisation options and the level editor set it apart

£1.49; Tate Multimedia; iOS

Styled by someone whose only experience of a city appears to be The Warriors, Urban Trial Freestyle is a physics based Trials clone released originally on consoles now re-released for iOS devices.

UTF follows the tried and tested formula of having the player negotiate changing cityscapes using their motorbike that they can balance forwards and backwards.

The first thing you will notice about this game is how unsuited touch screen controls are to this type of precision input. This style requires the player to concentrate on the screen whilst trusting their thumbs are touching the correct input; with no tactile controls this just isn’t possible. Without looking at where the buttons are supposed to be, this then distracts the player and will result in many failed attempts. Perhaps most frustrating of all is the lack of quick restart button for the inevitable failures.

Once you get a bit more used to the controls the game does offer an entertaining challenge, the levels are varied and interesting and unlike many of UTF’s competitor there is quite a deep customisation system for the bikes and the rider. The most surprising inclusion for a game of this size and price is the addition of a level editor which allows you to create and share levels and then play and rate levels created by others.
There has been some thought put into the level design with the scenery evolving and changing as you progress through the levels, and with so many similar games available it is the small details that set a game like this apart.

Urban Trials Freestyle, while having a very 80s idea of what urban means, and not doing anything groundbreaking, is a fun enough distraction with a bit more depth than many of its competitors.